JÖNS JACOB BERZELIUS

Jöns Jacob Berzelius

Lorenn Martínez Espada

Introduction

Why did I choose him

Discoverments:

Law of definite proportions

Chemical nomenclature

Discoverment of new chemical elements

New chemical terms

Great contribution to biology

Bibliography

Index

Introduction

Jöns Jacob Berzelius, born the 20th August 1779 in Östergötland (Sweden) and dead the 17th August 1848 in Stockholm (Sweden) was a doctor, chemist and pharmacist who invented the actual chemical notation system, discovered new chemical elements and set new terms that have made him one of the most important people in the modern chemistry.

Why did I choose him?

I have chose him because meanwhile I was researching, his name suddenly came up and I searched why was him famous and what did he do, and for me, it was very interesting and important for the actual chemistry.

Discoverments

Law of definite proportions

After arriving to Stockholm, he wrote a chemistry book for his medicine students. Meanwhile he performed some experiments for his book, he used the Law of Definite Proportions by Joseph Louis Proust and proved that inorganic substances are made of different elements in constant proportions with weight. Thanks to that fact, in 1828, he collected a table of relative atomic weights, where the oxygen’s atomic weight was determined in 100 and provided evidence to the Dalton’s atomic theory (inorganic chemical compounds are made of combined atoms in entire amounts).

Chemical nomenclature

He carried out a new chemical notation system in which each element was named with simple symbols. It was that simple as name each element with the first letter of its latin name, adding a second letter if it was required to distingish it from another element with its same first letter. In addition, its proportions were indicated with numbers. It is the same system that we use today, but the only difference was that Jöns used superscripts and now we use subscripts. This idea took a lot of years to be universally accepted.

Discoverment of new chemical elements

Berzelius, that is considered as the “first analyst of XIX century”, discovered thorium (Th), selenium (Se) and cerium (Ce) and was the first person to isolate silicon (Si) in 1823, zirconium (Zr) in 1824 and titanium (Ti) in 1828. The students who were working with him, discovered lithium (Li) in 1817 and rediscovered vanadium (V) in 1830. Jöns was the one that proposed those names along with sodium (Na). Finally, he studied the combinations of sulfur (S) with phosphorus (P), fluorine (F) and fluorides (F-).

New chemical terms

Thanks to Berzelius, we can use now the following terms; catalysis, polymer, isomeric, isomerism, halogen, organic radical and allotrope radical even its original definitions differ from the actual meaning that we use.

Great contribution to biology

He was the first to make a distinction between organic compounds and inorganic compounds. And the term “protein” was proposed by Berzelius due that those molecules looked like the primitive substance of the animal alimentation that plants prepare to herbivores.

Bibliography

https://datos.bne.es/persona/XX1511853.html

https://www.biografiasyvidas.com/biografia/b/berzelius.htm

https://rinconeducativo.org/es/recursos-educativos/jons-jacob-berzelius-padre-de-la-notacion-quimica-actual/

Thanks for your attention! :)