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Joseph Black discovers Carbon Dioxide, or 'air fixed' in magnesium alba (MgCO3) that is released by heating. He found that this fixed air was also generated when chalk (CaCO3) is treated with acid. Black tested the gas and found that it extinguished rather than supported flames and discovered that when diffused into lime water (calcium hydroxide) the solution would turn cloudy. He also knew that it was denser than common air and demonstrated pouring the gas out of beakers onto flames to extinguish them. Black showed that the same 'fixed air' was produced by fermentation and respiration by demonstrating the clouding of lime water, a test still used in schools today.
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