Questions tagged [history-of-chemistry]
Questions regarding the development and exploration of chemical ideas, innovations, and discoveries.
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What dodecahedral molecule is Linus Pauling likely holding in this photograph? Does it have 40 carbon atoms? [closed]
The video Quasicrystals ; Prof. Daniel Shechtman ; Nobel Prize in Chemistry shows Professor Dan Shechtman includes some photos of Linus Pauling who never believed in quasicrystals. From the video:
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7
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1answer
411 views
Naming of the chemical elements and original sentences by the discoverers
Does anyone recall a printed or an online compilation where the names of all the chemical elements are listed along with the original sentence, from a research paper, containing the name of the ...
4
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1answer
151 views
On what basis are the prefixes α and β given to black phosphorus?
My textbook says the following about black phosphorus:
α black phosphorus is formed when red phosphorus is heated in a sealed tube at $\pu{803 K}$. β black phosphorous is prepared by heating white ...
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1answer
56 views
When was the mass of hydrogen known?
During Robert Milikan's time, he uses the charge-to-mass ratio from J.J. Thomson's research of the electron (which is $1.759\cdot10^{11}\ \mathrm{C/kg}$) to calculate the mass of electron.
Did he know ...
2
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2answers
131 views
Why wasn't Lu Jeu Sham awarded the 1998 Nobel Prize with Walter Kohn? [closed]
Reviewing part of the history behind computational chemistry for my thesis I could not understand why only Walter Kohn was awarded the 1998 Nobel Prize in Chemistry (with John Pople getting the other ...
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3answers
575 views
Why were quasicrystals initially so controversial?
I am a mathematician. My (limited) understanding is that quasicrystals are structured as parts of aperiodic tilings of $\mathbb{R}^3$. Such tilings were already known when Shechtman first studied his ...
5
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1answer
120 views
What is/was "uraneous oxide"? Was it an accepted name for a compound or mixed oxides of uranium?
In This National Technical Reports Library page for a 1965 report Method for Coating Actinide Particles in the list of keywords both Uranium compounds and Uraneous oxide are listed.
But I don't find ...
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4answers
745 views
Why do chemists work with common logarithms (base 10)?
In my understanding, every operation we do in $\log_{10}$ can be done in the natural logarithm itself and it should be better because mathematical integrals naturally give out expressions involving ...
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1answer
67 views
Why are electrons pictured to be revolving around the nucleus in Bohr's model [closed]
Why exactly was it guessed by Bohr that electrons do revolve around nucleus in orbits than stay stationary around it in some discreet locations corresponding to a specific energy, or go around some ...
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25 views
Is there a specific historical figure or era that is most responsible for our current definitions of "physical change" and "chemical change"?
I understand that there is a very blurred distinction between the idea of a physical and a chemical change at advanced levels of chemistry, so I'm referring mainly to the definitions provided in most ...
9
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1answer
617 views
How was pH measured back in the day if you had nothing to calibrate to?
We learn about indicators but these seem awfully useless if you have no clue what pH the color change occurs at. How did early chemists figure this out? I guess more broadly, how was the hydronium ...
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1answer
54 views
Rutherford's Alpha Ray Scattering Experiment & Plum-Pudding Model
My teacher said, "Rutherford thought that all the Alpha particles would directly go through the gold foil without any collision if the plum pudding model was right. Because, as said in plum ...
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43 views
What common observations in chemistry were unexplainable by an early twentieth century chemistry who had no knowledge of relativity
I was reading quite a well-known paper titled 'Relativistic Effects in Structural Chemistry' by PEKKA PYYKKO, and in it, he states that 'it was not until the 1970s that the full relevance of ...
4
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0answers
105 views
Did JJ Thomson know about Eugen Goldstein’s experiment discovering canal rays?
We learn that JJ Thomson discovered the electron in 1897. Several years EARLIER in 1886, Eugen Goldstein performs the same experiment but with the anode and cathode switched to produce positively ...
1
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1answer
70 views
Who coined the term "gas evolution reaction"?
I found a paper from 1812 which specifically mentions the evolution of a gas [1].
There is a similar reference from 1808, except it uses the term evolution to speak of green light emitted when a ...
