Boyle, Robert contributions

The above evidence brings us to the importance of experimentation with gases for the understanding of chemistry, and the desired connection with the representa-tional/symbolic and submicro levels. History of chemistry is of paramount importance here. First, tribute must be paid to the great contribution to the role of the experiment in chemistry by Robert Boyle (1627-1691). Consequently, a diversion to the history of the study of gases is deemed essential. ... 

In 1661 Robert Boyle (1627-1691), an early chemist from Great Britain, published a book tided The Skeptical Chymist, which was the beginning of the end of alchemy. His book ruled the perceptions and behavior of early scientists for almost 100 years. Two of his contributions were the use of experimental procedures to determine properties of the chemical elements... 

In the Royal Society, the prominence of Boyle, and later of Newton has tended to overshadow the scientific importance of other early Fellows, but among those whose contributions to the new science were far from inconsiderable Robert Hooke, the Society s first curator of experiments, cannot be ignored. A new critical account of... 

The British scientist Robert Boyle made many contributions in the fields of medicine, astronomy, physics, and chemistry. However, he is best known for his work on the behavior of gases. In 1662, Boyle found that when the temperature is held constant, the pressure of a trapped amount of gas (any gas) is inversely proportional to its volume. That is, when the pressure of the gas increases, the volume of the gas decreases when the pressure of the gas decreases, the volume of the gas increases. Boyle s Law can be written mathematically as follows ... 

Robert Boyle (1627-1691). British chemist and natural philosopher. Although Boyle is commonly associated with the gas law tiiat bears his name, he made many odier significant contributions in chemistry and physics. Although he was often at odds with contenporary scientists, his book The Skeptical Chymist (1661) influenced generations of chemists. 

The first scientist to recognize the importance of careful measurements was the Irishman Robert Boyle (1627-1691). Boyle is best known for his pioneering work on the properties of gases, but his most important contribution to science was probably his insistence that science should be firmly grounded In experiments. For example, Boyle held no preconceived notions about how many elements there might be. His definition of the term element was based on experiments a substance was an element unless it could be broken down into two or more simpler substances. For example, air could not be an element as the Greeks believed, because it could be broken down into many pure substances. 

In addition to his important work on the properties of gases, what other valuable contributions did Robert Boyle make to the development of the study of chemistry ... 

The first chemist to perform truly quantitative experiments was Robert Boyle (1627-1691), who carefully measured the relationship between the pressure and volume of air. When Boyle published his book The Skeptical Chymist in 1661, the quantitative sciences of physics and chemistry were bom. In addition to his results on the quantitative behavior of gases, Boyle s other major contribution to chemistry consisted of his ideas about the chemical elements. Boyle held no preconceived notion about the number of elements. In his view, a substance was an element unless it could be broken down into two or more simpler substances. As Boyle s experimental definition of an element became generally accepted, the list of known elements began to grow, and the Greek system of four elements finally died. Although Boyle was an excellent scientist. 

Paracelsus was the founder of iatrochemistry, the chemistry of vital processes. Its leading idea was that the vital processes are of chemical nature. They cannot be understood without general knowledge of chemistry, and this knowledge is created in the laboratory. Health presupposed balance between the different chemical principles. Balance and health were obtained by the intake of medicines, often containing lead, mercury, antimony and even arsenic. Phosphorus was added to the medical list after its discovery. Perhaps iatrochemistry did not contribute so very much to public health but it did create chemical knowledge about many substances. Robert Boyle s criticism of the so-called chemical principles - sulfur, mercury, salt - in The Sceptical Chymist in 1661 took the sting out of iatrochemistry. The old ideas were superseded by new ones in the chemistry of the 18 century. 

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