Chapter 1, Problem 74AP

For Problems 74 and 75t, classify each of the numbered statements as (a) an experiment, (b) a hypothesis. (c) a scientific law, (d) an observation, or (e) a theory. (It is not necessary to understand the science involved to do these problems.)

74. In the early 1800s, many scientific advances came from the study of gases. (1) For example, Joseph Gay-Lussac reacted hydrogen and oxygen to produce water vapor, and he reacted nitrogen and oxygen to form either dinitrogen oxide
(N₂O) or nitrogen monoxide (NO). Gay-Lussac found that hydrogen and oxygen react in a 2:1 volume ratio and that nitrogen and oxygen can react in 2:1 or 1:1 volume ratios depending on the product. (2) In 1808, Gay-Lussac published a paper in which he stated that the relative volumes of gases in a chemical reaction are present in the ratio of small integers provided that all gases are measured at the same temperature and pressure. (3) In 1811, Amedeo Avogadro proposed that equal volumes of all gases measured at the same temperature and pressure contain the same number of molecules, (4) By midcentury, Rudolf Clausius, James Clerk Maxwell, and others had developed a detailed rationalization of the behavior of gases in terms of molecular motions.