Phlogiston theory

Okay kiddo, so a long time ago, people thought that everything was made of tiny little things called elements. And some scientists thought that these elements had a special substance inside of them called phlogiston.

They believed that when something burned, it released phlogiston into the air. So, for example, if you burned a piece of wood, the phlogiston would come out of the wood and into the air. That's why the wood would turn into ashes, because all the phlogiston had come out of it.

People thought that all combustible materials contained phlogiston, and that when they burned, the phlogiston was released, making flames and allowing for things to combust.

But then, as scientists learned more about chemistry, they realized that the substances people thought contained phlogiston, like wood or coal, actually contained oxygen. And when these things burned, it was the oxygen that was combining with the material and creating a reaction.

So, the phlogiston theory was eventually proven wrong and discarded. But it was a very important idea at the time, and helped lead scientists to better understand the nature of combustion and chemical reactions.