The law of simple volumetric ratios. History and essence of scientific discovery

MOST IMPORTANT SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERIES
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The law of simple volumetric ratios. History and essence of scientific discovery

The most important scientific discoveries

Directory / The most important scientific discoveries

Gay-Lussac's discovery of the law of simple ratios of the volumes of reacting gases had a strong influence on the development of theoretical chemistry. This law, together with the newly discovered Dalton the law of multiple ratios formed the basis of the theory of chemical compounds. Gay-Lussac belongs to those chemists who laid the foundations of classical chemistry in the first half of the XNUMXth century.

Joseph Louis Gay-Lussac (1778–1850) was born in the small town of Saint-Leonard in the French county of Limousin. Having received a strict Catholic education as a child, Gay-Lussac moved to Paris at the age of fifteen. Here he began to study at the Sansier boarding house, where his outstanding mathematical abilities soon revealed. From 1797 to 1800, Gay-Lussac studied in Paris at the Ecole Polytechnique. The famous chemist Claude Louis Berthollet taught chemistry at the school. A friendship arose between Gay-Lussac and Berthollet, which had a great influence on the development of the scientist. At the end of the course, Gay-Lussac worked for a short time in chemical enterprises. In 1802, he was already a "tutor" (assistant) at the Polytechnic School.

In the same year, Gay-Lussac spoke at a meeting of the Academy of Sciences with his first scientific report: "On the deposition of metal oxides." Truly, 1802 was a happy year for the young scientist: independently of John Dalton, he discovered the law of thermal expansion of gases. Gay-Lussac often conducted research in collaboration with other prominent scientists, which contributed to many outstanding discoveries. Together with Jean Baptiste Biot, Gay-Lussac went up in a hot air balloon in 1804 to determine the temperature and moisture content of the upper atmosphere. Together with Welter, he discovered dithionic acid. Gay-Lussac had a close friendship with Louis Jacques Tenard, a Parisian professor of chemistry. Their joint work led to a significant improvement in the method of elemental analysis of organic substances.

Gay-Lussac was an excellent experimenter and, therefore, in a modestly equipped laboratory, he was able to discover many phenomena and laws that are very important for the further development of chemistry.

Already in 1805 Gay-Lussac and Alexander von Humboldt, studying the ratios of the volumes of the reacting gases, found that one volume of oxygen combines with two volumes of hydrogen. This work was closely related to Gay-Lussac's further research on gaseous reactions.

Since it is much easier to measure gases by volume than by mass, Lavoisier tried to determine the volumetric ratios in the reaction between hydrogen and oxygen. The volumetric relations between hydrogen and nitrogen during the decomposition of ammonia were studied by Berthollet. Such were the data on volume ratios in certain gas reactions.

Gay-Lussac continued the study of volumetric relations in the reactions of gases. He published the results of these works in 1808 in the article "On the connection of gaseous bodies with each other." He wanted to "prove that gaseous bodies are combined with each other in very simple relations and that the decrease in volume observed in reactions obeys a certain law."

Gay-Lussac discovered the law purely by experience. When deriving this law, he did not seek to study all kinds of gas reactions, but limited himself to a relatively small number of them. Based on these data, the scientist formulated the law and drew conclusions from it. Thus, by measuring the volumes of interacting gases, Gay-Lussac was able to correctly establish the composition of ammonia and five oxides of nitrogen.

The scientist, comparing the formulation of the law with the results obtained in a different way, found that his law is confirmed. He was able to rely on materials obtained by other researchers. For example, he used the well-known definitions of the density of gases and, accordingly, the connecting weights of non-gaseous substances.

It is very important that Gay-Lussac was able to show how, on the basis of the law he discovered, it is possible to calculate still unknown densities of gaseous substances: “The observation that different types of combustible gases combine with oxygen in simple ratios 1:1; 1:2 gives us a means of determining the vapor density of combustible substances, or at least finding it approximately. If we mentally try to convert all the substances used into a gaseous state, a certain volume of each of them will combine with either an equal or double or half volume of oxygen. Now, if we we know the ratios in which oxygen can combine with combustible substances that are in a solid or liquid state, we can calculate the volume of oxygen and the volume of vapor of a combustible substance that combines with the same, either with double or with half the volume of gaseous oxygen.

The clarity and consistency of Gay-Lussac's presentation of his thoughts and research results can serve as an excellent example for all natural scientists.

Berzelius applied Gay-Lussac's law with great success to determine the composition and quantitative characteristics of many elements and compounds. The work of the French scientist also significantly helped to strengthen the law of constancy of composition discovered by Proust, which turned out to be applicable not only for solids, but also for gaseous substances.

In his studies, Gay-Lussac had to proceed from qualitative observations and take into account quantitative studies as conditions and criteria for formulating a law. This is how the concept of the relationship between quality and quantity arose in chemistry. This significantly contributed to overcoming the metaphysical understanding of nature.

Having discovered the law of simple volumetric relations, Gay-Lussac had a significant influence on the formation of atomic and molecular theory.

Author: Samin D.K.

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