Famous Chemists
Antoine Lavoisier (1743 – 1794)
Chemistry as we know it today was invented by the French chemist Lavoisier
who discovered the Law of Conservation of Matter according to which the
mass of the chemical substances before and after the chemical reaction in a
closed system is the same. He recognized and named oxygen (1778) and
hydrogen (1783), helped construct the metric system, wrote the first extensive list of elements, and
helped to reform chemical nomenclature. He discovered that, although matter may change its form or
shape, its mass always remains the same. Thus, for example, if water is heated to steam, if salt is
dissolved in water or if a piece of wood is burned to ashes, the total mass remains unchanged.
Task 1. True of false?
1. Antoine Lavoisier lived in the 17th century.
2. He is famous for discovering the Law of conservation of mask.
3. He recognised and named oxygen and carbon dioxide.
4. The Law of Conservation of Matter means that the mass of the chemical substances before
and after the chemical reaction in a closed system is the same.
Give an example of the Law of Conservation of Matter.
Task 2. Fill in the gaps with the words used in the article.
to dissolve (v), to remain (v), chemical nomenclature (n), to invent (v), according to (prep), to
discover (v), metric system (n), to recognize (v)
1. to create or produce sth useful for the first time, e.g. Edison ___________ the phonograph.
2. to find sth for the first time, e.g. Columbus ________________ the New World in 1492.
3. as stated, as reported, e.g. ________________ a recent survey, most Americans drive to work.
4. To notice, to be aware that sth exists, e.g. It is important to ___________ your own faults.
5. A system of weights and measures based on the metre and the kilogram, _______________
6. A system of names for chemical substances, ________________________
7. To be left when the other parts are gone, _____________________
8. To mix with a liquid and become part of the liquid, e.g. Sugar ______________ in water.
Task 3. Jumbled words are from the text. Spell them correctly.
1. Chemistry as we know it today was V E N I N T E D by the French chemist Lavoisier
2. The Law of N O C R S E A V I O T N of Matter
3. Chemical S T B U S N C E A
4. Salt is I O E S D S D V L
Task 4. Work with your partner. Ask and answer the questions below.
What nationality was Antoine Lavoisier? What century did he live in? What did he discover? What
does his law say? What elements did he recognise and when? What else did he do? Would you like to
have met him? What questions would you have asked him?
Task 5. Quiz. Match the descriptions of the following chemists and their names:
Sir Humphry Davy, Jaroslav Heyrovsky, John Dalton, Antoine Lavoisier, Henry Cavendish, Robert
Boyle, Sir Alexander Fleming, Niels Bohr, Dmitrij Mendeleyev, Mikhail Lomonosov.
There are three extra names, you will not need. Do you know what those chemists achieved?
a)
an English chemist (1766–1844) who contributed to the understanding of the atom. He
clarified that the elements are composed of atoms, which are neither destroyed or
created in a chemical reaction. All atoms of a given element weigh the same, but atoms
of different elements have different weights.
b)
an English chemist (1778-1829) who discovered the elements sodium, potassium,
calcium, boron, magnesium, strontium and barium. He also proposed that hydrogen is
present in all acids.
c)
an Irish chemist (1627–1691) who gave chemistry a firm experimental basis. His most
celebrated experiment established the relationship between volume and pressure of
gases called Boyle’s Law, which says that as the pressure of a gas decreases, so its
volume increases.
d)
a French chemist (1743 – 1794) who discovered the Law of Conservation of Matter
according to which the mass of the chemical substances before and after the chemical
reaction in a closed system is the same.
e)
a Czech chemist and inventor (1890–1967) who invented the polarographic method,
father of electroanalytical chemistry, and recipient of the Nobel Prize in 1959. His main
field of work was polarography.
f)
a Scottish biologist and pharmacologist (1881–1955) who discovered the first antibiotic
drug, penicillin in 1928.
g)
a Russian chemist (1834 – 1907) who created the periodic table of elements and
formulated the periodic law according to which properties of the elements are
periodically depending on their proton number.