Questions tagged [history-of-chemistry]
Questions regarding the development and exploration of chemical ideas, innovations, and discoveries.
181
questions
2
votes
2
answers
133
views
Why is scandium not in Group 13 despite being once called "eka-boron"?
When drawing up the Periodic Table, Mendeleyev famously predicted the existence of then-unknown elements such as "eka-boron", which we now know as scandium.
However, in the modern Periodic ...
- 195
5
votes
1
answer
415
views
Why would tellurium + sodium hydroxide have worked as a good anti-knock gasoline additive (if it wasn't so smelly)?
The April 22, 2022 Veritasium video The Man Who Accidentally Killed The Most People In History mentions several aspects of the historical use of tetra-ethyl lead in gasoline, the resulting widespread ...
- 6,240
-1
votes
2
answers
120
views
Why did anyone invent the concepts of acids and bases? [closed]
I am home-schooling my son in first-year Chemistry, and I am struggling to teach Acids and Bases in a rewarding way.
I am not new to Chemistry. I went to grad school in Physics and I even taught High ...
- 39
0
votes
0
answers
51
views
Creating sodium tetraborate decahydrate from boric acid
I would like to obtain sodium tetraborate decahydrate (borax) from boric acid
(note not the other way around that is answered here: Creating Boric Acid from Borax and Hydrochloric Acid)
Perhaps use ...
- 101
0
votes
0
answers
60
views
Is there a name for the law that in chemical reactions atoms are conserved?
One characteristic of chemical reactions is the trivial fact that the number of atoms of a given element is conserved. This is not conservation of mass, albeit conservation of mass is a consequence of ...
- 127
3
votes
2
answers
119
views
Producing hydrogen sulfide—difficult to do much?
When I was young (nearly sixty years ago), my "chemistry set" taught me how to heat sulfur and candle wax to stink up the house. It had no warning that hydrogen sulfide is toxic and ...
- 169
4
votes
3
answers
1k
views
What is the origin of the word salt as used in chemistry?
I have done a number of searches to determine why compounds of acids and bases are known as salts but came up empty. The fact that common salt dominates the word's usage means all my searches bring up ...
- 159
1
vote
0
answers
35
views
Why is 1413 µS/cm specifically the "standard" conductivity standard?
I'm doing some work on conductivity sensor calibration, and noticed that all the conductivity standard suppliers offer a 1413 µS/cm standard solution. Why is this oddly specific value the "...
- 111
2
votes
0
answers
150
views
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 focuses on Professor Dan Shechtman but happens to include some photos of Linus Pauling who never believed in quasicrystals. ...
- 6,240
8
votes
1
answer
429
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 ...
- 32.7k
4
votes
1
answer
191
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 ...
- 297
1
vote
1
answer
74
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
votes
2
answers
168
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 ...
- 465
16
votes
3
answers
590
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
votes
1
answer
127
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 ...
- 6,240
3
votes
4
answers
1k
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 ...
-2
votes
1
answer
68
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 ...
0
votes
0
answers
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
votes
1
answer
622
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 ...
- 289
1
vote
1
answer
64
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 ...
1
vote
0
answers
47
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 ...
- 141
4
votes
0
answers
133
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 ...
- 637
1
vote
1
answer
75
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 ...
- 35
1
vote
2
answers
243
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 ...
- 153
32
votes
4
answers
8k
views
Why is '-ethane' in 'methane'?
Is there a chemical or historical significance in the fact that 'ethane' is just 'methane' without the 'm'?
- 641
-2
votes
1
answer
384
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 ...
1
vote
1
answer
40
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 ...
1
vote
1
answer
75
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 "...
- 13
6
votes
2
answers
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?
- 641
2
votes
1
answer
266
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 ...
- 31
2
votes
0
answers
139
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 ...
- 22.2k
10
votes
2
answers
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)?
...
- 267
1
vote
2
answers
169
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 ...
- 597
0
votes
1
answer
433
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?
- 129
0
votes
0
answers
50
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 ...
- 261
2
votes
0
answers
110
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 ...
- 22.2k
1
vote
1
answer
71
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 ...
- 21
14
votes
1
answer
555
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, ...
- 165
8
votes
4
answers
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 ...
- 191
1
vote
1
answer
79
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 ...
- 131
5
votes
1
answer
120
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 ...
- 265
7
votes
0
answers
169
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 ...
- 35.2k
2
votes
1
answer
41
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 ...
- 32.7k
20
votes
4
answers
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 ...
- 333
2
votes
1
answer
222
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 ...
5
votes
1
answer
665
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
votes
1
answer
424
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, ...
- 744
5
votes
1
answer
313
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 ...
- 32.7k
3
votes
1
answer
298
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. ...
- 581
3
votes
0
answers
113
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 ...
- 65
Hot Network Questions
- Does work differ between inertial frames?
- Slack refusing to start
- For an infinite sequence of real numbers that monotonically grows, is infinity considered a limit?
- Which is more readable - array of ints or int array?
- Fibonacci polynomials
- Would it be frowned upon for a person to hold two full time online teaching positions?
- Are air forks suitable for everyday use?
- What does the West have to gain by not allowing Russia to pay its debt?
- Manuscript sent back to author, now status 'Incomplete submission'
- Is there a reverse double-negation translation?
- How does the Heat Metal spell interact with a suit of armor, which could be taken off in parts?
- How is RDP through VPN safer?
- Sizing the DC/DC inductor for only momentary high currents
- Ordering polygons from north to south in QGIS
- Tradeoffs of larger/smaller bicycle sizes
- What’s the difference between “Bandit” and “Bogey”
- How to copy objects with delayed keyframes?
- Is the bigger wire section always better from the electrical point of view?
- Does "of" in this context mean "from"?
- Is Basic Economics by Thomas Sowell a good book for a layperson who isn't interested in pursuing economics?
- Best way to recharge battery using alternator?
- Doing a little trolling with the microwave timer
- Who was the subject of the fallen statue in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness?
- How did the KPA cross the Han River on 28 June 1950?