Spanish chemical equilibrium theory historian Juan Quilez’s snapshot summary of Berthellot’s affinity theory, in the context of the historical development of topic of chemical equilibrium, affinity tables up through the chemical thermodynamics work of Jacobus van’t Hoff. [3] |
“The very term elective affinity must lead into error, as it supposes the union of the whole of one substance with another, in preference to a third; whereas there is only a partition of action, which is itself subordinate to other chemical circumstances … care must be taken not to consider this affinity as a uniform force which produces compositions and decompositions … Such a conclusion would lead us to neglect all the modifications which it undergoes form the commencement of action to the term of equilibrium.”
An American-edition English translation of Berthollet's 1801 Researches into the Laws of Chemical Affinity, wherein he shows, via experimental findings, how Torbern Bergman's elective affinity theory is in conceptual error, to some extent. [6] |
AC + B → AB + C
AC + B → A1B + A2C
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“For decades [I have been struggling] with Berthollet in the matter of the affinities.”