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Antoine Lavoisier

Antoine Lavoisier Quotes

Chemist

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Famous Antoine Lavoisier Quotes

“About eight days ago I discovered that sulfur in burning, far from losing weight, on the contrary, gains it; it is the same with phosphorus; this increase of weight arises from a prodigious quantity of air that is fixed during combustion and combines with the vapors. This discovery, which I have established by experiments, that I regard as decisive, has led me to think that what is observed in the combustion of sulfur and phosphorus may well take place in the case of all substances that gain in weight by combustion and calcination; and I am persuaded that the increase in weight of metallic calyxes is due to the same cause... This discovery seems to me one of the most interesting that has been made since Stahl and since it is difficult not to disclose something inadvertently in conversation with friends that could lead to the truth I have thought it necessary to make the present deposit to the Secretary of the Academy to await the time I make my experiments public.”

ScienceAirDiscoveryChemistryOxygenExperimentSulfurPhosphorusGeorg Ernst StahlStahl
Author:Antoine Lavoisier
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“We may lay it down as an incontestible axiom, that, in all the operations of art and nature, nothing is created; an equal quantity of matter exists both before and after the experiment; the quality and quantity of the elements remain precisely the same; and nothing takes place beyond changes and modifications in the combination of these elements. Upon this principle the whole art of performing chemical experiments depends: We must always suppose an exact equality between the elements of the body examined and those of the products of its analysis.”

MayArtMatterWholeBodyScienceQualityPrinciplesProductsDependsEqualElementsLaysExperimentsCombinationOperationsAnalysisPerformingChemistryChemicalsQuantityExaminationAxiomsModificationBefore And After
Book:Elements of chemistry, tr. by R. Kerr
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