Hernan Lucas Accorinti, Juan Camilo Martínez González
{"title":"Test case for perspectivism: incompatible models in quantum chemistry","authors":"Hernan Lucas Accorinti, Juan Camilo Martínez González","doi":"10.1007/s10698-024-09502-4","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1007/s10698-024-09502-4","url":null,"abstract":"<p>The incompatibility within the context of modeling cannot be established <i>simpliciter</i>. The fact that modeling is understood as an activity whose representational power can only be partially established, may minimize the supposed existence of incompatible models. Indeed, it is argued from perspectivism that incompatibility can be dissolved, meaning that it becomes trivial or simply false due to the inherently pragmatic and partial nature of the act of representation and modeling. From this perspective, incompatibility can only be a consequence of a misunderstanding of the very nature of modeling and representation In this sense, in order to tackle this strategy at its root from perspectivism, we will first need to outline the maximal perspectivism thesis, attempting to identify the possible escape routes that perspectivism could find in order to explain incompatibility as an illusory incompatibility. Then, we will analyze Valence Bond Model and Molecular Model of covalent bonds, and we will conclude that the dissuasive strategies used to minimize and/or disregard incompatibility prove to be fruitless.</p>","PeriodicalId":568,"journal":{"name":"Foundations of Chemistry","volume":"53 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.9,"publicationDate":"2024-03-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140324609","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"化学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Introducing UV–visible spectroscopy at high school level following the historical evolution of spectroscopic instruments: a proposal for chemistry teachers","authors":"Maria Antonietta Carpentieri, Valentina Domenici","doi":"10.1007/s10698-024-09501-5","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s10698-024-09501-5","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>Spectroscopy is a scientific topic at the interface between Chemistry and Physics, which is taught at high school level in relation with its fundamental applications in Analytical Chemistry. In the first part of the paper, the topic of spectroscopy is analyzed having in mind the well-known Johnstone’s triangle of chemistry education, putting in evidence the way spectroscopy is usually taught at the three levels of chemical knowledge: macroscopic/phenomenological, sub-microscopic/molecular and symbolic ones. Among these three levels, following Johnstone’s recommendations the macroscopic one is the most useful for high school students who learn spectroscopy for the first time. Starting from these premises, in the second part of the paper, we propose a didactic sequence which is inspired by the historical evolution of spectroscopic instruments from the first spectroscopes invented by Gustav Kirchhoff and Robert Bunsen in 1860 to the UV–vis spectrophotometers which became common since the 1960s. The idea behind our research is to analyze the conceptual advancements through the history of spectroscopy and to identify the key episodes/experiments and spectroscopic instruments. For each of them, a didactic activity, typically an experiment, is then proposed underlining the relevant aspects from the chemistry education point of view. The present paper is the occasion to reflect on the potentialities of an historical approach combined with a laboratorial one, and to discuss the role of historical instruments and related technological improvements to teach spectroscopy.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":568,"journal":{"name":"Foundations of Chemistry","volume":"26 1","pages":"115 - 139"},"PeriodicalIF":1.8,"publicationDate":"2024-03-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007/s10698-024-09501-5.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140148323","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"化学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Measuring ecologically sound practice in the chemical industry","authors":"Michèle Friend","doi":"10.1007/s10698-023-09499-2","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1007/s10698-023-09499-2","url":null,"abstract":"<p>I present a comparative and holistic method for <i>qualitatively measuring</i> sound ecological practice in chemistry. I consider chemicals developed and used by man from cradle to grave, that is, from the moment they are extracted from the earth, biomass, water or air, to their transportation, purification, mixing and elaboration in a factory, to their distribution by means of the market, to waste products both from the factory, packaging, transportations and by the consumer. I divide the locations of the ‘life’ of the chemical into four spatio-temporal areas accordingly. I then use the ‘instituional compass’ method to determine a qualitative reading of the ecological soundness of the practice, where practice means the research, the adoption by industry and the distribution at scale on the market. The qualitative reading is in the form of an arrow on a trisected circle. The arrow holistically represents a table of data. The data can be economic, social or environmental. The arrow has a measurement: a degree and a length. The degrees, represent qualities spaning through: harmony, discipline and excitement. The length represents the importance, momentum or amplitude with which the quality is present. We use the compass method to compare the same product over time, or inter-substitutable, chemicals developed in different places, using different equipment or processes. In the conclusion, I discuss objectivity and science as they apply to the compass.