>>14388954It did, with what they knew. They basically had the materials switched. Metal oxides were the "base" substances, while pure metals were the oxide+phlogiston. When the oxide was smelted in the presence of carbon, the phlogiston moved from the carbon into the ore, which become the metal, and the carbon turned into carbon dioxide, which they knew that gets produced when carbon is burned alone.
Phlogiston shouldn't be taught as "stupid ancient people were making stuff up, hahaha, we now have real science". On the contrary, it should be taught as the cautionary tale that even when a theory seems to work reasonably well, with at worst minor tweaks needed to account for a few mysterious details, it may in fact be completely wrong and demolished by more clever experiments.
