fixed air

English

Etymology

So named by Dr. Joseph Black in 1756 because it can be absorbed, or fixed, by strong bases.

Noun

fixed air (uncountable)

  1. (chemistry, now historical) Carbon dioxide.
    • 1997, Roy Porter, The Greatest Benefit to Mankind, Folio Society 2016, p. 246:
      Lavoisier then elucidated the exchange of gases in the lungs: the air inhaled was converted into Black's fixed air, whereas the nitrogen (‘azote’) remained unchanged.

References
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