Elements of chemistry
1661-Robert
Boyle defined element.
1778-Lavoisier
named Oxygen and Hydrogen as elements. He gave the law of
conservation of mass. He produced a list of 23 elements for the first
time.
1781-Cavendish
synthesized water by burning Hydrogen in Oxygen. Earlier people
thought that water was an element;but it was established that water
is made up of two colorless gases oxygen and hydrogen.
1800-Volta
invented the
battery
called
voltaic pile, which became a source of electricity.
1803-Dalton
gave the atomic theory of elements; prepared a list of atomic weights
of hydrogen , oxygen, carbon, nitrogen,sulphur and phosphorus.
1811-Avogadro
gave the concept of molecules for gases. He hypothesized that equal
volumes of all gases contain same number of particles [at same
temperature and pressure]
1812-Humphry
Davy used the voltaic pile to isolate new elements like potassium,
sodium, magnesium, calcium, barium strontium etc.
1817-Berzelius
named the elements and represented them by symbolic notations. He
used symbols to write chemical formulae for reactions. He determined
atomic weights of different elements.
1834-
Michael Faraday gave the laws of electrolysis.
An
electrolytic
cell
is
an electrochemical cell that drives a non-spontaneous redox reaction
through the application of electrical energy. They are often used to
decompose chemical compounds, in a process called electrolysis. An
electrolytic cell has three component parts: an
electrolyte
and
two electrodes (a
cathode
and
an
anode).
The
electrolyte
is
usually a
solution
of
water
or
other
solvents
in
which ions are dissolved.
Faraday's
law stating that
“the
amount of any substance deposited or liberated during electrolysis is
proportional to the quantity of electric charge passed and to the
equivalent weight of the substance.”
Faraday’s
second law of electrolysis
states
that, when the same quantity of electricity is passed through several
electrolytes, the mass of the substances deposited are proportional
to their respective chemical equivalent or equivalent weight.
Chemical
Equivalent or Equivalent Weight
The
chemical equivalent or equivalent weight of a substance can be
determined by Faraday’s
laws of electrolysis,
and it is defined as the weight of that subtenancy which will combine
with or displace the unit weight of hydrogen.
The
chemical equivalent of hydrogen is, thus, unity. Since valency of a
substance is equal to the number of hydrogen atoms, which it can
replace or with which it can combine,
The
chemical equivalent of a substance, therefore may be defined as the
ratio of its atomic weight to its valency.
Equivalent
weight = Atomic weight/Valency