Amedeo Avogadro was the first scientist to find out that elements could exist in the form of molecules instead of individual atoms. He is mostly known for his hypothesis that different gases with equal volume contain the same number of molecules, therefore they are the same temperature and pressure.

Personal life

Amedeo Avogadro (full name: Count Lorenzo Romano Amedeo Carlo Avogadro) was born in Turin, Italy on August 9th, 1776. His mother was Anna Maria vercellone, a noblewoman of Biella. His father was Count Filippo Avogadro, a highly intelligent lawyer. He was born into a noble family, so he was able to receive a good education. Even though he is mostly known for his scientific law, his education didn’t start with science. Because his father was a very successful lawyer, he was pressured to follow his family tradition and study law. In 1792 he graduated with At age 20 (1796) he was awarded the doctorate degree in canon law, then started to study ecclesiastical law.

Eventually, he lost interest in his legal career and started to study math and physics during 1800. At first, he started his research on electricity, then he became a member of the Academy of Science of Turin at 1804 and a demonstrator position at 1806. At 1803 he wrote a paper with his brother (Felice Avogadro) about his experiment on the electrical behavior of the salt solution, then published it. He became a professor at Royal college of Vercelli for natural philosophy at 1809. In 1820 he became a professor of mathematical physics at the University of Turin.

Even through Avogadro was born into a noble family and is part of a high-class society, he was quietly religious and he believed in hard work. He lived a simple life and married Felicita mazz in 1818, then had 6 sons with her. Avogadro was a simple man and believed that his discoveries were facts, he isolated himself with only his work and didn’t work with other scientists. Avogadro’s work was not accepted until after his death. In 1856 he died in his hometown of Turin, Italy.

His contributions to science

During that time period, the studies for atoms were very limited and often times wrong. With Avogadro’s interest in how the particles of matter behaved and how they came together to form chemical compounds. He studied the work of other scientists (John Dalton and Joseph Gay-Lussac) and found out the mistakes that were made, and corrected them by using his numbers and law.

For example, John Dalton was known for advancing the knowledge of chemistry with his atomic theory, but he made mistakes about the way elements combine to create compounds. He originally thought that water was made up of one hydrogen atom and one oxygen atom, but Avogadro’s law showed the elements can form molecules instead of being an individual atom. Joseph Gay-Lussac observed that when 2 liters of hydrogen reacts with 1 liter of oxygen gas, it forms 2 liters gaseous water. Avogadro’s explanation for Gay-Lussac’s observation was that after the reaction, when all of the hydrogen and oxygen gases have become H20 gas, the volume of gas falls to two-thirds of the starting volume.

Avogadro’s law

In 1811 Avogadro published a paper called Journal de Physique. His paper showed his hypothesis which was that all gases with the same volume, temperature, and pressure have the same number of molecules. After realizing Gay-Lussac mistake and correcting it, he became the first person to find out that elements can be formed as a molecule. Many other scientists like John Dalton believed that only compounds can form molecules.

After studying other scientists Avogadro wrote 4 other papers about the physics of matter, but almost all of them were ignored. 4 years after Avogadro’s death, Stanislao Cannizarro presented it at a conference 1860.

Why was his work ignored?
Many famous and more well known scientist like John Dalton and Jöns Jacob Berzelius disagreed with Avogadro’s theories. He didn’t try to make himself famous or known, by traveling around and spreading his theories. He stayed at Turin, Italy most of his life.

Avogadro’s numbers
6.022×10^23 is the number of particles in a atom or molecules. These number is now one of the most important numbers in science, it has become part of the basic knowledge of chemistry. Avogadro didn’t calculate this number, instead he created by following his hypothesis and work.

“My studies of the natural sciences have particularly involved that part of physics which looks at the atomic world: the properties of molecules, the forces involved in their movement, the heat capacity of different substances, expansion of gas by heat, and the density and pressure of gases.” -Amedeo Avogadro

With his studies with his hypothesis to his numbers, Amedeo Avogadro has made a big impact in with science by using his knowledge to develop the understanding of chemistry.

Sources

Scientists, Top, and List Scientists. “Amedeo Avogadro – Biography, Facts And Pictures.” Famousscientists.org. N. p., 2017. Web. 20 Nov. 2017.

“Amedeo Avogadro | Italian Physicist.” Encyclopedia Britannica. N. p., 2017. Web. 20 Nov. 2017.

“Amedeo Avogadro Conte Di Quaregna Facts, Information, Pictures | Encyclopedia.Com Articles About Amedeo Avogadro Conte Di Quaregna.” Encyclopedia.com. N. p., 2017. Web. 20 Nov. 2017.

Photo
“Amedeo Avogadro.” En.wikipedia.org. N. p., 2017. Web. 20 Nov. 2017.