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2answers
194 views
Significance of Law of reciprocal proportions
The laws of conservation of mass, definite proportions multiple proportions makes sense and were definitely useful for chemists in the early days of modern chemistry.
The law of reciprocal ...
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4answers
7k views
Why is '-ethane' in 'methane'?
Is there a chemical or historical significance in the fact that 'ethane' is just 'methane' without the 'm'?
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1answer
312 views
Vital force theory [closed]
What is the vital force theory?
The vital force theory of organic compounds was disproved by a scientist Friedrich Wöhler is 1828 as follows: Urea is a organic compound which was thought to be made ...
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1answer
39 views
What does the term 'by mass' mean with respect to different contexts?
I've seen the term 'by mass' being used in various sorts of contexts. Some, while explaining the law of definite proportions say, the 'same proportions by mass', some say 'constant chemical ...
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1answer
68 views
How would someone in 1917 describe elements 43, 61, 72, 75, 84, 85, 87, 89, and 91? [closed]
https://books.google.com/books?id=aaELAAAAYAAJ&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false Notice the list of elements on pages 62–63. It includes a short description of each element's "...
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2answers
2k views
What is the intuition behind 'mol' as a unit 'symbol'
Why are moles written with 'mol' as opposed to something which is easier to write with one character, or even two?
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1answer
187 views
Ambiguity in definition of primary valency in Werner's theory
In Concise Inorganic Chemistry (5th Edition) on page 196 , the primary valency of $\ce{[Co(NH3)5Cl]Cl2}$ is given to be 2.
In other textbooks and in the question here, we get the idea that:
The ...
2
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0answers
127 views
What is "activated red phosphorus"?
[WP = white phosphorus ; RP = red phosphorus ; ARP = activated red phosphorus]
A YT channel, Extraction & Ire has a video from two years ago (2018) on converting WP to RP by keeping the former in ...
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2answers
1k views
What is the name origin of ester?
Ester is quite a random nomenclature for a compound derived from a parent acid and parent alcohol.
Is there any reasoning behind using the word 'ester' to name such compound (for memorising purpose)?
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2answers
131 views
What lab equipment did Marie Curie use to isolate radium?
My experience in growing crystals for condensed matter physics has been sealing grams of material in ampoules which get heated in laboratory furnaces, so I don't have the experience to understand how ...
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1answer
285 views
Who came up with C1V1 = C2V2? [closed]
I was wondering if there is an original scientific publication showing why $C_1V_1 = C_2V_2$ works.
Or perhaps, who described/used it first?
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43 views
How did Joseph Priestly discover carbon monoxide?
In my readings about the history of chemistry, I've come across the story of the incredible chemist and scientist Joseph Priestly. My question is just about one of his discoveries - the discovery of ...
2
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0answers
91 views
Does mercury(II) cyanate exist?
Recently, I have answered a question "Comparing explosive properties of mercury(II) cyanate and mercury(II) fulminate" where stability of cyanate vs fulminate was discussed. While I was ...
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1answer
69 views
A theoretical chemistry question about elements and their presence over time [closed]
I'm not a chemist myself, but I can't think of a better place to get some insight about elements and chemistry than from people who live and breathe it here on stackexchange. This is not any kind of ...
14
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1answer
522 views
How did Mendeleev know elements from compounds or mixtures?
I read that Mendeleev initially thought didymium was an element, but it was actually a mixture.
How did he know the rest of the chemicals in the periodic table were elements and not compounds, ...
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4answers
1k views
How were urolithins discovered and named?
Urolithin is a product of the degradation of ellagic acid by gut flora and has significant biological activity. (Wikipedia)
I am curious as to how it was discovered but cannot find the story. Although ...
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1answer
77 views
Where to find a comprehensive list of chemical/biochemical etymologies?
I've found lists like this, which explain what different root words mean. But I'm looking for explanations of why those roots mean those things.
For example, why does carbonyl refer to a carbon double ...
5
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1answer
115 views
Who was C.H. Kao?
I am editing a Wikipedia article about the Chen-Kao reaction that is used to identify ephedrine, but I am unable to find biographical info on C. H. Kao:
K.K. Chen and C.H. Kao - Ephedrine and ...
