Реферат: Chemistry Essay Research Paper Robert Boyle is

things common in all bodies were corpuscles, atom-like structures that were created by

God and that occupy all void space. He began to perform experiments, concentrating

on the color changes that took place in reactions. He started to devise a system of

classification based on the properties of substances. By showing that acids turned the blue

syrup of violets red, Boyle claimed that all acids react in the same manner with violet

syrup and those that did not, were not acids. Similarly, he showed that all alkalies turned

the syrup of violets green. Observing that the blue opalescence of the yellow solution of

lignum nephriticum was destroyed when the solution was acidified and could be restored

by the addition of alkali, Boyle used this experiment to test the strength of acids and

alkalies. His system therefore consisted of three categories: acids, alkalies, and those

substances that are neither acids nor alkalies. However, he purposefully avoided any

investigation of corpuscles. Boyle continued his work on acids and alkalies. He devised

tests for the identification of copper by the blue of its solutions, for silver by its ability to

form silver chloride, with its blackening over time, and for sulfur and many other mineral

acids by their distinctive reactions.

Therefore, knowing that it was not actually Boyle who discovered his law, but

Towneley and Power who did in 1662 and then Hooke who confirmed it soon thereafter,

it can be said that this was Boyle s greatest achievement. His achievement being the

conversion of scientific thought from one in which the spirits and the heavens were kept in

mind at all times, to one based on experimentation and the use of deduction, not

assumption. It cannot be stressed strongly enough what this did for science in general.

Boyle s work sparked the beginning of a new era, one in which careful experimentation

was the justification for a hypothesis, and thus he is accordingly bestowed with the honor

of being the founder of modern chemistry.

Boyle also did extensive work with the air pump, proving such things as the

impossibility for sound to be present in a vacuum, the necessity of air for fire and life, and

the permanent elasticity of air. Also using the air pump, Boyle discovered that fixed air

was present in all vegetables. Through other experimental methods, mainly the use of steel

filings and strong mineral acid, he also found hydrogen. Yet his greatest achievement,