Established conservation of mass and named oxygen, often called the father of modern chemistry.
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Antoine Lavoisier, a French chemist of the late eighteenth century, reformed chemistry through careful quantitative experiments. He showed that combustion is combination with oxygen, which overturned the phlogiston theory of burning. He established the law of conservation of mass by weighing reactants and products in closed vessels, and he named oxygen and hydrogen. He also developed a systematic chemical nomenclature in 1787. Lavoisier was executed during the French Revolution in 1794.
Key ideas: Showed in the 1770s and 1780s that combustion is combination with oxygen (not release of phlogiston), by weighing sealed reactants (mass gain when metals burn). Formulated law of conservation of mass, named oxygen and hydrogen, helped create systematic nomenclature, and wrote Traite elementaire de chimie (1789), with a list of 33 elements. Guillotined in 1794.
Common mistakes and connections: Mistake: crediting him with discovering oxygen alone; Priestley and Scheele isolated it earlier, Lavoisier interpreted its role. Early list included light and caloric wrongly. His quantitative method (balance as central tool) changed chemistry. Links to stoichiometry, combustion and the law of conservation of mass.
2Hg + O2 gives 2HgO. Heating 401.2 g of mercury with 32 g of oxygen gives 433.2 g of oxide, so mass is conserved. The interactive lesson shows this as a live animation or chart.
Heating mercury in air in a sealed vessel showed that the total mass of the system is conserved.
Established conservation of mass and named oxygen, often called the father of modern chemistry.
Lavoisier is a beginner topic in Biochemistry, Environment & Industry. It needs no earlier chemistry lessons and is a good starting point.
Study these earlier topics in Biochemistry, Environment & Industry first: Atom Economy, History of Chemistry, Alchemy.
The next topics in Biochemistry, Environment & Industry are Mendeleev and Marie Curie.
Yes. The interactive lesson includes a self-check question on Lavoisier, and the Biochemistry, Environment & Industry quiz draws on every topic in this area.
Lavoisier is topic 119 of 127 in Biochemistry, Environment & Industry.
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