</p>","PeriodicalId":568,"journal":{"name":"Foundations of Chemistry","volume":"16 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.9,"publicationDate":"2024-03-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140098702","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"化学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"What is a mathematician doing…in a chemistry class?","authors":"Ernesto Estrada","doi":"10.1007/s10698-023-09497-4","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s10698-023-09497-4","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>The way of thinking of mathematicians and chemists in their respective disciplines seems to have very different levels of abstractions. While the firsts are involved in the most abstract of all sciences, the seconds are engaged in a practical, mainly experimental discipline. Therefore, it is surprising that many luminaries of the mathematics universe have studied chemistry as their main subject. Others have started studying chemistry before swapping to mathematics or have declared some admiration and even love for this discipline. Here I reveal some of these mathematicians who were involved in chemistry from a biographical perspective. Then, I analyze what these remarkable mathematicians and statisticians could have learned while studying chemical subjects. I found analogies between code-breaking and molecular structure elucidation, inspiration for statistics in quantitative analytical chemistry, and on the role of topology in the study of some organic molecules. I also analyze some parallelisms between the way of thinking of organic chemists and mathematicians in terms of the use of backward analysis, search for patterns, and use of pictures in their respective researches.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":568,"journal":{"name":"Foundations of Chemistry","volume":"26 1","pages":"141 - 166"},"PeriodicalIF":1.8,"publicationDate":"2024-02-04","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007/s10698-023-09497-4.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139689856","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"化学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Relating screening to atomic properties and electronegativity in the Slater atom","authors":"Balakrishnan Viswanathan, M. Shajahan Gulam Razul","doi":"10.1007/s10698-023-09492-9","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s10698-023-09492-9","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>Slater’s method is an integral part of the undergraduate experience. In actuality, Slater’s method is part of an atomic model and not simply a set of rules. Slater’s rules are a simple means for computing the effective nuclear charge experienced by an orbital. These rules are based on the shell-like structure of the Slater atom in which outer shell electrons are incapable of shielding inner electrons. Slater’s model provides a qualitative description of the valence electrons in multi-electron atoms with tremendous ease. The model is useful for explaining atomic properties such as ionisation energy, electron affinity and atomic radius qualitatively. Slater’s rules also correctly reproduce the Madelung rule of filling and the ionisation sequence (4<i>s</i> before 3<i>d</i>); however, these rules are not able to reproduce the anomalous configurations of atoms such as Cr and Cu. It is found that the atomic properties that Slater’s model reproduces are all related to the exponential decay factor of the Slater orbital. We find—from estimating the polarity of a diatomic molecule using a simple model—that molecular polarity is related to the difference in the exponential decay factors of the valence orbitals of the two atoms, implying that the decay factor acts as the electronegativity of the atom.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":568,"journal":{"name":"Foundations of Chemistry","volume":"26 1","pages":"89 - 113"},"PeriodicalIF":1.8,"publicationDate":"2023-12-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"138743456","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"化学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Electronegativity as a new case for emergence and a new problem for reductionism","authors":"Monte Cairns","doi":"10.1007/s10698-023-09494-7","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1007/s10698-023-09494-7","url":null,"abstract":"<p>The potential reducibility of chemical entities to their physical bases is a matter of dispute between ontological reductionists on one hand, and emergentists on the other. However, relevant debates typically revolve around the reducibility of so-called ‘higher-level’ chemical entities, such as molecules. Perhaps surprisingly, even committed proponents of emergence for these higher-level chemical entities appear to accept that the ‘lowest-level’ chemical entities—atomic species—<i>are</i> reducible to their physical bases. In particular, the microstructural view of chemical elements, actively developed and defended by emergentists, appears to hold that the explanatory power of nuclear charge justifies being reductionist about atomic species. My first task in this paper is to establish that nuclear charge cannot ultimately provide explanations sufficient to justify a reductionist approach to atomic species, unless we abandon the persuasive intuition that the presence of an element in a substance ought to explain the properties of that substance. The ‘missing piece’ for explaining the properties of substances by way of their elemental constituents is the electronegativity values of participant atoms. But electronegativity is a strikingly disunified concept that appears distinctly unamenable to analysis by way of fundamental physical principles. Through evaluating the uncertain physical identity of electronegativity, as well as its widespread and indispensable epistemic utility in chemical practice, I argue that electronegativity provides compelling grounds to seriously consider emergence for atomic species.