Editing Daniel Rutherford (section)

== Isolation of nitrogen ==
{{more citations needed|section|date=December 2021}}
Rutherford discovered nitrogen by the isolation of the particle in 1772.<ref>See:
*  Daniel Rutherford (1772) [https://books.google.com/books?id=JxUUAAAAQAAJ "Dissertatio Inauguralis de ere fix, at mephitic"] (Inaugural dissertation on the air [called] fixed or mephitic), M.D. Dissertation, University of Edinburgh, Scotland.
*  English translation:  Leonard Dobbin (1935) "Daniel Rutherford's inaugural dissertation", ''Journal of Chemical Education'', '''12''' (8): 370–375.
*  See also:  James R. Marshall and Virginia L. Marshall (Spring 2015) "Rediscovery of the Elements:  Daniel Rutherford, nitrogen, and the demise of phlogiston", ''The Hexagon'' (of [[Alpha Chi Sigma]]), '''106''' (1) : 4–8.  Available on-line at:  [https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc824866/m2/1/high_res_d/spring-2015-4-8.pdf University of North Texas].</ref><ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yS_m3PrVbpgC&pg=PR15|page=15|title=Elements of chemistry, in a new systematic order: containing all the modern discoveries|author=Lavoisier, Antoine Laurent|author-link=Antoine Lavoisier|publisher=Courier Dover Publications|year=1965|isbn=0-486-64624-6}}</ref> When [[Joseph Black]] was studying the properties of [[carbon dioxide]], he found that a candle would not burn in it. Black turned this problem over to his student at the time, Rutherford. Rutherford kept a mouse in a space with a confined quantity of air until it died. Then, he burned a candle in the remaining air until it went out. Afterwards, he burned [[phosphorus]] in that, until it would not burn. Then the air was passed through a carbon dioxide absorbing [[Solution (chemistry)|solution]]. The remaining component of the air did not support combustion, and a mouse could not live in it.

Rutherford called the gas (which we now know would have consisted primarily of [[nitrogen]]) "noxious air" or "phlogisticated air". Rutherford reported the experiment in 1772. He and Black were convinced of the validity of the [[phlogiston theory]], so they explained their results in terms of it.