Henry Cavendish | Biography, Facts, & Experiments

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border-right-sm border-left-sm open"> <div class="drawer d-flex flex-column open"> <div class="left-rail-section-content"> <div class="topic-left-rail-header text-truncate bg-gray-50 position-relative text-right d-flex align-items-center"> <div class="tlr-title px-20 py-15 text-left"> <em class="material-icons text-gray-400 d-lg-none" data-icon="toc"></em> <a class="font-serif font-weight-bold text-black link-blue" href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Henry-Cavendish">Henry Cavendish</a> </div> <button aria-label="Close" class="js-sections-close-button btn-link btn-sm btn d-lg-none position-absolute top-0 p-10 right-0" > <em class="material-icons font-26" data-icon="close"></em> </button> </div> <div class="section-content pl-10 pr-20 pl-sm-50 pr-sm-60 pl-lg-5 pr-lg-10 pt-10 pt-lg-0 bg-gray-50 clear-catfish-ad"> <div class="toc mb-20"> <div class="font-serif font-14 font-weight-bold mx-15 mb-15 mt-20"> Table of Contents </div> <ul class="list-unstyled my-0" data-level="h1"><li data-target="#ref1"><div class="pl-25"><a class="link-gray-900 w-100" href="/biography/Henry-Cavendish">Introduction</a></div><div class="ml-40 toc-drawer sub-toc-drawer"></div></li><li data-target="#ref1194"><div class="d-flex align-items-center"><div class="ml-25"></div><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/biography/Henry-Cavendish#ref1194">Education</a></div><div class="ml-40 toc-drawer sub-toc-drawer"></div></li><li data-target="#ref1195"><div class="d-flex align-items-center"><div class="ml-25"></div><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/biography/Henry-Cavendish#ref1195">Research in chemistry</a></div><div class="ml-40 toc-drawer sub-toc-drawer"></div></li><li data-target="#ref1196"><div class="d-flex align-items-center"><div class="ml-25"></div><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/biography/Henry-Cavendish/Experiments-with-electricity">Experiments with electricity</a></div><div class="ml-40 toc-drawer sub-toc-drawer"></div></li></ul> <a class="toc-extra-link link-gray-900" href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Henry-Cavendish/additional-info">References & Edit History</a> <a class="toc-extra-link link-gray-900" href="/facts/Henry-Cavendish">Quick Facts & Related Topics</a> </div> <div class="tlr-media-slider pb-10 mb-30"> <a class="section-header link-gray-900 font-serif font-14 font-weight-bold mb-10 mx-10" href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Henry-Cavendish/images-videos">Images</a> <div class="slider js-slider position-relative d-inline-flex align-items-center mw-100 "> <div class="slider-container js-slider-container overflow-hidden d-flex overflow-hidden text-nowrap ml-15"> <a href="https://cdn.britannica.com/61/23761-004-2ED2CFC9/Henry-Cavendish-drawing-William-Alexander-British-Museum.jpg" data-href="/media/1/100664/198295" class="media-overlay-link d-inline-block mr-5"> <img loading="lazy" src="https://cdn.britannica.com/61/23761-004-2ED2CFC9/Henry-Cavendish-drawing-William-Alexander-British-Museum.jpg" alt="Cavendish, Henry" 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width="200"/> </a> </div> <div class="card-body ilf-content"> <a class="font-weight-semi-bold d-block mb-5 font-16 ilf-title" href="/summary/Henry-Cavendish" >Henry Cavendish summary</a> </div> </div> </div> <div class="mb-30 tlr-related-quizzes"> <div class="text-gray-900 p-5 font-serif font-14 font-weight-bold mx-10 mb-10"> Quizzes </div> <div class="imagelink-with-image-on-the-side card card-horizontal tlr-img-with-side-link ml-15 link-gray-900 mb-10" > <div class="position-relative card-media" style="flex: 0;"> <a class="ilf-image position-relative" href="/quiz/faces-of-science"> <img loading="lazy" src="https://cdn.britannica.com/88/144788-131-ADACA20E/Michael-Faraday-John-Frederic-Daniell.jpg?w=200&h=200&c=crop" alt="Michael Faraday (L) English physicist and chemist (electromagnetism) and John Frederic Daniell (R) British chemist and meteorologist who invented the Daniell cell." width="200" height="200" /> </a> </div> <div class="card-body ilf-content"> <a class="font-weight-semi-bold d-block mb-5 font-16 ilf-title" href="/quiz/faces-of-science" >Faces of Science</a> </div> </div> <div class="imagelink-with-image-on-the-side card card-horizontal