Transcript Document

Antoine Laurent Lavoisier
Known as the “Father of Chemistry”
A victim
of the
guillotine
on May 8,
1794
Received his
degrees in
law at the
College
Mazarin
Known for his work on Phlogiston and his Tables of Chemical Elements
Was Lavoisier really the “Father of Chemistry?”
Lavoisier has always been known as the “Father of Chemistry”
because:
1.
With the phlogiston theory disproved, chemistry could move forward.
2.
The development of Lavoisier’s Table of Chemical Elements fulfilled the
chemical language reformation that was needed to further chemistry.
3.
Without these developments, modern Chemistry would not be what it is today.
However:
1.
Lavoisier’s ability to disprove the phlogiston theory was ultimately based on
Priestley’s experiments.
2.
Lavoisier’s table of chemical elements was also developed with the help of
Louis Bernard Guyton de Morveau, Claude Louis Berthollet, and Antoine
Fourcroy.
3.
It may seem that Lavoisier is merely a Co Father of Chemistry. However,
Lavoisier developed the results of other scientific experiments (such as
Priestley’s), which credits him with the final results.
Lavoisier’s Famous
Work
1. The Phlogiston Theory: Lavoisier heated mercury, which became mercury oxide. The
volume of air in the container with the mercury oxide became less, which supports the
assumption that the mercury gave off phlogiston, which caused the volume of the air to decrease,
in order to make room for the phlogiston. The problems began when Lavoisier reversed his
experiment and heated the calx with charcoal, which returned it to its metallic form and released
a gas (carbon dioxide, due to the charcoal). Lavoisier heated the mercury oxide, in order to see if
more phlogiston would be released, causing the volume of air to decrease once again. However,
the volume of air in the container with the mercury oxide increased to where it originally was and
the mercury oxide returned to mercury. He did not conclude that the new gas was a fraction of
atmospheric air until 1777. Lavoisier called this new gas oxygen, (oxy- “acid”; gen- “maker”)
because it is the principle that makes acid.
2. The Tables of Chemical
Elements: Lavoisier’s idea: “Since
nothing
is either lost or created, it is
.
possible to determine the nature of a
compound body by analysis.
Similarly, if one gives an exact
designation to simple elements, one
should be able to define compound
bodies by combining words in the way
one combines bodies.” The lists
consisted of fifty-five elements
(indecomposable substances), sixteen
known metals, and other substances.
Salt (magnesium carbonate): was known as magnesie blanche, magnesie aere de
Bergman, magnesie crayeuse, craie magnesienne, magnesie effervescente, mephite de
magnesie, terre muriatique de Kirvan, poudre du comte de Palme, or poudre du comte de
Santinelli. A total of nine different names.
Biography
• Born in Paris, France, 1743 as the first child of Jean Antoine
Laurent and Emilie Punctis.
• He followed in his father’s footsteps and studied Law at the
College Mazarin.
• Lavoisier worked with geologist Jean-Etienne Guettard on the
geology of France, analyzing the waters of France. He was
eventually the youngest person ever elected to the Academy of
Sciences.
• In 1771, Lavoisier married Jaques Paulze, who recorded
Lavoisier’s work and translated English texts for Lavoisier.
• When Lavoisier began his research in
chemistry, several experiments on gases
had already been conducted.
Timeline of Lavoisier’s precursors
Timeline
1648
1659
1718
1756
Van
Helmont
creates the
word “gas”
and noted
that
different
gases
existed.
Robert Boyle
developed first
apparatus to
isolate gas.
Defined element
as a substance
that cannot be
decomposed.
Studied the
calcinations of
metals.
Georg Stahl explains
combustion with the
phlogiston theory,
saying all
combustible bodies
contain an
inflammable
principle, named
phlogiston. When the
substance burns, it
releases phlogiston.
Joseph Black was
first to succeed in
isolating and
identifying a gas:
“fixed air.”
Showed that
fixed air was also
produced in
respiration,
fermentation, and
the burning of
charcoal.
1766
1770’s
Henry Cavendish isolated inflammable
air (hydrogen) and differentiated it from
Black’s fixed air.
Joseph Priestley
isolates several
other gases.
1774
Lavoisier meets with
Joseph Priestley and they
discuss Priestley’s
experiments.
Melting of Ores
Phlogiston in air
Metal
(Phlogiston rich)
Earth
(phlogiston poor)
Fire Gives Phlogiston to Earth (Ore) to
Produce Metal
Corrosion of Metal
Metal Surrenders Phlogiston to
Air to Produce Earth (Calx)
Combustion of Wood
Wood Surrenders Phlogiston to Air to
Produce Earth (Ash)
wood
(phlogiston rich)
Phlogiston in air
Ashes into phlogiston
Scientists during the French Revolution
“Shiver my timbers, there they are, brought down at last, those Farmers General who
grew rich only by ruining poor people!” --the Pere Duchesne
• In 1778, Lavoisier joins The Farmers General, the institution responsible for collecting
taxes for the monarch.
• Members of The Farmers General were arrested on July 14, 1798. Although Lavoisier
was not there during the time of the arrest, he soon turned himself in to the police,
because he felt he could prove his innocence against the accusations. There was a total
of about 8 different accusations, totaling 130 million livres.
• November 28, 1793, Lavoisier, along with his father-in-law, entered the Port-Libre
prison, better known as “The Bog.” On December 25, the prisoners were moved to
Lavoisier’s mansion, where he conducted his experiments.
• After the long trial process, the prisoners were beheaded by the guillotine on May, 8
1794. Lavoisier was relying on his scientific achievements to protect him; however, his
politics overruled his science. Like many other scientists during the French Revolution,
Lavoisier was persecuted for his political beliefs.