Jeremias Benjamin Richter
Encyclopedia
Jeremias Benjamin Richter (March 10, 1762 – April 14, 1807) was a German chemist
. He was born at Hirschberg
in Silesia
, became a mining official at Breslau in 1794, and in 1800 was appointed assessor to the department of mines and chemist to the royal porcelain factory at Berlin
, where he died.
and bases acids, and of arriving at the conception that those amounts of different bases which can saturate the same quantity of a particular acid are equivalent to each other. (titration
)
He was thus led to conclude that chemistry is a branch of applied mathematics and to endeavour to trace a law according to which the quantities of different bases required to saturate a given acid formed an arithmetical progression, and the quantities of acids saturating a given base a geometric progression
.
(MgO), for example, to neutralize 1000 parts by weight of sulfuric acid
. A few years later, when Joseph Proust
reported his work on the constant composition of chemical compounds, the time was ripe for the reinvention of an atomic theory. The law of definite proportions
and constant composition do not prove that atoms exist, but they are difficult to explain without assuming that chemical compounds are formed when atoms combine in constant proportions.
This was partly because some of his work was wrongly ascribed to Carl Wenzel
by Jons Berzelius through a mistake which was only corrected in 1841 by Henri Hess
, professor of chemistry at St. Petersburg, and author of the laws of constant heat-sums and of thermoneutrality.
, which he defined as the art of chemical measurements, which has to deal with the laws according to which substances unite to form chemical compounds.
Richter was fascinated with the role of mathematics in chemistry. Unfortunately his writing style has been described as obscure and clumsy. His work therefore had little impact until 1802, when it was summarized by Ernst Gottfried Fischer
in terms of tables.
Chemist
A chemist is a scientist trained in the study of chemistry. Chemists study the composition of matter and its properties such as density and acidity. Chemists carefully describe the properties they study in terms of quantities, with detail on the level of molecules and their component atoms...
. He was born at Hirschberg
Jelenia Góra
----Jelenia Góra is a city in Lower Silesia, south-western Poland. The name of the city means "deer mountain" in Polish, Czech and German. It is close to the Krkonoše mountain range running along the Polish-Czech border – ski resorts such as Karpacz and Szklarska Poręba can be found...
in Silesia
Silesia
Silesia is a historical region of Central Europe located mostly in Poland, with smaller parts also in the Czech Republic, and Germany.Silesia is rich in mineral and natural resources, and includes several important industrial areas. Silesia's largest city and historical capital is Wrocław...
, became a mining official at Breslau in 1794, and in 1800 was appointed assessor to the department of mines and chemist to the royal porcelain factory at Berlin
Berlin
Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...
, where he died.
Developer of titration
To him belongs the merit of carrying out some of the earliest determinations of the quantities by weight in which acids saturate basesBases
Bases may refer to:*Bases , a military style of dress adopted by the chivalry of the sixteenth century.*Business Association of Stanford Entrepreneurial Students...
and bases acids, and of arriving at the conception that those amounts of different bases which can saturate the same quantity of a particular acid are equivalent to each other. (titration
Titration
Titration, also known as titrimetry, is a common laboratory method of quantitative chemical analysis that is used to determine the unknown concentration of an identified analyte. Because volume measurements play a key role in titration, it is also known as volumetric analysis. A reagent, called the...
)
He was thus led to conclude that chemistry is a branch of applied mathematics and to endeavour to trace a law according to which the quantities of different bases required to saturate a given acid formed an arithmetical progression, and the quantities of acids saturating a given base a geometric progression
Geometric progression
In mathematics, a geometric progression, also known as a geometric sequence, is a sequence of numbers where each term after the first is found by multiplying the previous one by a fixed non-zero number called the common ratio. For example, the sequence 2, 6, 18, 54, ... is a geometric progression...
.
Law of definite proportions (stoichiometry)
Evidence for the existence of atoms was the law of definite proportions proposed by him in 1792. Richter found that the ratio by weight of the compounds consumed in a chemical reaction was always the same. It took 615 parts by weight of magnesiaMagnesium oxide
Magnesium oxide , or magnesia, is a white hygroscopic solid mineral that occurs naturally as periclase and is a source of magnesium . It has an empirical formula of and consists of a lattice of Mg2+ ions and O2– ions held together by ionic bonds...
(MgO), for example, to neutralize 1000 parts by weight of sulfuric acid
Sulfuric acid
Sulfuric acid is a strong mineral acid with the molecular formula . Its historical name is oil of vitriol. Pure sulfuric acid is a highly corrosive, colorless, viscous liquid. The salts of sulfuric acid are called sulfates...
. A few years later, when Joseph Proust
Joseph Proust
Joseph Louis Proust was a French chemist.-Life:Joseph L. Proust was born on September 26, 1754 in Angers, France. His father served as an apothecary in Angers. Joseph studied chemistry in his father’s shop and later came to Paris where he gained the appointment of apothecary in chief to the...
reported his work on the constant composition of chemical compounds, the time was ripe for the reinvention of an atomic theory. The law of definite proportions
Law of definite proportions
In chemistry, the law of definite proportions, sometimes called Proust's Law, states that a chemical compound always contains exactly the same proportion of elements by mass. An equivalent statement is the law of constant composition, which states that all samples of a given chemical compound have...
and constant composition do not prove that atoms exist, but they are difficult to explain without assuming that chemical compounds are formed when atoms combine in constant proportions.
Publications
His results were published in Der Stochiometrie oder Messkunst chemischer Elemente (1792–1794), and Über die neueren Gegenstände in der Chemie (1792–1802), but it was long before they were properly appreciated, or he himself accorded due credit for them.This was partly because some of his work was wrongly ascribed to Carl Wenzel
Carl Friedrich Wenzel
Carl Friedrich Wenzel was a German chemist and metallurgist who determined the reaction rates of various chemicals, establishing, for example, that the amount of metal that dissolves in an acid is proportional to the concentration of acid in the solution...
by Jons Berzelius through a mistake which was only corrected in 1841 by Henri Hess
Germain Henri Hess
Germain Henri Hess was a Swiss-born Russian chemist and doctor who formulated Hess's Law, an early principle of thermochemistry.-Early days:...
, professor of chemistry at St. Petersburg, and author of the laws of constant heat-sums and of thermoneutrality.
Late ages
Between 1792 and 1794 he published a three-volume summary of his work on the law of definite proportions. In this book Richter introduced the term stoichiometryStoichiometry
Stoichiometry is a branch of chemistry that deals with the relative quantities of reactants and products in chemical reactions. In a balanced chemical reaction, the relations among quantities of reactants and products typically form a ratio of whole numbers...
, which he defined as the art of chemical measurements, which has to deal with the laws according to which substances unite to form chemical compounds.
Richter was fascinated with the role of mathematics in chemistry. Unfortunately his writing style has been described as obscure and clumsy. His work therefore had little impact until 1802, when it was summarized by Ernst Gottfried Fischer
Ernst Gottfried Fischer
Ernst Gottfried Fischer was a German chemist. He was born in Hoheneiche near Saalfeld. After studying theology and mathematics at the University of Halle, he was a teacher in Berlin before becoming Professor of Physics in 1810. He translated Claude Berthollet's publication Recherches sur les lois...
in terms of tables.