Joseph Priestley

High school (ages 12+)
Science & Technology

Name:

Date:

Step 1 · Read the article

Open the article and read it at the level above. Then answer the questions below in your own words.

https://smallwhale.org/articles/joseph-priestley

Write what each word means, using the article.

Do not copy the article. Write two things you learned, the way you would explain them to a friend.

Answers below are taken from the article’s stored facts, so they match what the student read.

1. When was Joseph Priestley born?March 13, 1733
2. When did Joseph Priestley die?February 6, 1804 (age 70)
3. Where was Joseph Priestley born?Fieldhead, Yorkshire, England
4. What did Joseph Priestley discover about air?Joseph Priestley found a new kind of air called oxygen. This gas helps plants grow and animals breathe.
5. How did Priestley show that oxygen could keep a mouse alive?He put a mouse in a sealed jar with the gas he made. The mouse stayed alive, proving the gas could support life.

Pneumatic Chemistry: The branch of chemistry concerned with the study of gases.
Phlogiston Theory: An obsolete scientific theory proposing that combustible materials released a substance called phlogiston when burned.
Photosynthesis: The process by which green plants use sunlight, water, and carbon dioxide to create their own food and release oxygen.
Enlightenment: An 18th-century intellectual and cultural movement emphasizing reason, individualism, and skepticism towards traditional authority.