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149 views
Distilling milligram quantities of oil like it's late 1970s
In a currently retracted* manuscript by Tomas Hudlicky [1, Retraction Watch] the following has been noted:
Fifty years ago professors took an active part in all laboratory instructions and they ...
2
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1answer
39 views
Conversion factor for chemical to physical scale of atomic masses
Before the 1960s chemists and physicists used to have different atomic mass tables. The main difference was that the physicists assigned the $^{16}$O as the O=16 from mass spectrometry. Chemists on ...
20
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4answers
6k views
Why was Avogadro's number chosen to be the value that it is? [closed]
I understand that the mole is an extremely useful way of measuring and understanding atomic quantities. I did find some history of the number in its wikipedia article, but I did not find an answer to ...
2
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1answer
216 views
What did Richter mean regarding an acid base reaction?
Recently I've been reviewing concepts belonging to the history of chemistry. But I came stuck at trying to understand a passage which I read from wikipedia entry (and which it seems has been mentioned ...
4
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1answer
559 views
Why aren't Boron and Aluminium assigned to group 3 of periodic table? What determines the group? [closed]
I've been curious about this 3D representation of the periodic table "Mendeleev's Flower" and was trying to study it, wondering if it reveals any regularities that are not obvious from classic ...
2
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1answer
308 views
How can one determine an atomic mass with high accuracy using gravimetric analysis?
In the Wikipedia article on gravimetric analysis it is said that gravimetric analysis was used to determine the atomic masses of many elements in the periodic table to six figure accuracy. There are, ...
5
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1answer
292 views
Who came up with the box and arrow diagrams for electron configurations?
In general chemistry texts, the electron configurations are sometimes shown in boxes with up and down arrows to show the concept of paired spins. My impression for years was that Hund used such ...
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1answer
229 views
How did Thomson calculate the momentum of electron when he didn't know the mass of electron?
This was proven in 1903 by J. J. Thomson who calculated that the momentum of the electrons hitting the paddle wheel would only be sufficient to turn the wheel one revolution per minute. source
J. J. ...
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0answers
110 views
The phlogiston theory [closed]
I have looked this theory up on google and found that the theory is that when metal is burnt calx (metal oxide) and phlogiston is created (metal --> calx + phlogiston). Then I found out that ...
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2answers
1k views
How does de Broglie actually prove Bohr's postulates?
We know Bohr said that the angular momentum of an electron is an integral multiple of $nh/(2π).$ And in de Broglie's wave equation, he said the circumference of the path of the electron traveling as a ...
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1answer
251 views
Origin of the name of barbituric acid
Recently, I have encountered two different accounts explaining the origins of the name "barbituric acid". Both accounts do mention that the name of this compound was given by the famous organic ...
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1answer
72 views
How were the Hoffman's and the Zaitsev's rule formulated even before the discovery of the electron?
I recently studied Zaitsev's and Hoffman's rules for deciding which product is formed via elimination and noticed that the rules for formulated much before the discovery of electrons and any ...
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2answers
4k views
Storing hydrofluoric acid before the invention of plastics
The first person to synthesize hydrofluoric acid in large quantities was Carl Wilhelm Scheele in 1771. This acid is known for its ability to corrode glass and metals.
What materials were the ...
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65 views
Why was silver considered valuable in history? [closed]
Silver has been used for several millenia and (according to the german wikipedia page) was at some point even considered more valuable than gold. Today we know that it has the highest thermal ...
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1answer
2k views
Why was a Plimsoll symbol chosen to indicate standard state?
Historically, the Plimsoll symbol (aka Plimsoll line) was created as hull mark that would serve as a ready indicator of whether a ship was overloaded and thus running too low in the water. It was ...
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1answer
93 views
Thought process behind Rutherford's gold foil experiment
In Rutherford's gold foil experiment, if he at first thought the atom looked like the plum pudding (as Thomson had said), why did he think the alpha particles would not be repelled by the positive "...
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1answer
4k views
How did J. J. Thomson prove that the cathode rays were made of negative particles and not negative rays?
In Thomson's experiment, he used a discharge tube to prove that the cathode rays that emanate from the cathode were made of "a stream of negatively charged particles" because they were repelled by an ...