to the prevailing Aristotelian picture about the world during the long period of the
western science, the concept about atoms did not disappear in the whole history of
science: it has survived from the time of Lucretius and Pierre Gassendi, untill the
works of Robert Boyle and Ruđer Bošković. However, atoms were still a sort of ad
hoc category, as well as the Stagiritia’s representation of the continuous matter was
also an ad hoc concept. For the reconstruction of the theory about atoms from the
ad hoc notion to the physical reality, the support from the experimental observations was necessary. The relationship between an abstract idea and the real
experimental observation is in epistemology known as transduction. John Dalton
(1766–1844), known as the father of atomism, and who already was the representative of the new science, has exposed transductive method in his quantitative
experiments. Quantitative approach has redirected Dalton to new ideas about atoms
as real particles that have their masses as the measurable property.
Ceteris paribus experiments performed in closed vessels, i.e. in the isolated
systems, led Lavoisier to the discovery of the law of conservation of mass in 1789.
The formulation of the law of conservation of mass is, however, only the beginning
of the quantitative chemistry, which was after that oriented to the measurable
relations, primarily the relations of masses and volumes of the reacting substances
during the formation or decomposition of chemical compounds.
Remember, that already Stagiritus talks about the two ways in which the substances can combine: compound, lini1 (mixis) , and mixture, rtmheri1 (synthesis).
It is important to point out, that the notions such as mixture and chemical compound
were not completely diversificated even in the work of Lavoisier. In that time, it
was actual the opinion that the gases nitrogen and oxygen are in the air loosely
bound to each other. Thus, while chemical elements have already obtained their
identity, the identities of chemical compounds were still undefined. While chemical
element is defined as a substance that cannot be chemically decomposed to simpler
matter, chemical compound should be regarded as a substance that can be transformed by chemical reaction, and not just isolated from the mixture.
If this is correct, then chemical compound must possess the equal universal
identity characterized by exactly defined properties, independently on the origin of
this compound, or, whether this compound is in the mixture with other stuff or not.
The most basic property that can be measured is the ratio of masses of elements
from which the compound is formed, i.e. its composition.
From the first lecture, we know that Kant has stimulated his student Jeremias
Richter to investigate systematically the rations of masses of the substances that
react to each other. Convenient experimental model for this study was the neutralization of acids with bases. Richter has found that the masses of acids and bases
that form salts by neutralization are in the constant ratios to each other [1]. Ernst
Gotfried Fischer (1754–1831) has reorganized Richter’s data by using the mass of
sulphuric acid as a reference. Since these are reactions of acids with bases, Fischer
has designed the table in which the weight proportions of various bases that are
74
9 Atoms and Molecules
western science, the concept about atoms did not disappear in the whole history of
science: it has survived from the time of Lucretius and Pierre Gassendi, untill the
works of Robert Boyle and Ruđer Bošković. However, atoms were still a sort of ad
hoc category, as well as the Stagiritia’s representation of the continuous matter was
also an ad hoc concept. For the reconstruction of the theory about atoms from the
ad hoc notion to the physical reality, the support from the experimental observations was necessary. The relationship between an abstract idea and the real
experimental observation is in epistemology known as transduction. John Dalton
(1766–1844), known as the father of atomism, and who already was the representative of the new science, has exposed transductive method in his quantitative
experiments. Quantitative approach has redirected Dalton to new ideas about atoms
as real particles that have their masses as the measurable property.
Ceteris paribus experiments performed in closed vessels, i.e. in the isolated
systems, led Lavoisier to the discovery of the law of conservation of mass in 1789.
The formulation of the law of conservation of mass is, however, only the beginning
of the quantitative chemistry, which was after that oriented to the measurable
relations, primarily the relations of masses and volumes of the reacting substances
during the formation or decomposition of chemical compounds.
Remember, that already Stagiritus talks about the two ways in which the substances can combine: compound, lini1 (mixis) , and mixture, rtmheri1 (synthesis).
It is important to point out, that the notions such as mixture and chemical compound
were not completely diversificated even in the work of Lavoisier. In that time, it
was actual the opinion that the gases nitrogen and oxygen are in the air loosely
bound to each other. Thus, while chemical elements have already obtained their
identity, the identities of chemical compounds were still undefined. While chemical
element is defined as a substance that cannot be chemically decomposed to simpler
matter, chemical compound should be regarded as a substance that can be transformed by chemical reaction, and not just isolated from the mixture.
If this is correct, then chemical compound must possess the equal universal
identity characterized by exactly defined properties, independently on the origin of
this compound, or, whether this compound is in the mixture with other stuff or not.
The most basic property that can be measured is the ratio of masses of elements
from which the compound is formed, i.e. its composition.
From the first lecture, we know that Kant has stimulated his student Jeremias
Richter to investigate systematically the rations of masses of the substances that
react to each other. Convenient experimental model for this study was the neutralization of acids with bases. Richter has found that the masses of acids and bases
that form salts by neutralization are in the constant ratios to each other [1]. Ernst
Gotfried Fischer (1754–1831) has reorganized Richter’s data by using the mass of
sulphuric acid as a reference. Since these are reactions of acids with bases, Fischer
has designed the table in which the weight proportions of various bases that are
74
9 Atoms and Molecules