The scientific method involves 5 key steps:
1. Making observations and collecting facts
2. Developing a hypothesis to explain the facts
3. Designing experiments to test the hypothesis
4. Establishing a theory if the hypothesis is supported by experimental evidence
5. Developing scientific laws if a theory withstands repeated testing
The document then discusses the history and development of chemistry, including early Greek theories, alchemy, and the phlogiston theory, which was eventually disproven by Lavoisier's discovery of oxygen and formulation of the law of conservation of mass.