tlr-img-with-side-link ml-15 link-gray-900 mb-10" > <div class="position-relative card-media" style="flex: 0;"> <a class="ilf-image position-relative" href="/quiz/physics-and-natural-law"> <img loading="lazy" src="https://cdn.britannica.com/01/115001-131-7278E518/Enrico-Fermi-Italian-problem-physics-1950.jpg?w=200&h=200&c=crop" alt="Italian-born physicist Dr. Enrico Fermi draws a diagram at a blackboard with mathematical equations. circa 1950." width="200" height="200" /> </a> </div> <div class="card-body ilf-content"> <a class="font-weight-semi-bold d-block mb-5 font-16 ilf-title" href="/quiz/physics-and-natural-law" >Physics and Natural Law</a> </div> </div> </div> <div class="mb-30 tlr-related-questions"> <div class="text-gray-900 p-5 pb-0 font-serif font-14 font-weight-bold mx-10 mb-15"> 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Levere</div> <div class="editor-description font-12 font-serif mt-5 clamp-description text-black">Professor at the Institute for the History and Philosophy of Science and Technology, University of Toronto. Author of <i>Transforming Matter: A History of Chemistry from Alchemy to the Buckyball (2001)</i>...</div> </a> <div data-popper-arrow></div> </div> <span class="btn btn-link editor-link p-0 qa-byline-link gtm-byline font-12 byline-contributor text-decoration-underline"> Trevor H. 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They write new content and verify and edit content received from contributors.</div> </a> <div data-popper-arrow></div> </div> <span class="btn btn-link editor-link p-0 qa-byline-link font-12 "> The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica</span></div> <div class="last-updated font-12 font-serif"> <span class="text-gray-700"> Last Updated: <time datetime="2025-02-20T00:00:00CST" >Feb 20, 2025</time> •</span> <a class="byline-edit-history" href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Henry-Cavendish/additional-info#history" rel="nofollow">Article History</a> </div></div> </div> <button class="d-flex d-lg-none btn btn-outline-blue border rounded-sm shadow-sm mobile-toc-button gtm-mobile-toc-inline-button d-none d-sm-block js-sections-inline-button module-spacing btn d-lg-none"> <em class="material-icons mr-5 ml-n10 my-n5 md-icon" data-icon="toc"></em> Table of Contents </button> <div class="d-flex d-sm-none flex-row"> <button class="d-flex d-lg-none btn btn-outline-blue border rounded-sm shadow-sm mobile-toc-button gtm-mobile-toc-inline-button js-sections-inline-button module-spacing"> <em class="material-icons mr-5 ml-n10 my-n5 md-icon" data-icon="toc"></em> Table of Contents </button> <button class="ai-ask-button btn btn-sm border-2 btn-outline-red-400 border-red-400 module-spacing js-inline-ai-ask-button p-10 ml-5"> Ask the Chatbot </button> </div> <div class="js-qf-module qf-module px-40 px-sm-20 py-15 mx-auto module-spacing font-14 bg-gray-50 rounded"> <div class="qf-title font-weight-bold font-14 mb-10 text-center"> Quick Facts</div> <div class="facts-list mt-10"> <div class=""> <div class="js-fact mb-10 line-clamp clamp-3"> <dl> <dt>Born: </dt> <dd>October 10, 1731, <a href="/place/Nice">Nice</a>, <a href="/place/France">France</a></dd> </dl> <button class="js-more-btn d-none btn btn-unstyled font-12 bg-gray-50" aria-label="Toggle more/less fact data"> <em class="js-content link-blue">(Show more)</em> </button> </div> </div> <div class=""> <div class="js-fact mb-10 line-clamp clamp-3"> <dl> <dt>Died: </dt> <dd>February 24, 1810, <a href="/place/London">London</a>, <a href="/place/England">England</a> (aged 78)</dd> </dl> <button class="js-more-btn d-none btn btn-unstyled font-12 bg-gray-50" aria-label="Toggle more/less fact data"> <em class="js-content link-blue">(Show more)</em> </button> </div> </div> <div class=""> <div class="js-fact mb-10 line-clamp clamp-3"> <dl> <dt>Awards And Honors: </dt> <dd><a href="/science/Copley-Medal">Copley Medal (1766)</a></dd> </dl> <button class="js-more-btn d-none btn btn-unstyled font-12 bg-gray-50" aria-label="Toggle more/less fact data"> <em class="js-content link-blue">(Show more)</em> </button> </div> </div> <div class=""> <div class="js-fact mb-10 line-clamp clamp-3"> <dl> <dt>Subjects Of Study: </dt> <dd><a href="/science/Cavendish-experiment">Cavendish experiment</a></dd> <dd><a href="/science/air">air</a></dd> <dd><a href="/science/electric-potential">electric potential</a></dd> <dd><a