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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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“The impossibility of separating the nomenclature of a science from the science itself, is owing to this, that every branch of physical science must consist of three things; the series of facts which are the objects of the science, the ideas which represent these facts, and the words by which these ideas are expressed. Like three impressions of the same seal, the word ought to produce the idea, and the idea to be a picture of the fact.”

IdeasFactsScienceThreeObjectsProduceOughtSeriesImpressionBranchesImpossibilityThree ThingsSealsSeparatingOwingPhysical ScienceNomenclature
Book:The Development of Chemistry, 1789-1914: Elements of chemistry
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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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“I have had a fairly long life, above all a very happy one, and I think that I shall be remembered with some regrets and perhaps leave some reputation behind me. What more could I ask? The events in which I am involved will probably save me from the troubles of old age. I shall die in full possession of my faculties, and that is another advantage that I should count among those that I have enjoyed. If I have any distressing thoughts, it is of not having done more for my family; to be unable to give either to them or to you any token of my affection and my gratitude is to be poor indeed.”

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Author:Antoine Lavoisier
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“In every combustion there is disengagement of the matter of fire or of light. A body can burn only in pure air [oxygen]. There is no destruction or decomposition of pure air and the increase in weight of the body burnt is exactly equal to the weight of air destroyed or decomposed. The body burnt changes into an acid by addition of the substance that increases its weight. Pure air is a compound of the matter of fire or of light with a base. In combustion the burning body removes the base, which it attracts more strongly than does the matter of heat, which appears as flame, heat and light.”

DoeMatterBodyLightScienceFireAirPureEqualDestructionWeightIncreaseExperimentsDestroyedBurningSubstanceFlamesHeatRemoveOxygenAcidCompoundsCombustionDecompositionDisengagement
Author:Antoine Lavoisier
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