</p>","PeriodicalId":568,"journal":{"name":"Foundations of Chemistry","volume":"239 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.9,"publicationDate":"2023-12-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"138714482","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"化学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Co-authorship in chemistry at the turn of the twentieth century: the case of Theodore W. Richards","authors":"K. Brad Wray","doi":"10.1007/s10698-023-09491-w","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s10698-023-09491-w","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>It is widely recognized that conceptual and theoretical innovations and the employment of new instruments and experimental techniques are important factors in explaining the growth of scientific knowledge in chemistry. This study examines another dimension of research in chemistry, collaboration and co-authorship. I focus specifically on Theodore Richards’ career and publications. During the period in which Richards worked, co-authorship was beginning to become more common than it had been previously. Richards was the first American chemist to be awarded a Nobel Prize and he was at the forefront in this new trend in chemistry. He collaborated more than was typical for his time, with many scientists, in different sized groups, and he often had persistent collaborative relationships, extending over a number of years. Further, it appears that these collaborations benefited Richards, his collaborators, and the field of chemistry as a whole.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":568,"journal":{"name":"Foundations of Chemistry","volume":"26 1","pages":"75 - 88"},"PeriodicalIF":1.8,"publicationDate":"2023-12-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"138559768","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"化学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Johann Rudolph Glauber: the royals’ alchemist and his secret recipes","authors":"Curt Wentrup","doi":"10.1007/s10698-023-09493-8","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s10698-023-09493-8","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>Compelling evidence is presented that Glauber worked as a <i>laborator</i> (laboratory assistant) for Landgrave Georg of Hesse-Darmstadt from 1632/33 till he was appointed apothecary in Giessen in 1635. During this time, he was also used as <i>laborator</i> by the landgrave’s personal physician, Helwig Dieterich. Glauber became a famous chemist, whose alchemical secrets were keenly solicited by King Frederik III of Denmark, Queen Christina of Sweden, and, according to the 1662 diary of Ole Borch, King Charles II of England. A 1689 letter to Queen Christina contains detailed descriptions of Glauber’s alkahest, his decomposition and redintegration of saltpeter, and his ‘most secret sal armoniacum’, which is interpreted here for the first time.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":568,"journal":{"name":"Foundations of Chemistry","volume":"26 1","pages":"3 - 13"},"PeriodicalIF":1.8,"publicationDate":"2023-12-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"138552598","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"化学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Celebrating the birth of De Donder’s chemical affinity (1922–2022): from the uncompensated heat to his Ave Maria","authors":"Alessio Rocci","doi":"10.1007/s10698-023-09488-5","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s10698-023-09488-5","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>Théophile De Donder, a Belgian mathematician born in Brussels, elaborated two important ideas that created a bridge between thermodynamics and chemical kinetics. He invented the concept of the degree of advancement of a reaction, and, in 1922, he provided a precise mathematical form to the already known chemical affinity by translating Clausius’s uncompensated heat into formal language. These concepts merge in an important inequality that was the starting point for the formalization of non-equilibrium thermodynamics. The present article aims to reconstruct how De Donder elaborated his ideas and developed them by exploring his teaching activity and its connection with his scientific production. Furthermore, it emphasizes the role played by the discussions with his disciples who became his collaborators. The paper analyzes De Donder’s efforts in participating in the second Solvay Chemistry Council in 1925 to call the attention of chemists to his mathematical approach. We explain why his work did not receive much attention at the time, and how, despite this, his formalization of chemical affinity became the basis for the birth of the so-called <i>Brussels school of thermodynamics</i>.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":568,"journal":{"name":"Foundations of Chemistry","volume":"26 1","pages":"37 - 73"},"PeriodicalIF":1.8,"publicationDate":"2023-11-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"138518609","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"化学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}