Critical Mass and Chemistry’s Most Famous Number

Chances are, you’re not like me: you cringe when someone says the word “chemistry.” Your memory of it vaguely harkens back to an undergrad class whose knowledge you flushed once you finished the final. That’s okay — my goal for this series is to change that paradigm, make it understandable to all, and provide some entertainment.

It’s 1858, and we’ve reached a point of critical mass.

Dalton proposed the existence of tiny, indivisible pieces of matter called atoms roughly a half century ago. While this led to equivalent masses, and therefore, molecular formulas, it still confused more than it calmed because of the arbitrary assignment of atomic weights. Despite this confusion, accurate organic analysis was still possible in the hands of brilliant experimenters such as Liebig and his students (who could accomplish such analysis to the tune of 4 molecules per day).

Dualistic theory worked for binary inorganic compounds, but not for organic compounds. Davy and Faraday showed that there is an element of electrostatics (complementary positively and negatively charged species) involved chemical combination, but it really worked best with inorganic compounds. Berzelius attempted to make the theory work with organic compounds, which spawned “radical theory.” This theory was fraught with contradictory evidence, including the existence of isomers, so a competing theory was proposed (“type theory”).