Guillermo Restrepo
- Published in print:
- 2020
- Published Online:
- July 2020
- ISBN:
- 9780190933784
- eISBN:
- 9780197508442
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso/9780190933784.003.0013
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Philosophy of Science
A chemical element, treated as a concept, entails objects and attributes. From the eighteenth century to date, objects include substances up to quasi-molecular species and nuclides. Attributes range ...
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A chemical element, treated as a concept, entails objects and attributes. From the eighteenth century to date, objects include substances up to quasi-molecular species and nuclides. Attributes range from non-decomposability up to lifetimes of 10-14 seconds. By analyzing the historical changes of the concept, we found the central role “chemical reaction” has played. However, historical changes of objects and attributes of the concept of chemical element lead to expand chemical reactions to the more general “chemical relations,” which contain traditional chemical reactions and any kind of relation between chemical species. In such a setting, a general structure for the concept of chemical element is presented that entails chemical species as objects and detected chemical relations and experimental measurement of atomic number as attributes.Less
A chemical element, treated as a concept, entails objects and attributes. From the eighteenth century to date, objects include substances up to quasi-molecular species and nuclides. Attributes range from non-decomposability up to lifetimes of 10-14 seconds. By analyzing the historical changes of the concept, we found the central role “chemical reaction” has played. However, historical changes of objects and attributes of the concept of chemical element lead to expand chemical reactions to the more general “chemical relations,” which contain traditional chemical reactions and any kind of relation between chemical species. In such a setting, a general structure for the concept of chemical element is presented that entails chemical species as objects and detected chemical relations and experimental measurement of atomic number as attributes.
Robin Findlay Hendry
- Published in print:
- 2020
- Published Online:
- July 2020
- ISBN:
- 9780190933784
- eISBN:
- 9780197508442
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso/9780190933784.003.0008
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Philosophy of Science
Philosophers sometimes discuss the “ontological status” of this or that kind of entity. They should be addressing one of the following questions, or the word ontological is being misused:
1. Does X ...
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Philosophers sometimes discuss the “ontological status” of this or that kind of entity. They should be addressing one of the following questions, or the word ontological is being misused:
1. Does X exist?
2. Under what conditions can X exist?
3. Do we have good reasons to think that X exists?
All three questions can be asked about elements, and have been asked. Aristotle criticized the atomist account of chemical combination, according to which elements survive in their compounds. Eighteenth-century chemists rejected the Aristotelian view, although tacitly; they simply assumed that an element lives on in its compounds. Nineteenth-century chemists gradually adopted (an adapted form of) atomism, according to which an element can exist wherever its characteristic atoms do. The periodic table also allowed them to ask, of its empty spaces, whether they correspond to real but unknown elements. Priority disputes forced them to consider when there is sufficient evidence for the discovery of new elements. In the 1920s, IUPAC proposed a very thin definition of an element, according to which an element exists wherever its characteristic nuclear charge does. But according to some scientists, it is now challenged by the fleeting existence of some superheavy elements; if a nucleus cannot survive long enough to acquire a stable electronic structure, then it cannot be said to have any chemical properties. How then can it be called a chemical element? In this paper I explore this latest ontological question, in the light of a sufficiently nuanced understanding of earlier ones. I then relate this discussion to a more general question about existence: the Special Composition Question.Less
Philosophers sometimes discuss the “ontological status” of this or that kind of entity. They should be addressing one of the following questions, or the word ontological is being misused:
1. Does X exist?
2. Under what conditions can X exist?
3. Do we have good reasons to think that X exists?
All three questions can be asked about elements, and have been asked. Aristotle criticized the atomist account of chemical combination, according to which elements survive in their compounds. Eighteenth-century chemists rejected the Aristotelian view, although tacitly; they simply assumed that an element lives on in its compounds. Nineteenth-century chemists gradually adopted (an adapted form of) atomism, according to which an element can exist wherever its characteristic atoms do. The periodic table also allowed them to ask, of its empty spaces, whether they correspond to real but unknown elements. Priority disputes forced them to consider when there is sufficient evidence for the discovery of new elements. In the 1920s, IUPAC proposed a very thin definition of an element, according to which an element exists wherever its characteristic nuclear charge does. But according to some scientists, it is now challenged by the fleeting existence of some superheavy elements; if a nucleus cannot survive long enough to acquire a stable electronic structure, then it cannot be said to have any chemical properties. How then can it be called a chemical element? In this paper I explore this latest ontological question, in the light of a sufficiently nuanced understanding of earlier ones. I then relate this discussion to a more general question about existence: the Special Composition Question.
