Antoine Lavoisier Research Paper

Biography
Do you ever wonder who named elements? Do you ever think about who helped make the metric system?The answer is simple. A man by the name of Antoine Lavoisier named a couple of elements, he even discovered an element. He also worked with the french government for the metric system. Antoine Lavoisier was a young man from Paris, France. He was born on August 26, 1743. His father was a lawyer by the name of Jean Antoine Lavoisier. Jean married the daughter from a rich family in Paris. This women was Émilie Punctis, mother of Antoine Lavoisier. His father made lots of money practicing law and his mother never had to work because she came from a rich family. Both of his parents made lots of money so Antoine grew up with a wealthy family. Sadly, his mother died when Antoine was only 5 years old. With all this happening at such a young age, all Antoine had was his father to depend on and all the money his mother had left behind when she died. The loss of his mother did not stop Antoine from pursuing his dreams. He showed lots of interest in math, chemistry, and Astronomy in school. He wanted to be able to reach his goal by being a scientist. There is no doubt that Antoine would be able to reach his one goal , but his father only saw his interest as a
silly hobbies, not a career. His father wanted him to get a degree in law and practice law just like he did. Antoine did not hesitate to please his father’s wishes. He went to the Collège des Quatre-Nations to study law. He started his education there in 1754 and ended in 1761. His father was all he had besides money, it was important to make him proud. So he went on to get a Bachelors degree in law. Although he knew he showed no passion for law, he wanted to make his father proud. Antoine had everything ready to become a lawyer after receiving his Bachelor’s Degree in law. After he received a license, he decided he was not going to practice law after all. He knew science has a place in his heart that a law career could never take place in, After lots of consideration, the choice between being a lawyer or a scientist is finally over. After a huge career transfer, Antoine needed to put thought on what he needed to be a scientist. He needed 2 things first to become a scientist. First thing was getting a partner. Antonie would need a partner he could trust and work with him full time. It wasn’t until he met Marie-Anne Paulze. He decided she was going to be the perfect partner for him, so he also married her. They were married when Marie was only 13 years old. Marie was fully educated when she married Antoine. Note that being married with an age gap was completely normal for people in the 1700’s-1800’s. Second thing he would need to be a scientist is a degree and study science. He went back to school for science in 1761 at the University of Paris. He graduated with his masters in 1963.
Getting a partner and going back to school was the best thing for him.
It lead him to a huge success in Antoine’s career. He named 3 elements, he helped create the metric system, he discovered 1 element, and he discovered the Law of Conservation. Because of all his hard work, today he is seen as The Father of Modern Chemistry. Today, we know that Hydrogen and Oxygen is in water, Only 2 countries in the world don’t use the metric system, we know that mass is isolated, etc. Although Antoine worked for the french government, he was executed. They completely cut off his head from his body. Sadly, Antoine Lavoisier died on May 8, 1794. He is man that changed the way scientist see the science
world, Contributions to Society As you recall, Antoine and his partner Marie had a huge success because of the discoveries. One of was naming the elements. Antoine named 3 elements, Hydrogen was one of them. On the periodic table, Hydrogen has the atomic number one and it is also the lightest element. Although it was discovered in 1766 by Henry Cavendish, it had no name. In 1799, Antoine came into the picture and named this element. Hydrogen is broken down into 2 parts. “Hydro” means water and “gene” means forming. The second element Antoine and Marie named was Oxygen. Oxygen has the atomic number eight. Oxygen was discovered by Joseph Priestley and Carl Wilhelm Scheele in 1772. In 1774, Antoine named the element “oxygen”. “Oxy” meant acid and “gene” which means form. The 3rd element Antoine named was Carbon. The element is quite a bit older than the rest of the elements he named. It was discovered in 3750 B.C. Antoine named it carbon because of the latin “Carbo” meaning “Charcoal”. It has the atomic number of 6 on the periodic table. Although he named 3 elements, he also discovered an element. The element he discovered was Sulfur. Sulfur has the atomic number 16. This element was mistakened for a compound until Antoine proved that it was actually an element. Sulfur can be found around hot springs and volcanic regions.
Aside from the elements, Antoine also discovered The Law of Conservation. The Law of conservation Mass was a law that Antoine discovered. It stated that mass is an isolated system is neither created nor destroyed by chemicals reactions or physical transformation.