href="/science/electrical-conduction">electrical conduction</a></dd> <dd><a href="/science/electricity">electricity</a></dd> <dd><a href="/science/gas-state-of-matter">gas</a></dd> <dd><a href="/science/heat">heat</a></dd> <dd><a href="/science/inverse-square-law">inverse-square law</a></dd> <dd><a href="/science/specific-heat">specific heat</a></dd> <dd><a href="/science/water">water</a></dd> <dd><a href="/technology/capacitor">capacitor</a></dd> </dl> <button class="js-more-btn d-none btn btn-unstyled font-12 bg-gray-50" aria-label="Toggle more/less fact data"> <em class="js-content link-blue">(Show more)</em> </button> </div> <div class="text-center"> <a class="btn btn-sm btn-link p-0" href="/facts/Henry-Cavendish"> See all related content </a> </div> </div> </div> </div><span class="marker before-article"></span><section data-level="1" id="ref1"><span class="marker PREMOD1 mod-inline"></span><p class="topic-paragraph"><strong><span id="ref288324"></span>Henry Cavendish</strong> (born October 10, 1731, <a href="https://www.britannica.com/place/Nice" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">Nice</a>, France—died February 24, 1810, <a href="https://www.britannica.com/place/London" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">London</a>, England) was a natural philosopher, the greatest experimental and theoretical English chemist and physicist of his age. Cavendish was distinguished for great accuracy and precision in research into the <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="composition" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/composition" data-type="MW">composition</a> of atmospheric air, the properties of different gases, the synthesis of water, the law governing electrical attraction and repulsion, a mechanical theory of heat, and calculations of the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/science/density" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">density</a> (and hence the weight) of <a href="https://www.britannica.com/place/Earth" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">Earth</a>. His experiment to weigh Earth has come to be known as the <span id="ref288338"></span><a href="https://www.britannica.com/science/Cavendish-experiment" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Cavendish experiment</a>.</p><span class="marker MOD1 mod-inline"></span></section> <span class="marker h2"></span><section data-level="1" id="ref1194"><h2 class="h1">Education</h2> <span class="marker PREMOD2 mod-inline"></span><p class="topic-paragraph">Cavendish, often referred to as “the Honourable Henry Cavendish,” had no title, although his father was the third son of the duke of Devonshire, and his mother (née Ann Grey) was the fourth daughter of the duke of Kent. His mother died in 1733, three months after the birth of her second son, Frederick, and shortly before Henry’s second birthday, leaving Lord Charles Cavendish to bring up his two sons. Henry went to the Hackney Academy, a private school near London, and in 1748 entered Peterhouse College, Cambridge, where he remained for three years before he left without taking a degree (a common practice). He then lived with his father in London, where he soon had his own laboratory.</p><span class="marker MOD2 mod-inline"></span> <span class="marker PREMOD3 mod-inline"></span><p class="topic-paragraph">Lord Charles Cavendish lived a life of service, first in politics and then increasingly in <a href="https://www.britannica.com/science/science" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">science</a>, especially in the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Royal-Society" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Royal Society of London</a>. In 1758 he took Henry to meetings of the Royal Society and also to dinners of the Royal Society Club. In 1760 Henry Cavendish was elected to both these groups, and he was <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="assiduous" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/assiduous" data-type="MW">assiduous</a> in his attendance thereafter. He took virtually no part in politics, but, like his father, he lived a life of service to science, both through his researches and through his participation in scientific organizations. He was active in the Council of the Royal Society of London (to which he was elected in 1765); his