Farzad Mahootian
- Published in print:
- 2020
- Published Online:
- July 2020
- ISBN:
- 9780190933784
- eISBN:
- 9780197508442
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso/9780190933784.003.0009
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Philosophy of Science
The concept of element is fundamental to modern chemistry and yet it embodies an apparently persistent ambiguity that has remained unresolved for the nearly one hundred years since it was made ...
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The concept of element is fundamental to modern chemistry and yet it embodies an apparently persistent ambiguity that has remained unresolved for the nearly one hundred years since it was made official by the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemists (IUPAC) in 1923. This chapter presents a take on why this definition has the form it does, how it arose, and why it persists. Following the introductory overview, there are two historical sections, one on Immanuel Kant whose imprint on modern philosophy and science persists in various forms, including the genesis and interpretation of the IUPAC definition. Kant initially dismissed chemistry as a science, though he had a lifelong interest in this area. In his later years, his opinion about chemistry changed in response to the rapid growth of the field in the late 1700s. This change of mind had a profound impact on him; he began, but could not finish, a significant revision to his critical philosophy of science. The other historical section is on Ernst Cassirer, founder of the Marburg school of neo-Kantian thought, who wrote about chemistry both before and after the IUPAC definition above. Despite Cassirer’s deep engagement with the cultural and intellectual history and philosophy of science, very little is to be found about him in the literature of the philosophy of chemistry. The chapter concludes with a comparison of Cassirer’s relational understanding of chemistry with Guillermo Restrepo’s mathematical chemistry, and then with Joachim Schummer’s conceptual analysis of the “chemical core of chemistry.”Less
The concept of element is fundamental to modern chemistry and yet it embodies an apparently persistent ambiguity that has remained unresolved for the nearly one hundred years since it was made official by the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemists (IUPAC) in 1923. This chapter presents a take on why this definition has the form it does, how it arose, and why it persists. Following the introductory overview, there are two historical sections, one on Immanuel Kant whose imprint on modern philosophy and science persists in various forms, including the genesis and interpretation of the IUPAC definition. Kant initially dismissed chemistry as a science, though he had a lifelong interest in this area. In his later years, his opinion about chemistry changed in response to the rapid growth of the field in the late 1700s. This change of mind had a profound impact on him; he began, but could not finish, a significant revision to his critical philosophy of science. The other historical section is on Ernst Cassirer, founder of the Marburg school of neo-Kantian thought, who wrote about chemistry both before and after the IUPAC definition above. Despite Cassirer’s deep engagement with the cultural and intellectual history and philosophy of science, very little is to be found about him in the literature of the philosophy of chemistry. The chapter concludes with a comparison of Cassirer’s relational understanding of chemistry with Guillermo Restrepo’s mathematical chemistry, and then with Joachim Schummer’s conceptual analysis of the “chemical core of chemistry.”
Eric Scerri and Elena Ghibaudi (eds)
- Published in print:
- 2020
- Published Online:
- July 2020
- ISBN:
- 9780190933784
- eISBN:
- 9780197508442
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso/9780190933784.001.0001
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Philosophy of Science
The term “element” is typically used in two distinct senses. First it is taken to mean isolated simple substances such as the green gas chlorine or the yellow solid sulphur. In some languages, ...
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The term “element” is typically used in two distinct senses. First it is taken to mean isolated simple substances such as the green gas chlorine or the yellow solid sulphur. In some languages, including English, it is also used to denote an underlying abstract concept that subsumes simple substances but possesses no properties as such. The allotropes and isotopes of carbon, for example, all represent elements in the sense of simple substances. However, the unique position for the element carbon in the periodic table refers to the abstract sense of “element.”
The dual definition of elements proposed by the International Union for Pure and Applied Chemistry contrasts an abstract meaning and an operational one. Nevertheless, the philosophical aspects of this notion are not fully captured by the IUPAC definition, despite the fact that they were crucial for the construction of the periodic table. This pivotal chemical notion remains ambiguous and such ambiguity raises problems at the epistemic, logical, and educational levels. These aspects are discussed throughout the book, from different perspectives.
This collective book provides an overview of the current state of the debate on the notion of chemical element. Its authors are historians of chemistry, philosophers of chemistry, and chemists with epistemological and educational concerns.Less
The term “element” is typically used in two distinct senses. First it is taken to mean isolated simple substances such as the green gas chlorine or the yellow solid sulphur. In some languages, including English, it is also used to denote an underlying abstract concept that subsumes simple substances but possesses no properties as such. The allotropes and isotopes of carbon, for example, all represent elements in the sense of simple substances. However, the unique position for the element carbon in the periodic table refers to the abstract sense of “element.”
