Ex.29*. Read another text attentively and say which statements following the text are true (T) to the fact, false (F), or not mentioned (NM).

Antoine Laurent Lavoisier (1743—1794), the son of awealthy Parisian lawyer, pursued the family tradition and received his licence to practice law in 1764. But within two years he was drawn back to his desire to learn more about science, an interest first experienced during his earlier education in maths, astronomy, chemistry, and botany. By 1772 he'd disproved several of ancient Greek principles about earth, air, fire, and water, and developed a reputation for exact quantitative procedures and brilliant experiments. He expanded the list of known elements to thirty-three, although some were erroneous. From 1776 to 1782, Lavoisier conducted experiments in which he isolated oxygen in air and furthered Priestley's work on oxygen's role in combustion and respiration. In a 1783 paper titled On the Nature of Water and on Experiments that Appear to Prove that this Substance is not Properly Speaking on Element, but Can Be Decomposed and Recombined Lavoisier reported to the French Academy of Sciences that water was the product of combining hydrogen and oxygen. In a subsequent paper delivered to the Academy, Lavoisier presented a logical analysis about the substance that we now call oxygen. Through Lavoisier's sensitive balance instrument, keen insight, and inductive reasoning, he vanquished the Greek concept of earth, air, fire, and water, once and for all. For this and other work, he is now considered the father of modern chemistry. Lavoisier had been active in political affairs his entire adult life, and devoted much of his career to public service, including positions in the French government from 1768 to 1790 in the areas of economics, agriculture, education and social welfare. In the aftermath of the French Revolution of 1789, despite his many contributions as a reformer and political liberal and despite his participation in the Revolution, he came under attack because of his status as a wealthy member of the French aristocracy, but primarily because of a position he had held in 1768 in the Ferme-Generale, the country's tax collecting agency. When the Reign of Terror commenced in 1793, resulting in the suppression of the French Academy of Sciences and other learned societies, Lavoisier was arrested. On May 8, 1794, after a one-day trial, the prospects of Lavoisier's further contributions to science and rational thought were prematurely held at the age of 50 at Place de la Concorde in Paris, as his great mindfell into the blood-soaked basket at the foot of the guillotine along with twenty-seven former members of the Ferme-Generale.

1. Antoine's father made him practice science.

2. Lavoisier didn't believe in the four essential elements.

3. Lavoisier expanded the list of known elements.

4. Lavoisier discovered oxygen.

5. All the elements he discovered are now in the Periodic Table.

6. In 1770 Lavoisier investigated the effect of heat on tin.

7. Lavoisier understood the composition of water.

8. Lavoisier logically analyzed oxygen.

9. Lavoisier invented chemical balance.

10.He emphasized the role of oxygen in combustion and respiration.

11. The main interest of Lavoisier was chemistry.

12.Lavoisier thought that true knowledge could be obtained simply by discussing.

13.Lavoisier based his theories on those facts which he could establish in his laboratory.

14.Lavoisier was appointed Commissioner of Gunpowder to the French Government.

Date: 2016-01-03; view: 1737