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Amedeo Avogadro. By: Kyle LaBrosse. Personal Background. Was born June 9, 1776 in Turin Italy He was a son of a lawyer and Senator and was expected to have a career in politics Earned a doctorate in law and worked as a lawyer for 3 years.
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Amedeo Avogadro By: Kyle LaBrosse
Personal Background • Was born June 9, 1776 in Turin Italy • He was a son of a lawyer and Senator and was expected to have a career in politics • Earned a doctorate in law and worked as a lawyer for 3 years. • He then studied math and physics with a private tutor • He decided to make a career in natural science • He became a professor at the College of Vercelli
Research and interests • Avogadro was inspired by the work of Alessandro Volta, who invented the battery. • He worked with his brother on physics problems. • This work with his brother earned him a nomination to the Royal Academy of Science of Turin. This gave him the recognition as a serious scientist.
Major Discovery • Avogadro discovered the SI base unit to measure the amount of particles in a substance. This is called the mole • This is known as Avogadro’s Number which is 6.022 x 1023 • This is calculated because the amount of grams per mole(or grams per6.022 x 1023atoms) is equal to the atomic mass of an element. • He figured this out trying to explain observations made by Joseph Gay-Lussac that combining equal volumes of gas under some circumstances didn’t lead to any measurable increase of total gas volume. He explained that a chemical reaction formed a new gas with the same amount of particles. • This Hypothesis was not accepted until 4 years after Avogadro’s death when a colleague again presented Avogadro’s work to the science community showing that it helped to explain and solve some of the outstanding problems at the time.
Reflection and Discussion • Avogadro’s discovery of the mole lead to better estimates of the relative weights of a variety of elements. • The mole connects the world we can’t see to a world we can measure. • The mole could be used to determine Atomic mass as well as molar mass, and link the amount of particles to the mass of a substance. • Avogadro’s studies also gave a better distinction between molecules and atoms. He revealed that John Dalton had confused the concepts of atoms and molecules.
Work cited • Alessandro Volta. (n.d.). Retrieved from Wikipedia website: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ Alessandro_Volta • Amedeo Avogadro. (2008-2011). Retrieved from WikiDict.de website: http://www.wikidict.de/en/pagelink/ la/Amadeus%20Avogadro • Enrico Fermi and the First Self-Sustaining Nuclear Chain Reaction. (2011, August 2). Retrieved from National Science Teachers Association website: http://www.osti.gov/accomplishments/fermi.html • Johnson, C. (2004, July 4). Avogadro - His Contribution to Chemistry. In Amedeo Avogadro. Retrievedfromhttp://www.bulldog.unet.com/avogadro/avoga.html • Moles. (n.d.). Retrieved from Cadence Design website: http://www.unitedwildlife.com/animalsmoles.html • What is Mole Day? (2011, August 2). Retrieved from National Mole Day Foundation website: http://www.moleday.org/