He was executed using the guillotine.1 Unit 1.2: Antoine Lavoisier and the History of the AtomĢ Bell Work: September 2 Summarize the Law of the Conservation of Matter/Mass in two sentences If you finish early, study for your quiz Remind me about Good Things!ģ Lavoisier Video Law of Conservation of Mass Videoįerme Generale was a private company that collected taxes for the Crown Phlogiston Theory was the theory that there was a substance called phlogiston which was odorless, tasteless, colorless, and weightless. Even though there was no proof that showed that Antoine de Lavoisier broke the law, he was sentenced to death on. He was arrested for conspiracy against the people. He was accused of selling modified tobacco. This new government was suspicious of Lavoisier's great success as a scientific researcher and as a public administrator. But, two years later, a new government arrived in power. Antoine kept his position in the government. During this time, the French Revolution began in 1789. While he was doing research for chemistry, Lavoisier was also working at the government. Guyton de Morveau, Claude-Louis Berthollet and Antoine François de Fourcroy, created the first system of chemical nomenclature in the 1780s. Today, this principle is the basis of modern chemistry. It says that the mass of the final products of a chemical reaction is the same as the reactants’ ones. He also discovered the law of conservation of mass that is nothing is lost, nothing is created, everything is transformed. His conclusion: the air is a combination of oxygen and is not a chemical element. In order to do this, in 1776, he burned mercury in an enclosed vase. To prove this, Lavoisier studied the air. He is the person who explained combustion by oxidation. Much of his research was done on combustion. The mercury was in A.ĭuring his career, Lavoisier brought major changes to the study of chemistry. Science career How Lavoisier burned mercury. He started a career as a scientist instead. He got his law degree in 1763, but never practised as a lawyer. He got his degree in 1763 and practised law at the parliament however, he really preferred scientific research to law, so he also studied chemistry, botany, astronomy, and mathematics. He studied to be a lawyer like his father and his grandfather. Collège Mazarin was one of the best secondary schools in France then. He was executed, as were hundreds of other nobles, during the French Revolution.Īntoine de Lavoisier began studying at the Collège Mazarin in Paris in 1754, when he was 11 years old. He was the first scientist to recognise and name the elements hydrogen and oxygen. It also contributed to the beginnings of atomic theory. His work is an important part of the histories of chemistry and biology.

He is often called the 'Father of Modern Chemistry'. Antoine-Laurent de Lavoisier (26 August 1743 – ) was a French nobleman, chemist and biologist.

Antoine lavoisier atomic theory