CHAPTER VII
MOLECULES AND ATOMS. THE LAWS OF GAY-LUSSAC AND AVOGADRO-GERHARDT
Hydrogen combines with oxygen in the proportion of two volumes to one. The composition by volume of nitrous oxide is exactly similar—it is composed of two volumes of nitrogen and one volume of oxygen. By decomposing ammonia by the action of an electric spark it is easy to prove that it contains one volume of nitrogen to three volumes of hydrogen. So, similarly, it is found, whenever a compound is decomposed and the volumes of the gases proceeding from it are measured, that the volumes of the gases or vapours entering into combination are in a very simple proportion to one another. With water, nitrous oxide, &c., this may be proved by direct observation; but in the majority of cases, and especially with substances which, although volatile—that is, capable of passing into a gaseous (or vaporous) state—are liquid at the ordinary temperature, such a direct method of observation presents many difficulties. But, then, if the densities of the vapours and gases be known, the same simplicity in their ratio is shown by calculation. The volume of a substance is proportional to its weight, and inversely proportional to its density, and therefore by dividing the amount by weight of each substance entering into the composition of a compound by its density in the gaseous or vaporous state we shall obtain factors which will be in the same proportion as the volumes of the substances entering into the composition of the compound.[1] So, for example, water contains eight parts by weight of oxygen to one part by weight of hydrogen, and their densities are 16 and 1, consequently their volumes (or the above-mentioned factors) are 1 and ½, and therefore it is seen without direct experiment that water contains two volumes of hydrogen for every one volume of oxygen. So also, knowing that nitric oxide contains fourteen parts of nitrogen and sixteen parts of oxygen, and knowing that the specific gravities of these last two gases are fourteen and sixteen, we find that the volumes in which nitrogen and oxygen combine for the formation of nitric oxide are in the proportion of 1 : 1. We will cite another example. In the last [chapter] we saw that the density of NO2 only becomes constant and equal to twenty-three (referred to hydrogen) above 135°, and as a matterof fact a method of direct observation of the volumetric composition of this substance would be very difficult at so high a temperature. But it may be easily calculated. NO2, as is seen from its formula and analysis, contains thirty-two parts by weight of oxygen to fourteen parts by weight of nitrogen, forming forty-six parts by weight of NO2, and knowing the densities of these gases we find that one volume of nitrogen with two volumes of oxygen gives two volumes of nitrogen peroxide. Therefore, knowing the amounts by weight of the substances participating in a reaction or forming a given substance, and knowing the density of the gas or vapour,[2] the volumetric relations of the substances acting in a reaction or entering into the composition of a compound, may be also determined.
Such an investigation (either direct, or by calculation from the densities and composition) of every chemical reaction, resulting in the formation of definite chemical compounds, shows that the volumes of the reacting substances in a gaseous or vaporous state are either equal or are in simple multiple proportion.[3] This forms the first law of those discovered by Gay-Lussac. It may be formulated as follows: The amounts of substances entering into chemical reaction occupy under similar physical conditions, in a gaseous or vaporous state, equal or simple multiple volumes. This law refers not only to elements, but also to compounds entering into mutual chemical combination; thus, for example, one volume of ammonia gas combines with one volume of hydrogen chloride. For in the formation of sal-ammoniac, NH4Cl, there enter into reaction 17 parts by weight of ammonia, NH3, which is 8·5 times denser than hydrogen, and 36·5 parts by weight of hydrogen chloride, whose vapour density is 18·25 times that of hydrogen, as has been proved by direct experiment. By dividing the weights by the respective densities we find that the volume of ammonia, NH3, is equal to two, and so also the volume of hydrogen chloride. Hence the volumes of the compounds which here combine together are equal to each other. Taking into consideration that the law of Gay-Lussac holds good, not only for elements, but also for compounds, it should be expressed as follows: Substances interact with one another in commensurable volumes of their vapours.[4]
The law of combining volumes and the law of multiple proportion were discovered independently of each other—the one in France by Gay-Lussac, the other in England by Dalton—almost simultaneously. In the language of the atomic hypothesis it may be said that atomic quantities of elements occupy equal or multiple volumes.
The first law of Gay-Lussac expresses the relation between the volumes of the component parts of a compound. Let us now consider the relation existing between the volumes of the component parts and of the compounds which proceed from them. This may sometimes be determined by direct observation. Thus the volume occupied by water, formed by two volumes of hydrogen and one volume of oxygen, may be determined by the aid of the apparatus shown in fig. [56]. The long glass tube is closed at the top and open at the bottom, which is immersed in a cylinder containing mercury. The closed end is furnished with wires like a eudiometer. The tube is filled with mercury, and then a certain volume of detonating gas is introduced. This gas is obtained from the decomposition of water, and therefore in every three volumes contains two volumes of hydrogen and one volume of oxygen. The tube is surrounded by a second and wider glass tube, and the vapour of a substance boiling above 100°—that is, whose boiling point is higher than that of water—is passed through the annular space between them. Amyl alcohol, whose boiling point is 132°, may be taken for this purpose. The amyl alcohol is boiled in the vessel to the right hand and its vapour passed between the walls of the two tubes. In the case of amyl alcohol the outer glass tube should be connected with a condenser to prevent the escape into the air of the unpleasant-smelling vapour. The detonating gas is thus heated up to a temperature of 132°. When its volume becomes constant it is measured, the height of the column of mercury in the tube above the level of the mercury in the cylinder being noted. Let this volume equal v; it will therefore contain ⅓ v of oxygen and ⅔ v of hydrogen. The current of vapour is then stopped, and the gas exploded; water is formed, which condenses into a liquid. The volume occupied by the vapour of the water formed has now to be determined. For this purpose the vapour of the amyl alcohol is again passed between the tubes, and thus the whole of the water formed is converted into vapour at the same temperature as that at which the detonating gas was measured; and the cylinder of mercury being raised until the column of mercury in the tube stands at the same height above the surface of the mercury in the cylinder as it did before the explosion, it is found that the volume of the water formed is equal to ⅔ v—that is, it is equal to the volume of the hydrogen contained in it. Consequently the volumetric composition of water is expressed in the following terms: Two volumes of hydrogen combine with one volume of oxygen to form two volumes of aqueous vapour. For substances which are gaseous at the ordinary temperature, this direct method of observation is sometimes very easily conducted; for instance, with ammonia, nitric and nitrous oxides. Thus to determine the composition by volume of nitrous oxide, the above-described apparatus may be employed. Nitrous oxide is introduced into the tube, and after measuring its volume electric sparks are passed through the gas; it is then found that two volumes of nitrous oxide have given three volumes of gases—namely, two volumes of nitrogen and one volume of oxygen. Consequently the composition of nitrous oxide is similar to that of water; two volumes of nitrogen and one volume of oxygen give two volumes of nitrous oxide. By decomposing ammonia it is found to be composed in such a manner that two volumes give one volume of nitrogen and three volumes of hydrogen; also two volumes of nitric oxide are formed by the union of one volume of oxygen with one volume of nitrogen. The same relations may be proved by calculation from the vapour densities, as was described above.
