The Lavoisier's contributions to science Most important were the law of conservation of mass and the discovery of oxygen, among others.
He also discovered hydrogen; Refuted the phlogiston theory; Explained the combustion and breathing In terms of chemical reactions involving oxygen. In addition, he wrote an elementary text on chemistry ; Helped introduce the metric system; Invented the first periodic table and contributed to the establishment of the nomenclature of modern chemistry.
Antoine-Laurent de Lavoisier (Paris, France, 26 August 1743 -ibídem, May 8, 1794) was a leading chemist and biologist, becoming a leading figure in the chemical revolution of the eighteenth century.
Son of a rich Parisian lawyer, he completed his studies of the law, although the natural sciences were his true passion. He began his studies in the field of geology, thanks to which he was proclaimed a member of the prestigious Academy of Sciences. At the same time, he developed a career as a tax collector for the Crown.
Married with Marie-Anne Pierrette Paulze , Who collaborated actively with Lavoisier in his scientific works, translating British chemists into French and learning art and engraving to illustrate her husband's experiments.
In 1775, Lavoisier was appointed commissary of the Royal Administration of Gunpowder and Saltpeter, working on the improvement of gunpowder.
He held various public offices, and, as an official of the monarchy, was sentenced to death and executed in the guillotine in Paris.
Lavoisier's main contributions to science
1- The law of conservation of mass
Lavoisier showed that the mass of products in a chemical reaction is equal to the mass of the reactants. In other words, no mass is lost in a chemical reaction.
According to this law, mass in an isolated system is neither created nor destroyed by chemical reactions or physical transformations. This is one of the most important and basic laws of modern chemistry and physics.
This law, also known as "Law Lomonosov-Lavoisier", Is useful for a number of calculations and can be used to solve unknown masses, such as the amount of gas consumed or produced during a reaction.
2- The nature of combustion
One of the major scientific theories of Lavoisier's time was the Phlogiston theory , Which affirmed that the combustion was formed by an element called phlogiston.
It was believed that things, when burned, freed phlogiston in the air. Lavoisier refuted this theory, proving that another element, oxygen, played an important role in combustion.
3- Water is a compound
Lavoisier, during his experiments, discovered that water was a compound made of hydrogen And oxygen. Before this discovery, scientists throughout history had thought that water was an element.
Lavoisier reported that the water was about 85% oxygen and 15% hydrogen by weight. Therefore, the water appeared to contain 5.6 times more oxygen by weight than hydrogen.
4- Elements and chemical nomenclature
Lavoisier laid the foundations of modern chemistry, incorporating a"Table of Simple Substances,"the first modern list of elements then known.
He defined the element as the"last point that the analysis is capable of achieving"or, in modern terms, a substance that can not be further decomposed into its components.
A large part of your system for naming chemical compounds is still in use today. In addition, he named the element hydrogen and identified sulfur as an element, noting that it could not be broken down into simpler substances.
5- The first chemistry textbook
In 1789, Lavoisier wrote the"Elemental Chemistry Treaty", becoming the first chemistry book, which contained the list of elements, the most recent theories and laws of chemistry (including mass conservation), and in Which also refuted the existence of phlogiston.
6- The caloric theory
Lavoisier developed extensively investigations on the theory of the combustion, in which, he argued, the combustion process gave rise to the release of caloric particles.
He started from the idea that in each combustion there is a detachment of the heat (or igneous) or light matter, to later prove that the"heat matter"is weightless by checking that the phosphor burns in the air in a Closed flask with no appreciable change in weight.
7- Animal breathing
Lavoisier discovered that an animal in a closed chamber consumed"eminently breathable air"(oxygen) and produced"calcium acid"(carbon dioxide).
Through his breathing experiments, Lavoisier invalidated the phlogiston theory and developed research in the chemistry of respiration. His vital experiments with guinea pigs quantified the oxygen consumed and the carbon dioxide produced by the metabolism.
Using an ice calorimeter, Lavoisier showed that combustion and respiration were one and the same.
He also measured the oxygen consumed during respiration and concluded that the amount varies depending on human activities: exercise, eating, fasting or sitting in a hot or cold room. In addition, he found variations in pulse and Breathing frequency .
8- Contribution to the metric system
During his period on the committee of the French Academy of Sciences, Lavoisier, along with other mathematicians, contributed to the creation of the metric system of measurement, through which uniformity of all weights and measures was ensured in France.
9- Contribution to the study of photosynthesis
Through the theory of combustion, with which Lavoisier refutes the theory of phlogiston, it is demonstrated that the combustion arises due to the fixation or the combination of the oxygen of the air With any substance that burns or calcine.
Light and heat, according to Lavoisier, are part of the consequence of the process. It showed that plants receive the material necessary for their growth from water, earth or air, and that in the process of photosynthesis Has a direct influence: light, CO2 gas, water, O2 gas and the green part of plants.
References
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