Berzehus, Jons Jakob

Sir Humphry Davy attempted to isolate this unidentified element through electrolysis—but failed. It was not until 1824 that Jons Jakob Berzehus (1779—1848), who had earlier discovered cerium, osmium, and iridium, became the first person to separate the element silicon from its compound molecule and then identify it as a new element. Berzehus did this by a two-step process that basically involved heating potassium metal chips with a form of silica (SiF = silicon tetrafluoride) and then separating the resulting mixture of potassium fluoride and silica (SiF + 4K —> 4KF + Si). Today, commercial production of sihcon features a chemical reaction (reduction) between sand (SiO ) and carbon at temperatures over 2,200°C (SiO + 2C + heat— 2CO + Si). 

Selenium was discovered in the early 1800s by Jons Jakob Berzehus (1779—1848) along with a friend Wilhelm Hisinger (1766—1852), who was a mineralogist. Berzehus believed tellurium was contaminating the product in a sulfuric acid factory. Later, he found it to be another element similar to tellurium. After isolating it, he identified it as element 34, which turned out to be selenium. 

Similar to the discovery of many other elements, cerium was detected simultaneously by several different scientists. In 1803 the Swedish chemist Jons Jakob Berzehus (1770—1848)... 

Although developed a generation later, Jons Jakob Berzelius s electrochemistry can be considered as part of this movement. BerzeHus conceived chemical affinity as the result of the play of electric polarities, and at the same time explained the definite proportions observed in chemical combinations in terms of the combination of the corresponding atoms of each element. Hegel, on the other hand, who dedicated a part of his Encyclopedia of the Positive Sciences to chemistry, rejected any association of the stoichiometric proportions of compounds with the idea of atoms, as he rejected the material nature of the element itself Hegel... 

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