French Revolution
France Revolutions in the 1700s
In the 1700s, France experienced two revolutions: a chemical revolution and a political revolution
Enlightenment Philosophy
The enlightenment philosophy was a philosophy that strongly believed in the freedom of all persons and the need to view every human as an equal.
The Chemical Revolution
The chemical revolution was a revolution that aimed to demystify the unfounded beliefs of the alchemists. It also intended to do away with the power of the scholastics and that of the philosophy which had been developed by Aristotle. The revolution used accurate analytical measurements as well as exact, well-thought theories as weapons of choice. The short term effect of the revolution was the change in the definition of elements to different materials with different properties and identities. The long term effect was the introduction of chemical theories based on results from experiments which were verifiable.
Guillaume-Françoise Roulle’s Demonstrations
Guillaume-Françoise Roulle’s demonstrations were lively and could contradict theories fronted by speakers in the lecturers moments prior.
The Water Transmutation Experiment
The Water Transmutation Experiment was done to disapprove the theory that existed at that time and claimed that heating water caused some elements of the earth to be deposited. Lavoisier weighed pure, distilled water, boiled it for 101 days then weighed it. By doing so, he proved that no transmutation took place since there was no net change in the mass of heated water. What was perceived as transmutation previously was simply sedimentation of mineral salts dissolved in water following evaporation of the heated water.
Marie Anne Pierrette Paulze Lavoisier
Marie Anne Pierrette Paulze Lavoisier was an assistant to Lavoisier and helped him in the translation of scientific papers, making sure laboratory notebooks were in place, making illustrations of experimental setups and offering general assistance within the laboratory.
Oxygen
Lavoisier was credited for discovering oxygen when he declared that the gas produced when heating mercuric oxide closely resembled common air but had a unique capacity to support combustion.
The Composition of Water
Lavoisier pronounced that water was a combination of oxygen and nitrogen and not a single element as previously thought. His pronouncement was different from what Watt and Cavendish had described in that Lavoisier did a reverse experiment which decomposed water into hydrogen and oxygen by passing steam through red hot iron.
Laplace and Lavoisier
Laplace and Lavoisier developed a calorimeter and, with it, they managed to prove that respiration was a form of combustion. Laplace’s and Lavoisier’s view on heat and light differed in that Laplace described heat as a motion of particles while Lavoisier explained heat as weightless substance.
Reflections on Phlogiston
Lavoisier had not come to the existing definition of what an element is since he reported that elements had to be universally available. Nonetheless, he succeeded in proving the need for developing theories from experiments which could be verified. He also succeeded in breaking the barrier of Aristotle, which had four elements. Also, he proved the law of conservation of mass.
Claude Louis Berthollet
Claude Louis Berthelot’s contribution to the Lavoisier team was in his repeating experiments the group had already done besides promoting and spreading the new system of chemistry fronted by Lavoisier.
Bernard Guyton de Morveau
Bernard Guyton de Morveau contributed to Lavoisier’s team by proving that all metals gained weight when burned in air.
Antoine François Fourcroy
Antoine François Fourcroy wrote a textbook titled “Elements of Natural History and Chemistry”, but Lavoisier delayed its publication until the Oxygen Theory entirely convinced Antoine.
Nomenclature
Nomenclature is the systemic naming of things, especially in science. Lavoisier and team got their views known by the publishing of their scientific information. In the end, Lavoisier was arrested, tried and guillotined.
Reference
Cobb, C., & Goldwhite, H. (2009). Creations Of Fire. Amsterdam, Netherlands: Adfo Books.