Editing Caloric theory (section)

==Successes==
Quite a number of successful explanations can be, and were, made from these hypotheses alone. We can explain the cooling of a cup of [[tea]] in room temperature: caloric is self-repelling, and thus slowly<!--why thus slowly?--> flows from regions dense in caloric (the hot water) to regions less dense in caloric (the cooler air in the room).

We can explain the expansion of air under heat: caloric is absorbed into the air, which increases its [[volume]]. If we say a little more about what happens to caloric during this absorption phenomenon, we can explain the [[thermal radiation|radiation]] of heat, the [[phase transition|state changes]] of matter under various temperatures, and deduce nearly all of the [[gas law]]s.

[[Nicolas Léonard Sadi Carnot|Sadi Carnot]], who reasoned purely on the basis of the caloric theory, developed his principle of the [[Carnot cycle]], which still forms the basis of [[heat engine]] theory. Carnot's analysis of energy flow in steam engines (1824) marks the beginning of ideas which led thirty years later to the recognition of the [[second law of thermodynamics]].

Caloric was believed to be capable of entering chemical reactions as a substituent inciting corresponding changes in the matter states of other substances.<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal|last=Morris|first=Robert J.|date=1972|title=Lavoisier and the Caloric Theory|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/4025261|journal=The British Journal for the History of Science|volume=6|issue=1|pages=1–38|doi=10.1017/S000708740001195X|jstor=4025261|s2cid=45598864 |issn=0007-0874|url-access=subscription}}</ref> Lavoisier explained that the caloric quantity of a substance, and by extent the fluid elasticity of caloric, directly determined the state of the substance.<ref name=":1">{{Cite journal|last1=Khalal|first1=A|last2=Khatib|first2=D|last3=Jannot|first3=B|date=1999|title=Etude theorique de la dynamique du réseau de batio en phase quadratique|url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/s0151-9107(00)88439-1|journal=Annales de Chimie: Science des Matériaux|volume=24|issue=7|pages=471–480|doi=10.1016/s0151-9107(00)88439-1|issn=0151-9107|url-access=subscription}}</ref> Thus, changes in state were a central aspect of a chemical process and essential for a reaction where the substituents undergo changes in temperature.<ref name=":1" /> Changes of state had gone virtually ignored by previous chemists making the caloric theory the inception point for this class of phenomena as a subject of interest under scientific inquiry.<ref name=":0"/>

However, one of the greatest apparent confirmations of the caloric theory was [[Pierre-Simon Laplace]]'s theoretical correction of Sir [[Isaac Newton]]’s calculation of the [[speed of sound]]. Newton had assumed an [[isothermal process]], while Laplace, a calorist, treated it as [[Adiabatic Process|adiabatic]].<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7cTPI90LwlkC&pg=PA115|page=115|title=Scientific Realism: How Science Tracks Truth|first=Stathis|last=Psillos|publisher=Routledge|year=1999|isbn=978-0-203-97964-8}}</ref> This addition not only substantially corrected the theoretical prediction of the speed of sound, but also continued to make even more accurate predictions for almost a century afterward, even as measurements became more precise.