Avogadro’sNumber.docVIP

Avogadro’s Number Tienne Moriniere-Myers Chemistry 511 Amedeo Avogadro (1776-1856) Gay-Lussac’s law of combining volumes (1808) (when two gases react, the volumes of the reactants and products-if gases-are in whole number ratios) tended to support Dalton’s atomic theory. Dalton did not accept Gay-Lussac’s work, but the Italian chemist Amedeo Avogadro saw it as the key to a better understanding of molecular community. In 1811 Avogadro hypothesized that equal volumes of gases at the same temperature and pressure contain equal numbers of molecules. From this hypothesis it followed that relative molecular weights of any two gases are the same as the ratio of the densities of the two gases under the same conditions of temperature and pressure. Avogadro also reasoned that simple gases were not formed of solitary atoms but were instead compound molecules of two or more atoms. Avogadro was able to overcome the difficulty that Dalton and others had encountered when Gay-Lussac reported that above 1000C the volume of water vapor was twice the volume of the oxygen used to form it. According to Avagodro, the molecule of oxygen had spit into two atoms in the course of forming water vapor. Avogadro’s hypothesis was neglected for half a century after it was first published. His hypothesis wasnt generally accepted until after 1858 (after Avogadros death), when the Italian chemist Stanislao Cannizzaro was able to explain why there were some organic chemical exceptions to Avogadros hypothesis. One of the most important contributions of Avogadros work was his resolution of the confusion surrounding atoms and molecules (although he didnt use the term atom). Avogadro believed that particles could be composed of molecules and that molecules could be composed of still simpler units, atoms. The number of molecules in a mole (one gram molecular weight) was termed Avogadros number (sometimes called Avogadros constant) in honor of Avogadros theories. Avogadros number has been