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Ann Karimbabai Massihi

Sveti Patel

Sandy Saekoh

Thomas Choe

Chemistry 480

Dr. Harold Goldwhite

Henry Cavendish

I. Childhood

A. Henry Cavendish was born in Nice, France, on 10 October1731, and died alone on 24

February 1810.

B. His parental grandfather was and his maternal grandfather was Duke

of Kent

1 C. His parents were English aristocrats.

D. His father was , a member of Royal Society in and an

experimental scientist.

E. His father made his own scientific equipment for him.

II. Education

A. At age of 11, he attended Dr. Newcome’s Academy in Hackney, London from 1749-1753.

B. In 1749, he went to Peterhouse College.

C. He left the college at 1753 without a degree.

D. His father encouraged his scientific interest and introduced him to the Royal Society and

he became a member in 1760.

III. Papers

A. Since he did his scientific investigation for his pleasure, he was careless in publishing the

results.

B. In 1776, he published his 1st paper about the existence of as a substance.

1. He received the of the Royal Society for this achievement.

C. In 1771, a theoretical study of electricity.

D. In 1784, the synthesis of water.

E. In 1798, the determination of the .

IV. Experiments

A. Fixed air (CO2) produced by mixing acids and bases.

B. “Inflammable air” (hydrogen) generated by the action of acid on .

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Figure 1. Cavendish's apparatus for making and collecting hydrogen

Gas bladder used by Henry Cavendish

3 C. The air produced during decay and fermentation.

D. He measured the specific of H2 and CO2 comparing it with the common air

(atmosphere).

E. In 1783, he found that the composition of the atmosphere is the same in different locations

and at different times.

F. He also found that a small fraction of “common air” seems to be inert.

G. He demonstrated that water is produced when hydrogen burns in air. So water is a

compound and not an element.

H. By sending electric sparks through ‘common air’ he caused the to combine with

.

1. When this gas was dissolved in water, it produced .

V. Works on

A. The important part was on electricity and gravitation.

B. Although he found that electric fields obey the inverse square law, much of his work was

done by Michael Faraday, Charles Coulomb and others in next 50 years.

C. None of his experiments were know until published them in 1879.

D. Then, he worked on the production of heat and determined the freezing point for many

materials.

VI. Works on astronomy

A. He had 5 papers in this regard.

B. The most important one was in 1798, when he announced his determination of Newton’s

gravitational constant, thereby deriving the and of the .

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Henry Cavendish (1731-1810) built a torsion balance to measure the gravitational between two large , so that he could make the first calculation of the mass of the earth.

Cavendish was a great scientist and was honored by the naming of the Cavendish Labratories at the .

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Cavendish Lab Sign (RR)

7 Works Cited

1. Copernicus, Abbot. Biological Encyclopedia of Scientists. Ed. Roger Smith. New York,

London, Toronto: Marshal Cavendish.

2. Porter, Roy, and Marilyn Ogilvie, ed. The Biological Dictionary of Scientist 1(2000): 222-

223. 3 rd ed. New York: , 2000.

3. Cavendish, Henry. Experiments on Air. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of

London, Vol. 74. (1784), pp. 119-153. http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0261-

0523%281784%2974%3C119%3AEOABHC%3E2.0.CO%3B2-V.

4. SEITZ, FREDERICK. Henry Cavendish: The Catalyst for the .

PROCEEDINGS OF THE AMERICAN PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY, VOL. 148, NO. 2,

JUNE 2004. http://www.aps-pub.com/proceedings/1482/480201.pdf.

5. Berry, Arthur J. Henry Cavendish-His Life and Scientific Work. London: Hutchinson & CO.

LTD, 1960.

6. Wilson, George. The honorable Henry Cavendish. London: Cavendish Society, 1900.

7. Seitz, Frederick. Henry Cavendish: The Catalyst for the Chemical Revolution. Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society. (June 2004): Vol. 148, 2: pp.151-179

8. “Henry Cavendish.” World of . Online. Thomas Gale, 2006

9. “Henry Cavendish.” Science and Its Times, Vol. 4:1700-1799. Gale Group, 2001

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