interest and expertise in the use of scientific instruments led him to head a committee to review the Royal Society’s <span id="ref288337"></span><a href="https://www.britannica.com/science/meteorology" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">meteorological</a> instruments and to help assess the instruments of the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Royal-Greenwich-Observatory" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Royal Greenwich Observatory</a>. Other committees on which he served included the committee of papers, which chose the papers for publication in the <em>Philosophical Transactions</em>, and the committees for the <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off eb" data-term="transit" href="https://www.britannica.com/dictionary/transit" data-type="EB">transit</a> of Venus (1769), for the gravitational attraction of mountains (1774), and for the scientific instructions for Constantine Phipps’s expedition (1773) in search of the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/place/North-Pole" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">North Pole</a> and the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/place/Northwest-Passage-trade-route" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Northwest Passage</a>. In 1773 Henry joined his father as an elected trustee of the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/British-Museum" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">British Museum</a>, to which he devoted a good deal of time and effort. Soon after the Royal Institution of Great Britain was established, Cavendish became a manager (1800) and took an active interest, especially in the laboratory, where he observed and helped in <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Sir-Humphry-Davy-Baronet" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Humphry Davy</a>’s chemical experiments.</p><span class="marker MOD3 mod-inline"></span> <span class="marker PREMOD4 mod-inline"></span><p class="topic-paragraph">Cavendish was a shy man who was uncomfortable in society and avoided it when he could. He <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off eb" data-term="conversed" href="https://www.britannica.com/dictionary/conversed" data-type="EB">conversed</a> little, always dressed in an old-fashioned suit, and developed no known deep personal attachments outside his family.</p><span class="marker MOD4 mod-inline"></span></section> <span class="marker h3"></span><section data-level="1" id="ref1195"><h2 class="h1">Research in chemistry</h2> <span class="marker PREMOD5 mod-inline"></span><p class="topic-paragraph">About the time of his father’s death, Cavendish began to work closely with Charles Blagden, an association that helped Blagden enter fully into London’s scientific society. In return, Blagden helped to keep the world at a distance from Cavendish. Cavendish published no books and few papers, but he achieved much. Several areas of research, including <a href="https://www.britannica.com/science/mechanics" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">mechanics</a>, <a href="https://www.britannica.com/science/optics" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">optics</a>, and <a href="https://www.britannica.com/science/magnetism" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">magnetism</a>, feature extensively in his manuscripts, but they scarcely feature in his published work.</p><a class="link-module shadow-sm d-block qa-quiz-module" href="/quiz/physics-and-natural-law" data-link-module-iframe-link=""> <img loading="lazy" src="https://cdn.britannica.com/01/115001-131-7278E518/Enrico-Fermi-Italian-problem-physics-1950.jpg" alt="Italian-born physicist Dr. Enrico Fermi draws a diagram at a blackboard with mathematical equations. circa 1950." class="rounded-sm mr-15" width="70" /> <div class="line-clamp clamp-5"> <div class="module-title bg-green">Britannica Quiz</div> <div class="font-weight-semi-bold mt-5">Physics and Natural Law</div> </div> </a><span class="marker MOD5 mod-inline"></span> <span class="marker PREMOD6 mod-inline"></span><p class="topic-paragraph">His first publication (1766) was a combination of three short <a href="https://www.britannica.com/science/chemistry" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">chemistry</a> papers on “factitious airs,” or <span id="ref921434"></span><a href="https://www.britannica.com/science/gas-state-of-matter" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">gases</a> produced in the laboratory. He produced “inflammable air” (<span id="ref288327"></span><a href="https://www.britannica.com/science/hydrogen" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">hydrogen</a>) by <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off eb" data-term="dissolving" href="https://www.britannica.com/dictionary/dissolving" data-type="EB">dissolving</a> metals in <a href="https://www.britannica.com/science/acid" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">acids</a> and “fixed air” (<span id="ref288328"></span><a href="https://www.britannica.com/science/carbon-dioxide" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">carbon dioxide</a>) by dissolving <a href="https://www.britannica.com/science/alkali" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">alkalis</a> in acids, and he collected these and other gases in bottles inverted over water or <a href="https://www.britannica.com/science/mercury-chemical-element" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">mercury</a>. He then measured their solubility in water and their <a href="https://www.britannica.com/science/specific-gravity" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">specific gravity</a> and noted their combustibility. Cavendish was awarded the Royal Society’s Copley Medal for this paper. Gas chemistry was of increasing importance in the latter half of the 18th century and became crucial for Frenchman <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Antoine-Lavoisier" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Antoine-Laurent Lavoisier</a>’s reform of chemistry, generally known as the chemical revolution.</p><span class="marker MOD6 mod-inline"></span> <span class="marker PREMOD7 mod-inline"></span><p class="topic-paragraph">In 1783 Cavendish published a paper on eudiometry (the measurement of the goodness of gases for breathing). He described a new eudiometer of his own invention, with which he achieved the best results to date, using what in other hands had been the inexact method of measuring gases by weighing them. He next published a paper on the production of water by burning inflammable air (that is, hydrogen) in dephlogisticated air (now known to be <a href="https://www.britannica.com/science/oxygen" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">oxygen</a>), the latter a <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="constituent" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/constituent" data-type="MW">constituent</a> of atmospheric air. (<em>See</em> <a href="https://www.britannica.com/science/phlogiston" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">phlogiston</a>.) Cavendish concluded that dephlogisticated air was dephlogisticated <span id="ref288330"></span><a href="https://www.britannica.com/science/water" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">water</a> and that hydrogen was either pure phlogiston or phlogisticated water. He reported these findings to <span id="ref288332"></span><a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Joseph-Priestley" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Joseph Priestley</a>, an English clergyman and scientist, no later than March 1783, but did not publish them until the following year. The Scottish inventor <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/James-Watt" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">James Watt</a> published a paper on the composition of water in 1783; Cavendish had performed the experiments first but published second. Controversy about priority ensued. In 1785 Cavendish carried out an investigation of the composition of common (i.e., atmospheric) <span id="ref288329"></span><a href="https://www.britannica.com/science/air" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">air</a>, obtaining, as usual, impressively accurate results. He observed that, when he had determined the amounts of phlogisticated air (<a href="https://www.britannica.com/science/nitrogen" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">nitrogen</a>) and dephlogisticated air (oxygen), there remained a volume of <a href="https://www.britannica.com/science/gas-state-of-matter" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">gas</a> amounting to <span class="md-fraction md-fraction-oblique"><span><span class="md-frac-num">1</span><span class="md-fraction-symbol">/</span><span class="md-frac-den">120</span></span></span> of the volume of the nitrogen.