Colin Lam, Alex Larbi, Alexi Rizos
Chemistry 11 Mendeleev Presentation Outline, 1-3
[Outline] Dmitri Mendeleev Presentation
A great scientist once said:
“It is the function of science to discover the existence of a general reign of order
in nature, and to find the causes governing this order. And this refers in equal
measure to the relations of man - social and political - and to the entire universe
as a whole.”
This great scientist was Dmitri Mendeleev, and yes, indeed, he DID revolutionize
science. In this way, he made an enormous impact on the world. The scientist we
will be presenting on is Dmitri Mendeleev, and you will see how he changed
history.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------[COLIN] A Brief Personal History
-Born 8 February, 1834 @ Siberia, Russia to a large family
 Scholars say he was the 14th child, sister claimed he was the 17th, he claimed
he was the 17th! But we do know he was the youngest
***VERY ROUGH CHILDHOOD
- Mother came from an old Mongolian merchant family, and the father, Ivan
Pavlovich Mendeleev soon became blind after Dmitri’s birth.
 Being handicapped or impaired in those days was very harsh. His father lost
his job as a teacher at the Tobolsk Gymnasium (highschool)
-Because of this, mother had to work hard to complete Dmitri’s education! So she
did what any other clear thinking person back then would do…SHE BUILT A
GLASS FACTORY!
-In his youth, it is hard to believe he was an attractive curly haired blue eyed boy
but he was one
 excelled in math, physics, geography and history, but in Latin, but still only
considered an AVERAGE STUDENT
***TRAGEDY HAPPENED
-at the end of his High School education, Mendeleev had to work even harder
 his dad died of tuberculosis, and his family’s glassworks burned down, leaving
him with no incoming money
-BUT MOTHER was deeply attached to her youngest son, and worked extremely
hard to give him an education.
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 She eventually did, and with some luck, after moving to Moscow, then to St.
Petersburg, she helped Mendeleev enter the faculty of physics and math at the
Main Pedagogical Institute
- She died though soon after along with his sister of tuberculosis. It is only
appropriate that Mendeleev honor his mom. He says: “Mother instructed me by
example, corrected me with love, and spent her last energy to put me on my
way.”
***His Prominence Skyrockets College Onwards
-after graudating from the Pedagogical Institute in 1855, he went to France and
Germany for graduate study.
-Eventually gained status of privatdocent  gave him license to teach theoretical
and organic chemistry at the University of St Petersburg. From there, we will see
how his diligence in the work of sciences paid off, where Alex will be talking
about his greatest scientific contribution
-Mendeleev is remembered as a brilliant scholar, interesting teacher, and prolific
writer. Not only was he that but he was a man of strong opinions who was not
afraid to express them.
For instance, although he was as prominent man, who could travel 1 st class, he
always travelled 3rd class. He sympathized with the commoners because of the
tough time he had in his youth, perhaps.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------In giving a brief personal history on Mendeleev, we can conclude that even
though he had a very rough childhood, and although he was not a privileged
child, he made do with what he had. He always worked hard, had strong opinions
and was always a down-to-earth, humble gentleman. Because of this, it should
come to no surprised that he rewrote history, and literally chemistriy books.
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[Alex] His Biggest Scientific Achievement and it’s Significance
-Dmitri Mendeleev’s greatest scientific achievement was the Periodic Table of
Elements
-He had arranged the 63 known elements into a Periodic Table based on atomic
mass
-The periodic table is extremely significant to the modern day Chemistry
-Before this people actually thought that there was only four elements Fire, Water
, Earth, and Air.
-When Dmitri Mendeleev started his work he discovered something that no one
had thought of
-His first periodic table did not look much like todays Periodic table but it would
act as the FOUNDATION for future the changes that would eventually become
the one we currently use today.
