FREE ESSAY ON ANTOINE LAVOISIER

ANTOINE LAVOISIER

Antoine Lavoisier (1743-1794) Antoine-Laurent Lavoisier (lah vwah ZYAY) was one of the
best-known French scientists and was an important government official. His theories of
combustion, his development of a way to classify the elements and the first modern
textbook of
chemistry led to his being known as the father of modern chemistry. He contributed to
much of
the research in the field of chemistry. He is quoted for saying, Nothing is lost, nothing
is created,
everything is transformed. Lavoisier was born in Paris, France on Aug. 26, 1743. When he
was
eleven years old he attended a college called Mazain. For Lavoisier's last two years in
college he
found a great deal of interest in science. He received an excellent education and
developed an
interest in all branches of science, especially chemistry. Abbe Nicolas Louis de Lacaill
taught
Lavoisier about meteorological observation. On 1763 Lavoisier received his bachelor's
degree and
on 1764 a licentiate which allowed him to practice his profession. In his spare time he
studied
books all about science. His 1st paper was written about gypsum, also known by hydrated
calcium
sulfate. He described its chemical and physical properties. He was elected to the French
Academy
of Sciences in 1768. On 1771 he married Marie Anne Pierrette Paulze. She helped Lavoisier
by
drawing diagrams for his scientific works and translating English notation for him.
Unlike earlier
chemists, Lavoisier paid particular attention to the weight of the ingredients involved
in chemical
reactions and of the products that resulted. He carefully measured the weights of the
reactants and
products. He noted that the weight of the air in which combustion occurred decreases. He
found
that when the burning material combined with the air somehow and that the air weighed
less.
Lavoisier found that the weight of the products of combustion equals the weight of the
reacting
ingredients. This observation became known as the law of conservation of mass (or
matter). He
repeated many of the experiments of earlier chemists but interpreted the results far
differently. On
1772 he was studying on combustion, which he is most known for in science. Lavoisier
presented
an important memoir on conversion of water into earth evaporation. This brought him to
the
Oxygen Theory of Combustion. On 1774 Lavoisier carried out experiments on calcinations of
tin
and lead and confirmed the increase of weight of metals on calcinations from combustion
of air.
By demonstrating the nature of combustion, he disproved the phlogiston theory. The
phlogiston
theory stated that all flammable materials contained a substance called phlogiston.
According to
this theory, materials gave off phlogiston as they burned. Air was necessary for
combustion
because it absorbed the phlogiston that was released. This was thought at the time to be
a fact.
Lavoisier showed this theory to be false and made oxygen the reason that things burned,
not
phlogiston. Lavoisier burned textbooks that supported the theory. He was trying to make a
point
that the phlogiston theory was invalid and oxygen is the new answer to combustion. He
laid the
framework for understanding chemical reactions as combinations of elements to form new
materials, or products. He concluded that combustion results from the rapid chemical
union of a
flammable material with a newly discovered gas, which he named oxygen, previously known
as
"dephilogisticated air." The word "oxygen" means acid producer. Lavoisier and others had
found
that oxygen is a part of several acids. Lavoisier incorrectly reasoned that oxygen is
needed to
make all acids. He developed endings of the degree of oxygen by adding certain ending
such as -ic
or -ous. With French astronomer and mathematician Pierre Simon Laplace, Lavoisier
conducted
experiments on the respiration in animals. Their studies showed a similarity between
ordinary
chemical reactions and the processes that happen in living organisms. These experiments
were the
basis for the science now known as biochemistry. Lavoisier also helped to develop a
system for
naming chemical substances based on their composition. This system is still in use. He
made the
very first modern chemistry text named Traite elementaire de chimie (Elements of
Chemistry).
Many consider it the first textbook on modern chemistry. Here for the first time the
elements are
laid out systematically. His list included many compounds, which were thought to be
elements at
the time. Lavoisier worked out reactions in chemical equations that respect the
conservation of
mass. As a government official, Lavoisier was successful in creating agricultural reform,
serving
as a tax collection official, and overseeing the government's manufacture of gunpowder.
On 1775
he was made commissioner of gunpowder. He was asked to improve the quality of French
gunpowder. This boosted his career. Politically, Lavoisier was a moderate
constitutionalist, and
Marat and other radicals hated him because of this. He became involved in the Ferme
Generale, a
private tax-collection firm, which became a target during the Terror. When the Reign of
Terror
erupted in France, Lavoisier fell victim to its tyranny and France lost one of her
greatest scientist.
The leaders of the French Revolution arrested Lavoisier in 1793. In spite of his
achievements,
Lavoisier was found guilty of conspiracy with the enemies of France because of his
involvement in
tax collection. Nov. 24, 1793 Lavoisier and his 27 other colleagues were guillotined. 
Bibliography 
Bibliography: http://www.english.upenn.edu/~jlynch/FrankDemo/People/lavois.html 1999
World
Book Encyclopedia http://www.dupont.com/corp/science/lavoisier/antoine.html