Amadeo Avogadro - Physics Essay Example

Lorenzo Romano Amadeo Carlo Avogadro son of Cavaliere Philippo Avogadro and Anna Vercelloni was born in Turin. His lineage had a history in the legal profession. Avogadro eared his philosophical degree in 1789 and a baccalaureate in law in 1792. He established a legal practice which kept him till 1800. He began his research in physics thereafter. He in 1808 published, Considerations on which the state on non-conducting matter must be, when interposed between two surfaces endued with opposite electricities (Aurelianus, 2017).

The memoir in which he postulated his important hypothesis and for which he is known best for is that, equal volumes of gas are composed of equal numbers of molecules. It was then published in 1811 when Avogadro was appointed as the chair for mathematical physics at the University of Turin in 1820-1822 which was thereafter dissolved due to the political tension of the time. Avogadro was granted the title of professor emeritus because his accomplishments had earned him respect, he earned an annual salary of 600 lire. Avogadro during his stay in Vercelli wrote a concise note that he declared the hypothesis which is now known as Avogadro law.

Gas laws

Pressure of air at constant volume

Materials and apparatus

Crushed ice

Aluminum container or water bath tripod

Bourdon gauge

Rubber bung and tubing

Round bottomed flask, 250ml

Electric kettle to provide hot water or tripod and Bunsen burner.

Heatproof gloves

Thermometer -10 to 110c

Technical notes and health & safety

The heatproof gloves are useful when handling the flask and water after the experiment unless they are left to cool down.

Should a rotary vacuum be used, it is too heavy for one person to lift.

Accuracy of this measurements on the demonstration can be improved by ensuring that the neck of the flask is in the water. It would mean using a clamp to keep the flask in the water

Procedure

Connect the Bourdon gauge to the flask

Note the reading on the gauge when after first immersing the flask in cold water. Then note the reading with the flask in hot water.

Notes

Molecules of the cooled air inside the flask move slowly with less violent collisions implying low pressure. Molecules move faster with increase in temperature implying a rise in pressure (Practicalphysics.org, 2017).

At about 40 kN m-2pressure changes between 0-100 c.

When you connect a T-piece and tap, you could pump out almost two thirds of the air and then experiment another density.

We could predict a temperature at which pressure would be zero knowing that pressure decreases with decrease in temperature.

References

Aurelianus, A. (2017). Amedeo Avogadro - New World Encyclopedia. [online] Newworldencyclopedia.org. Available at: http://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Amedeo_Avogadro [Accessed 10 Nov. 2017].

Practicalphysics.org. (2017). Pressure of air at constant volume. [online] Available at: http://practicalphysics.org/pressure-air-constant-volume.html [Accessed 10 Nov. 2017].