Problem 17

Background and context

Jan Babtista van Helmont was a Spanish and Dutch chemist, philosopher and a physician. He performed several experiments and his contributions to the field of medicine are tremendous. His theories are based on scientific experiments and evidences. He identified many gases including carbon dioxide. He is best known for his experiment on a willow tree.

Early scientists were greatly interested in the study on growth of plants. They wanted to explore how plants grow and believed that plants grow by utilizing the nutrients from soil. Plants produce food through the process of photosynthesis. Jan Babtista van Helmont contributed to the discovery of this process by performing an historical experiment on a small willow tree.