The dual definition of elements proposed by the International Union for Pure and Applied Chemistry contrasts an abstract meaning and an operational one. Nevertheless, the philosophical aspects of this notion are not fully captured by the IUPAC definition, despite the fact that they were crucial for the construction of the periodic table. This pivotal chemical notion remains ambiguous and such ambiguity raises problems at the epistemic, logical, and educational levels. These aspects are discussed throughout the book, from different perspectives.
This collective book provides an overview of the current state of the debate on the notion of chemical element. Its authors are historians of chemistry, philosophers of chemistry, and chemists with epistemological and educational concerns.
Paul U. Unschuld
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- May 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780520257658
- eISBN:
- 9780520944701
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of California Press
- DOI:
- 10.1525/california/9780520257658.003.0064
- Subject:
- Anthropology, Medical Anthropology
This chapter focuses on the thesis of Paracelsus in the new era. Paracelsus wrote that there is nothing inside the body that is not observable from the outside, and that is the antithesis of ...
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This chapter focuses on the thesis of Paracelsus in the new era. Paracelsus wrote that there is nothing inside the body that is not observable from the outside, and that is the antithesis of Vesalius's position. Most of Paracelsus's biographical details are uncertain. Paracelsus, in contrast to Vesalius, did not look into the body and he even did not find the words used convincing. The important thing is that he compared the processes in the body with the processes he had seen at the metal foundry in Carinthia, or somewhere else. He had observed that in nature, external to humans, there are flammable substances. There is an underlying principle to these substances. This he called sulfur, the principle of the sulfuric, that which is oily and flammable. Paracelsus knew no chemical elements but he recognized principles of effect. Fire possessed the greatest meaning for him. It was the most important power that Paracelsus recognized to dissociate, to separate.Less
This chapter focuses on the thesis of Paracelsus in the new era. Paracelsus wrote that there is nothing inside the body that is not observable from the outside, and that is the antithesis of Vesalius's position. Most of Paracelsus's biographical details are uncertain. Paracelsus, in contrast to Vesalius, did not look into the body and he even did not find the words used convincing. The important thing is that he compared the processes in the body with the processes he had seen at the metal foundry in Carinthia, or somewhere else. He had observed that in nature, external to humans, there are flammable substances. There is an underlying principle to these substances. This he called sulfur, the principle of the sulfuric, that which is oily and flammable. Paracelsus knew no chemical elements but he recognized principles of effect. Fire possessed the greatest meaning for him. It was the most important power that Paracelsus recognized to dissociate, to separate.
Hjalmar Fors
- Published in print:
- 2014
- Published Online:
- May 2015
- ISBN:
- 9780226194998
- eISBN:
- 9780226195049
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of Chicago Press
- DOI:
- 10.7208/chicago/9780226195049.003.0005
- Subject:
- History, History of Science, Technology, and Medicine
This chapter investigates the interconnectedness of mining knowledge in a wider German and Swedish cultural sphere, and how the Officials of the Bureau began to distinguish themselves from their ...
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This chapter investigates the interconnectedness of mining knowledge in a wider German and Swedish cultural sphere, and how the Officials of the Bureau began to distinguish themselves from their counterparts in the mining regions of the Holy Roman Empire. It outlines how officials of the Bureau such as Georg Brandt and Axel Fredrik Cronstedt created a new type of mechanical, mineralogical chemistry by integrating chymistry with assaying practices, and with the natural history of e. g., Carl Linnaeus. This thoroughly transformed the production of knowledge at the Bureau, and established the foundations of a new cameralist science of mining, devoid of what now had come to be regarded as superfluous speculation, and with a new theoretical and methodological foundation in chemistry and physics/mechanics.Less
This chapter investigates the interconnectedness of mining knowledge in a wider German and Swedish cultural sphere, and how the Officials of the Bureau began to distinguish themselves from their counterparts in the mining regions of the Holy Roman Empire. It outlines how officials of the Bureau such as Georg Brandt and Axel Fredrik Cronstedt created a new type of mechanical, mineralogical chemistry by integrating chymistry with assaying practices, and with the natural history of e. g., Carl Linnaeus. This thoroughly transformed the production of knowledge at the Bureau, and established the foundations of a new cameralist science of mining, devoid of what now had come to be regarded as superfluous speculation, and with a new theoretical and methodological foundation in chemistry and physics/mechanics.
John Evans
- Published in print:
- 2020
- Published Online:
- January 2021
- ISBN:
- 9780198827832
- eISBN:
- 9780191866562
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso/9780198827832.001.0001
- Subject:
- Physics, Geophysics, Atmospheric and Environmental Physics, Soft Matter / Biological Physics
We have 118 known chemical elements as our palette in our context of sustaining our world. Our context is considered in terms of the four spheres of the ancient world: Earth, Air, Fire and Water. ...
