Antoine Lavoisier

(1734 – 1794)
The Father of Modern Chemistry
Experiments
 Did a similar exp. to steel wool exp.
 Heated tin in a sealed flask. It removed 1/5
of the air.
 Conclusion: Gas combined with tin.
 Repeated the exp. with mercury
 Reverse of what Priestley did
 Same thing happened
 Communicated with Priestley
Conclusions
 Priestley’s new gas (oxygen) was
combining with the metals.
 Combustion and rusting are processes
where a substance combines with
oxygen.
 1/5 of air is oxygen & 4/5 is an inert gas,
nitrogen.
Other Contributions
 Showed that metals gain mass when burned
 Discovered law of conservation of mass
 In a chemical reaction, nothing is created or
destroyed.
 Proposed program for chemistry
 Find elements, their weights, and rules of
combination
 By 1800, 30 elements were discovered
Reasons for Lavoisier’s Success

 Workable definition of an element

 A substance that can not be reduced in
weight by any chemical reaction
 Carefully accounted for all substances
going into and out of chemical reactions
by tracking their weights.
Classification of Matter
Matter
Yes No
Can it be separated
physically?

Mixture Pure Substances

Is it uniform in Can it be separated

Yes composition?
No Yes chemically?
No

Homogenous Heterogeneous Compound Element

Ex. Salt water Ex. Salad Ex. H2O Ex. Mercury