-His first Periodic table was based on arranging the elements in ascending order
of atomic weight and grouping them by the elements similarities
(Ask students to look at this)
-As you can see he left blanks for new elements yet to be discovered and some
elements with just there atomic mass. Because there were so many blanks many
people did not accept his ideas
-This lead him to predict the existence of the properties for new elements
-New elements were being discovered at a rate of approximately one per year.
-His periodic table did not include any of the noble gases
-In 1869 he published periodic table and called it the Principles of Chemistry
(He also investigated the thermal expansion of liquids, and studied the nature
and origin of petroleum. He was considered one of the greatest teachers of his
time.)-Other info
-On March 6 1869 Mendeleev made a presentation to the Russian Chemical
Society
-Sometimes an element that was before another element had a higher atomic
mass which caused him to think that there was fault but as we all know that that
is possible.
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The Dependence between the Properties of the Atomic Weights of the Elements
(Not my Words)
(1.The elements, if arranged according to their atomic weight, exhibit an apparent
periodicity of properties.
2.Elements which are similar in regards to their chemical properties have atomic
weights which are either of nearly the same value (e.g., Pt, Ir, Os) or which
increase regularly (e.g., K, Rb, Cs).
3.The arrangement of the elements in groups of elements in the order of their
atomic weights corresponds to their so-called valencies, as well as, to some
extent, to their distinctive chemical properties; as is apparent among other series
in that of Li, Be, B, C, N, O, and F.
4.The elements which are the most widely diffused have small atomic weights.
5.The magnitude of the atomic weight determines the character of the element,
just as the magnitude of the molecule determines the character of a compound
body.
6.We must expect the discovery of many yet unknown elements–for example,
two elements, analogous to aluminium and silicon, whose atomic weights would
be between 65 and 75.
7.The atomic weight of an element may sometimes be amended by a knowledge
of those of its contiguous elements. Thus the atomic weight of tellurium must lie
between 123 and 126, and cannot be 128.
8.Certain characteristic properties of elements can be foretold from their atomic
weights.)
***Significance
-Some consider Dmitri and Meyer to be co-creators for the periodic table
-His periodic table led to the discovery of many new things such as rare gasses,
isotopes, etc. and of course one of the most important things in chemistry … The
Periodic Table of Elements
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[Alexi] Awards/Accolades + other info
His contributions haven’t gone unnoticed. In our research, we discovered an
extensive list of medals, awards, and things that recognize Mendeleev’s
excellence in the field of science. For instance….
- Wrote over 400 books and articles
- There is a memorial of him at St. Peterburg
- won the Demidov prize in 1862, an award that id given annually at the Russian
Academy of Sciences
- won 8 diplomas and medals including the Davy medal in 1882, awarded for a
discovery in any branch of chemistry
- won the faraday medal by the english chemical society in 1889 Which he was a
founder of. this award used to be named the Guthrie Medal and Prize. It is an
award for an outstanding contribution to
- awarded the copley medal by the Royal society of london in 1905. Awarded for
an oustading achievement in sny branch of science
experimental physics.
- Russian imperial academy of sciences refused to acknowledge his work
- Also won honarrary degrees from universities around the world.
- The element mendelevium is named after him
in 1905 Mendeleev was elected member of the royal swedish academy of
sciences. He was nominated in 1905 for the Nobel Prize but fell short to Bayer.
THe following years, the Noble committee of chemstry recommeneded to the
swedish academy to award the noble prize of chemstry in 1906 to mendeleev.
But he unfortunately lost to Moisson.
- He was offered a position by the Finance minister Sergey Witte to serve as
scientific keeper of the Bureau weights and measurments.
- THis small bureau was then made into the main chamber.
- Mendeleev also built a labarotory and an observatory for the study of physical
units such as time and pressure.
Memorial Places
- was named after a museum in St. Petersburg
- named after a museum at the institute for metrology
- Mendeleev's grave is aat the Volkov cemetery
Things named after Mendeleev.
- an element (mendelevium), crater on the moon, asteroid, mountain peak,
volcano, airport, island
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