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We have 118 known chemical elements as our palette in our context of sustaining our world. Our context is considered in terms of the four spheres of the ancient world: Earth, Air, Fire and Water. This book shows how chemical principles can be used to understand the pressures on our world spanning from greenhouse emissions through freshwater supplies to energy generation and storage. The supply of the chemical elements is key to their contribution to alleviating these pressures. Most synthetic and radioactive elements are not available in sufficient supply to contribute in this. Some solutions, such as wind turbines, batteries, fuel cells and automotive exhaust remediation pose questions about sustainable supplies of critical elements. With an eye on the target of the IPCC of capping the temperature anomaly to 1.5 oC (RCP2.6), options for carbon capture and storage, and the generation of energy and element supply from the sea are assessed. The consequences of the escape of plastics and pharmaceuticals into the wider environment for water integrity are also considered. This book is designed around providing a one semester course for students who have entered at least the second level of university chemistry. It provides explanations and entries to current environmental issues. For students of environmental science, it provides an understanding of the chemical principles underpinning the causes and possible solutions to these issues. Each chapter has a set appropriate study questions.Less
We have 118 known chemical elements as our palette in our context of sustaining our world. Our context is considered in terms of the four spheres of the ancient world: Earth, Air, Fire and Water. This book shows how chemical principles can be used to understand the pressures on our world spanning from greenhouse emissions through freshwater supplies to energy generation and storage. The supply of the chemical elements is key to their contribution to alleviating these pressures. Most synthetic and radioactive elements are not available in sufficient supply to contribute in this. Some solutions, such as wind turbines, batteries, fuel cells and automotive exhaust remediation pose questions about sustainable supplies of critical elements. With an eye on the target of the IPCC of capping the temperature anomaly to 1.5 oC (RCP2.6), options for carbon capture and storage, and the generation of energy and element supply from the sea are assessed. The consequences of the escape of plastics and pharmaceuticals into the wider environment for water integrity are also considered. This book is designed around providing a one semester course for students who have entered at least the second level of university chemistry. It provides explanations and entries to current environmental issues. For students of environmental science, it provides an understanding of the chemical principles underpinning the causes and possible solutions to these issues. Each chapter has a set appropriate study questions.
John Chambers and Jacqueline Mitton
- Published in print:
- 2017
- Published Online:
- May 2018
- ISBN:
- 9780691175706
- eISBN:
- 9781400885565
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691175706.003.0006
- Subject:
- History, History of Science, Technology, and Medicine
This chapter analyzes how humans owe their existence to the rich variety of chemical elements that exist in the universe. The solar system contains hydrogen to power the Sun; iron and silicon to ...
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This chapter analyzes how humans owe their existence to the rich variety of chemical elements that exist in the universe. The solar system contains hydrogen to power the Sun; iron and silicon to build rocky planets; and carbon, nitrogen, and oxygen to form the building blocks of life. Almost 100 elements occur naturally in the solar system in varying amounts. Some, like hydrogen, oxygen, and iron, are abundant everywhere. Others, like gold, silver, and uranium, are much less common. The mixture of elements has remained almost constant since the solar system formed, apart from changes deep in the Sun's interior. The chapter shows how the composition of the solar system was shaped by events elsewhere in the universe dating back to the Big Bang itself.Less
This chapter analyzes how humans owe their existence to the rich variety of chemical elements that exist in the universe. The solar system contains hydrogen to power the Sun; iron and silicon to build rocky planets; and carbon, nitrogen, and oxygen to form the building blocks of life. Almost 100 elements occur naturally in the solar system in varying amounts. Some, like hydrogen, oxygen, and iron, are abundant everywhere. Others, like gold, silver, and uranium, are much less common. The mixture of elements has remained almost constant since the solar system formed, apart from changes deep in the Sun's interior. The chapter shows how the composition of the solar system was shaped by events elsewhere in the universe dating back to the Big Bang itself.
Hjalmar Fors
- Published in print:
- 2014
- Published Online:
- May 2015
- ISBN:
- 9780226194998
- eISBN:
- 9780226195049
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- University of Chicago Press
- DOI:
- 10.7208/chicago/9780226195049.001.0001
- Subject:
- History, History of Science, Technology, and Medicine
This is a book about how the modern notion of materiality was established during the period c. 1680-1760. It studies what natural philosophers engaged in chemistry and mineralogy said about phenomena ...
