Joseph gay lussac
Joseph Gay-Lussac was a French chemist and physicist who did pioneering explore into the behavior of gases. He discovered the law of combining gases (Gay-Lussac's law) and the law of gas enlargement, often also attributed to Jacques Charles (who discovered it earlier but did not publish his results – see Charles' law). Gay-Lussac prepared (with Louis Jacques Thénard) the elements potassium and boron, investigated fermentation and hydrocyanic (prussic) acid, and invented a hydrometer. He also made two balloon ascents to investigate atmospheric composition and the intensity of the Earth's magnetic field at altitude.
Early years
Gay-Lussac was born at St. Leonard, a small town in the south of France, and at the age of 19 he entered the Polytechnic University in Paris. On departing in 1801 he started work for the department of Highways and Bridges. His research work started when he was selected by Berthollet to function as his assistant in the government chemical works at Arceuil.
Joseph Louis Gay-Lussac facts for kids
Joseph Louis Gay-Lussac (born December 6, 1778 – died May 9, 1850) was a famous Frenchchemist and physicist. He is best known for uncovering that water is made of two parts hydrogen and one part oxygen, which he did with Alexander von Humboldt. He also created two key laws about gases. His work on alcohol and water mixtures led to the "degrees Gay-Lussac" scale, which is still used today to measure how much alcohol is in drinks in many countries.
Joseph Louis Gay-Lussac's Life Story
Gay-Lussac was born in Saint-Léonard-de-Noblat, a town in France. His father was a lawyer and judge. The family later added "Lussac" to their name, becoming Gay-Lussac.
He started his learning with the Catholic Abbey of Bourdeix. Later, he moved to Paris to continue his studies. In 1798, he entered the École Polytechnique, a well-known science school. His father was in prison during this time because of the French Revolution.
After three years, Gay-Lussac moved to the École Nationale des Ponts et Chaussées. Soon after, he became an assistant to Claude Louis Berthollet, another important scientist.
In 1802, he became a demonstrator at the École Polyte
Louis-Joseph Gay-Lussac (1778-1850)
Memoir on the Combination of Gaseous Substances with Each Other
Mémoires de la Société d'Arcueil2, 207 (1809) [from Henry A. Boorse and Lloyd Motz, eds., The World of the Atom, vol. 1 (New York: Basic Books, 1966) (translation: Alembic Club Reprint No. 4)] Substances, whether in the solid, liquid, or gaseous state, possess properties which are independent of the force of cohesion; but they also posses others which manifest to be modified by this force (so variable in its intensity), and which no longer track any regular law. The same pressure applied to all solid or liquid substances would produce a diminution of volume differing in each case, while it would be matching for all elastic fluids. Similarly, heat expands all substances; but the dilations of liquids and solids have hitherto presented no regularity, and it is only those of elastic fluids which are matching and independent of the nature of each gas. The attraction of the molecules in solids and liquids is, therefore, the cause which modifies their special properties; and it appears that it is only when the attraction is entirely destroyed, as in gases, that
Louis-Joseph Gay-Lussac (1778-1850)
excerpts from
The Expansion of Gases by Heat[1]
Annales de Chimie43, 137 (1802) [reprinted in William Francis Magie, ed., A Source Book in Physics (New York: McGraw-Hill, 1935)].First Section
Object of this Memoir
For many years physicists have studied the expansion of gases; but the results which they obtained showed such great differences that instead of reaching a definite result they render further examination desirable.
The extension of vapors has been given less consideration, although we have known for many years the prodigious effects of water vapor; and although we own made most fortunate applications of these effects, Zeigler and Bettancourt are the only ones, so far as I know, who have tried to measure them. Their experiments cannot give the true spread of this vapor; for since they always had water in their apparatus, for each new degree of heat they had the expansion of the vapor formed by the preceding degrees of heat, and an increase of volume by the formation of new vapor; two causes which manifestly conspire to raise the mercury in their manometer.
The thermometer, such as we have it to-day, cannot be u
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