Physics: Henry Cavendish

Physics: Henry Cavendish
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Henry Cavendish (1731) Henry Cavendish ( KAV-ən-dish; 10 October 1731 – 24 February 1810) was an English experimental and theoretical chemist and physicist.

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Henry Cavendish (1731) Henry Ca vendish ( KAV-ən-dish; 10 October 1731 – 24 February 1810) was an English experimental and theoretical chemist and physicist.

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Why is Henry Cavendish remembered? Ev ery major advance in physics was made by a person working to understand something that didn't quite make sense yet. Henry Cavendish was one of those people.

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About Henry Cavendish Henry Cavendish ( KAV-ən-dish; 10 October 1731 – 24 February 1810) was an English experimental and theoretical chemist and physicist. He is noted for his discovery of hydrogen, which he termed "inflamma ble air". He described the density of inflammable air, which formed water on combustion, in a 1766 paper, On Factitious Airs. Antoine Lavoisier later reproduced Cavendish's experiment and gave the element its name. A shy man, Cavendish was distinguished for great accuracy and precision in his researches into the composition 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 density (and hence the mass) of the Earth. His experiment to measure the density of the Earth (which, in turn, allows the gravitational constant to be calculated) has come to be known as the Cavendish experiment. Many of Cavendish's findings were not told even to his fellow scientists. Many of his observations and results were not discovered by other scientists until long after his death.