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This is a book about how the modern notion of materiality was established during the period c. 1680-1760. It studies what natural philosophers engaged in chemistry and mineralogy said about phenomena such as witchcraft, trolls and subtle matters, and relates this discourse to their innovations in matter theory. In this way it takes the debate about Enlightenment, which has mostly been confined to fields such as the history of philosophy, theology and physics, into a new arena. It shows how alchemists, chemists, mineralogists, assayers and mining officials contributed to enlightenment discourse about matter by defining some objects as natural and others as out of the ordinary and probably non-existant. It pins an important epistemological change in European culture to the emerging notion that metals should be considered elemental substances, or basic building blocks of matter. It also shows the importance of circulation between different regions and social groups for the production of knowledge about nature. Finally, it introduces one of the most productive contact zones with regards to chymistry, mineralogy and mining knowledge in late seventeenth- and eighteenth-century Europe: the Bureau of Mines (Bergskollegium) of the Swedish state. Its focus on the Bureau’s role in transnational knowledge exchanges opens up new perspectives on the relationship between science and the central philosophical debates of the late seventeenth- and eighteenth century.Less
This is a book about how the modern notion of materiality was established during the period c. 1680-1760. It studies what natural philosophers engaged in chemistry and mineralogy said about phenomena such as witchcraft, trolls and subtle matters, and relates this discourse to their innovations in matter theory. In this way it takes the debate about Enlightenment, which has mostly been confined to fields such as the history of philosophy, theology and physics, into a new arena. It shows how alchemists, chemists, mineralogists, assayers and mining officials contributed to enlightenment discourse about matter by defining some objects as natural and others as out of the ordinary and probably non-existant. It pins an important epistemological change in European culture to the emerging notion that metals should be considered elemental substances, or basic building blocks of matter. It also shows the importance of circulation between different regions and social groups for the production of knowledge about nature. Finally, it introduces one of the most productive contact zones with regards to chymistry, mineralogy and mining knowledge in late seventeenth- and eighteenth-century Europe: the Bureau of Mines (Bergskollegium) of the Swedish state. Its focus on the Bureau’s role in transnational knowledge exchanges opens up new perspectives on the relationship between science and the central philosophical debates of the late seventeenth- and eighteenth century.
Matthieu Roy-Barman and Catherine Jeandel
- Published in print:
- 2016
- Published Online:
- December 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780198787495
- eISBN:
- 9780191829604
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198787495.001.0001
- Subject:
- Physics, Geophysics, Atmospheric and Environmental Physics
Marine geochemistry uses chemical elements and their isotopes to study how the ocean works. It brings quantitative answers to questions such as: What is the deep ocean mixing rate? How much ...
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Marine geochemistry uses chemical elements and their isotopes to study how the ocean works. It brings quantitative answers to questions such as: What is the deep ocean mixing rate? How much atmospheric CO2 is pumped by the ocean? How fast are pollutants removed from the ocean? How do ecosystems react to the anthropogenic pressure? The book provides a simple introduction to the concepts (environmental chemistry, isotopes), the methods (field approach, remote sensing, modeling) and the applications (ocean circulation, carbon cycle, climate change) of marine geochemistry with a particular emphasis on isotopic tracers. Marine geochemistry is not an isolated discipline: numerous openings on physical oceanography, marine biology, climatology, geology, pollutions and ecology are proposed and provide a global vision of the ocean. It includes new topics based on ongoing research programs such as GEOTRACES, Global Carbon Project, Tara Ocean. It provides a complete outline for a course in marine geochemistry. To favor a hands-on approach, application exercises are worked out throughout the book and each chapter concludes with a set of problems based on the recent scientific literature (with solutions given at the end of the book).Less
Marine geochemistry uses chemical elements and their isotopes to study how the ocean works. It brings quantitative answers to questions such as: What is the deep ocean mixing rate? How much atmospheric CO2 is pumped by the ocean? How fast are pollutants removed from the ocean? How do ecosystems react to the anthropogenic pressure? The book provides a simple introduction to the concepts (environmental chemistry, isotopes), the methods (field approach, remote sensing, modeling) and the applications (ocean circulation, carbon cycle, climate change) of marine geochemistry with a particular emphasis on isotopic tracers. Marine geochemistry is not an isolated discipline: numerous openings on physical oceanography, marine biology, climatology, geology, pollutions and ecology are proposed and provide a global vision of the ocean. It includes new topics based on ongoing research programs such as GEOTRACES, Global Carbon Project, Tara Ocean. It provides a complete outline for a course in marine geochemistry. To favor a hands-on approach, application exercises are worked out throughout the book and each chapter concludes with a set of problems based on the recent scientific literature (with solutions given at the end of the book).