Lavoisier, Proust, Berthollet, and the Laws of Conservation of Mass and Definite Proportions

Madeleine ScriberAnd

Sydney Tress

Antoine Lavoisier

Lavoisier Biography

August 26, 1743-  May 8, 1794Born in Paris, FranceStudied at College des Quatre NationsAttended College MazarinColleague: Guillaume-Francois RouelleWon a prize on lighting the streets of ParisDesigned a new method for preparing

saltpeter.Studied the nature of combustion and

devised a system of naming elements

Lavoisier Biography Continued

“Father of Modern Chemistry”He published a documentary, Traité

Elémentaire de ChimieDenied the existence of PhlogistonEstablishment of the Law of Conservation

of Mass

Lavoisier Lab Apparatus

Replica of Lavoisier's calorimeter, a piece of equipment for measuring the amount of heat produced by combustion

Used to investigate combustion. Lavoisier called the gas oxygen

Replica of apparatus for hydrogen combustion experiment, made from a sketch by MadameLavoisier

Lavoisier and Berthollet

They proposed new names for elements. The need for an international nomenclature consistently reflecting the composition of substances became aware to Lavoisier.

Before Lavoisier the language used in chemical texts was full of inconsistencies, imprecision and double meanings.

Joseph Proust

Proust Biography

September 26, 1754- July 5, 1826Born in Angers, FranceTaught Chemistry School at Sergovia and

the University of Salamanca in SpainChemical analystsDiscovered that each pure compound has

its own characteristic elemental composition.

He put hydrogen into the realm of science was disproving Berthollet with the law of definite proportions

Proust Biography Continued

first accumulated conclusive evidence for it in a series of researches on the composition of many substances, especially the oxides of iron

Law of Constant Proportions: known for helping prove the idea that every pure chemical compound consists of elements in a definite proportion

Rival: Berthollet

Claude Louis Berthollet

Berthollet Biography

December 9, 1748- November 6, 1822Born in Talloires, FranceStarted his studies at Chambéry and then

in Turin where he graduated in medicine.Active participant of the Academy of

Science in 1780Rival: ProustHe first produced a modern bleaching

liquid in 1789 in his laboratory in Paris, France, by passing chlorine gas through a solution of sodium carbonate.

Berthollet Biography Continued

• Known for his scientific contributions to theory of chemical equilibrium.• First to demonstrate the bleaching action

of chlorine gas.• First determined the elemental

composition of ammonia.• First proved that chemical reactions and

affinities are dependent upon physical factors, such as mass and temperature.

Berthollet Lab Apparatus

Burette, a commonlaboratory apparatus forcarrying out titration, animportant experimentaltechnique in equilibrium andanalytical chemistry.

Laws of Conservation of Mass and Definite Proportions

• Stated that in a chemical reaction, matter is neither created or destroyed

• It brought to the end the misconception of the existence of Phlogiston.

• An entire class of substances does not follow this rule. The compounds are called non-stiochiometric compounds.• also named berthollides in his honor.

Bibliography

"Antoine Lavoisier." Antoine Lavoisier. N.p., n.d. Web. 23 Oct. 2013. <http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/antoine_lavoisier.htm>.

"Joseph Proust." Joseph Proust. N.p., n.d. Web. 24 Oct. 2013. <http://www.vzhang.com/vzfiles/joseph_proust.htm>.

"Claude-Louis Berthollet (French Chemist)." Encyclopedia Britannica Online. Encyclopedia Britannica, n.d. Web. 24 Oct. 2013. <http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/62812/Claude-Louis-Berthollet>.

Dingrando, Laurel. "Law of Definite Proportions." Chemistry: Matter and Change. New York, NY: Glencoe/McGraw-Hill, 2005. 75. Print.