The Science Book

46

TOUCHING

THE SPRING

OF THE AIR

ROBERT BOYLE (1627–1691)

I

n the 17th century, several

scientists across Europe

investigated the properties

of air, and their work was to lead

Anglo-Irish scientist Robert Boyle

to produce his mathematical laws

describing pressure in a gas. This

work was tied in to a wider debate

about the nature of the space

between stars and planets. The

“atomists” held that there was

empty space between celestial

bodies, whereas the Cartesians

(followers of the French philosopher

René Descartes) held that the space

between particles was filled with

an unknown substance called the

ether, and that it was impossible to

produce a vacuum.

IN CONTEXT

BRANCH

Physics

BEFORE

1643 Evangelista Torricelli

invents the barometer using

a tube of mercury.

1648 Blaise Pascal and his

brother-in-law demonstrate

that air pressure decreases

with altitude.

1650 Otto von Guericke

performs experiments

on air and vacuums, first

published in 1657.

AFTER

1738 Swiss physicist

Daniel Bernoulli publishes

Hydrodynamica, describing

a kinetic theory of gases.

1827 Scottish botanist Robert

Brown explains the motion

of pollen in water as a result of

collisions with water molecules

moving in random directions.