</p><div class="module-spacing"> <DIV class="marketing-INLINE_SUBSCRIPTION marketing-content" data-marketing-id="INLINE_SUBSCRIPTION"><style> .student-promo-banner-wrapper { container-type: inline-size; margin-bottom: 15px; } @container (min-width: 475px) { .student-promo-banner { flex-direction: row; } .student-promo-banner-img-wrapper { margin-bottom: 0; margin-right: 10px; justify-content: flex-start; } .student-promo-banner-text-wrapper { text-align: left; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 10px; } .student-promo-banner-button-wrapper { margin-right: 0; } }</style> <div class="student-promo-banner-wrapper"> <div class="student-promo-banner d-flex flex-column align-items-center bg-blue rounded p-20"> <div class="student-promo-banner-img-wrapper mb-20 mr-0 d-flex justify-content-center"> <img class="rounded" style="max-width: 100px; min-width: 80px" src="https://cdn.britannica.com/marketing/BlueThistle.webp" /> </div> <div class="student-promo-banner-text-wrapper ml-0 mb-10 text-center text-white"> <div class="h2 mb-10">Get Unlimited Access</div> <div class="h4 font-weight-semi-bold">Try Britannica Premium for free and discover more.</div> </div> <div class="student-promo-banner-button-wrapper d-flex justify-content-center align-items-center ml-auto mr-auto"> <a class="btn btn-m btn-orange" href="https://premium.britannica.com/premium-membership/?utm_source=premium&utm_medium=inline-cta&utm_campaign=august-2024">Subscribe</a> </div> </div> </div> </DIV></div><span class="marker MOD7 mod-inline"></span> <span class="marker PREMOD8 mod-inline"></span><p class="topic-paragraph">In the 1890s, two British physicists, <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/William-Ramsay" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">William Ramsay</a> and <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/John-William-Strutt-3rd-Baron-Rayleigh" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Lord Rayleigh</a>, realized that their newly discovered <a href="https://www.britannica.com/science/noble-gas" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">inert gas</a>, <a href="https://www.britannica.com/science/argon-chemical-element" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">argon</a>, was responsible for Cavendish’s <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off eb" data-term="problematic" href="https://www.britannica.com/dictionary/problematic" data-type="EB">problematic</a> residue; he had not made an error. What he had done was perform rigorous quantitative experiments, using standardized instruments and methods, aimed at reproducible results; taken the mean of the result of several experiments; and identified and allowed for sources of error. The balance that he used, made by a craftsman named Harrison, was the first of the splendid precision balances of the 18th century, and as good as Lavoisier’s (which has been estimated to measure one part in 400,000). Cavendish worked with his instrument makers, generally improving existing instruments rather than inventing wholly new ones.</p><div class="one-good-fact-module"> </div><span class="marker MOD8 mod-inline"></span> <span class="marker PREMOD9 mod-inline"></span><p class="topic-paragraph">Cavendish, as indicated above, used the language of the old phlogiston theory in chemistry. In 1787 he became one of the earliest outside <a href="https://www.britannica.com/place/France" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">France</a> to convert to the new antiphlogistic theory of Lavoisier, though he remained skeptical about the <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="nomenclature" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/nomenclature" data-type="MW">nomenclature</a> of the new theory. He also objected to Lavoisier’s identification of <a href="https://www.britannica.com/science/heat" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">heat</a> as having a material or elementary basis. Working within the framework of Newtonian <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/mechanism-philosophy" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">mechanism</a>, Cavendish had tackled the problem of the nature of <span id="ref921437"></span><a href="https://www.britannica.com/science/heat" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">heat</a> in the 1760s, explaining heat as the result of the motion of matter. In 1783 he published a paper on the temperature at which mercury freezes and in that paper made use of the idea of <a href="https://www.britannica.com/science/latent-heat" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">latent heat</a>, although he did not use the term because he believed that it implied acceptance of a material theory of heat. He made his objections <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off eb" data-term="explicit" href="https://www.britannica.com/dictionary/explicit" data-type="EB">explicit</a> in his 1784 paper on air. He went on to develop a general theory of heat, and the manuscript of that theory has been persuasively dated to the late 1780s. His theory was at once mathematical and mechanical; it contained the principle of the conservation of heat (later understood as an instance of <a href="https://www.britannica.com/science/conservation-of-energy" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">conservation of energy</a>) and even contained the concept (although not the label) of the mechanical equivalent of heat.</p><span class="marker MOD9 mod-inline"></span></section> <span class="marker end-of-content"></span><span class="marker after-article"></span></div> <div id="chatbot-simplify-root"></div> <div id="chatbot-root"></div> </div> </div> </div> <div class="ai-dialog-placeholder"></div> </div> </div> <aside class="col-md-da-320"></aside> </div> </div> </div> </div> </article> </div> </div> </div> </div> </main> <div id="md-footer"></div> <noscript><iframe src="//www.googletagmanager.com/ns.html?id=GTM-5W6NC8" height="0" width="0" style="display:none;visibility:hidden"></iframe></noscript> <script type="text/javascript" id="_informizely_script_tag"> var IzWidget = IzWidget || {}; (function (d) { var scriptElement = d.createElement('script'); scriptElement.type = 'text/javascript'; scriptElement.async = true; scriptElement.src = "https://insitez.blob.core.windows.net/site/f780f33e-a610-4ac2-af81-3eb184037547.js"; var node = d.getElementById('_informizely_script_tag'); node.parentNode.insertBefore(scriptElement, node); } )(document); </script>  <script> window.ap3c = window.ap3c || {}; var ap3c = window.ap3c; ap3c.cmd = ap3c.cmd || []; ap3c.cmd.push(function() { ap3c.init('ZO4siT4cLwnykPnzZWJtd3Byb2Q', 'https://engage.email.britannica.com/'); ap3c.track({v: 0}); }); ap3c.activity = function(act) { ap3c.act = (ap3c.act || []); ap3c.act.push(act); }; var s, t; s = document.createElement('script'); s.type = 'text/javascript'; s.src = "https://engage.email.britannica.com/app.js"; t = document.getElementsByTagName('script')[0]; t.parentNode.insertBefore(s, t); </script> <script class="marketing-page-info" type="application/json"> {"pageType":"Topic","templateName":"DESKTOP","pageNumber":1,"pagesTotal":2,"pageId":100664,"pageLength":1269,"initialLoad":true,"lastPageOfScroll":false} </script> <script class="marketing-content-info" type="application/json"> [] </script> <script src="https://cdn.britannica.com/mendel-resources/3-133/js/libs/jquery-3.5.0.min.js?v=3.133.36"></script> <script type="text/javascript" data-type="Init Mendel Code Splitting"> (function() { $.ajax({ dataType: 'script', cache: true, url: 'https://cdn.britannica.com/mendel-resources/3-133/dist/topic-page.js?v=3.133.36' }); })(); </script> <script class="analytics-metadata" type="application/json"> {"leg":"A","adLeg":"A","userType":"ANONYMOUS","pageType":"Topic","pageSubtype":null,"articleTemplateType":"BIO_PAGINATED","gisted":false,"pageNumber":1,"hasSummarizeButton":false,"hasAskButton":true} </script> <script type="text/javascript"> EBStat={accountId:-1,hostnameOverride:'webstats.eb.com',domain:'www.britannica.com', json:''}; </script> <script type="text/javascript"> ( function() { $.ajax( { dataType: 'script', cache: true, url: '//www.britannica.com/webstats/mendelstats.js?v=1' } ) .done( function() { try {writeStat(null,EBStat);} catch(err){} } ); })(); </script> <div id="bc-fixed-dialogue"></div> </body> </html>

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Henry Cavendish | Biography, Facts, & Experiments | Britannica