CHEMISTRY GLOSSARY

Graham’s law    →   Grahamov zakon

Graham’s law is the rates at whish gases diffuse are inversely proportional to the square roots of their densities. This principle is made use of in the diffusion method of separating isotopes. The law was formulated in 1829 by British chemist Thomas Graham (1805-1869).

Henry’s law    →   Henryjev zakon

Henry’s law was discovered in 1801 by the British chemist William Henry (1775-1836). At a constant temperature the mass of gas dissolved in a liquid at equilibrium is proportional to the partial pressure of the gas. It applies only to gases that do not react with the solvent.

where p_i is the partial pressure of component i above the solution, x_i is its mole fraction in the solution, and K_x is the Henry’s law constant (a characteristic of the given gas and solvent, as well as the temperature).

Hooke’s law    →   Hookeov zakon

Hooke’s law stating that the deformation of a body is proportional to the magnitude of the deforming force, provided that the body’s elastic limit (see elasticity) is not exceeded. If the elastic limit is not reached, the body will return to its original size once the force is removed. The law was discovered by English physicist Robert Hooke in 1676.

If a body on elastic spring is displaced from its equilibrium position (i.e. if the spring is stretched or compressed), a restitution force tries to return the body back in its equilibrium position. The magnitude of that force is proportional to the displacement of the body

Where F is the restitutional (elastic) force, x is the displacement of the body and k is the spring constant, which depends on dimensions, shape and material of the spring.

Hesse’s law    →   Hessov zakon

Hesse’s law says that reaction heat of some chemical change does not depend on the way in which the reaction is conducted, but only on starting and ending system state. Hesse’s law is also known as the law of constant heat summation. Hesse’s law is also known as the law of constant heat summation. The law was first put forward in 1840 by the Swiss-born Russian chemist Germain Henri Hess (1802-1850).

Hesse’s law can be used to obtain thermodynamic data that cannot be measured directly. For example, it is very difficult to control the oxidation of graphite to give pure CO. However, enthalpy for the oxidation of graphite to CO₂ can easily be measured. So can the enthalpy of oxidation of CO to CO₂. The application of Hess’s law enables us to estimate the enthalpy of formation of CO.

The equation shows the standard enthalpy of formation of CO to be -110 kJ/mol.

Kohlrausch’s law    →   Kohlrauschov zakon

Kohlrausch’s law states that the equivalent conductivity of an electrolyte at infinite dilution is equal to the sum of the conductances of the anions and cations. If a salt is dissolved in water, the conductivity of the solution is the sum of the conductances of the anions and cations. The law, which depends on the independent migration of ions, was deduced experimentally by the German chemist Friedrich Kohlrausch (1840-1910).

law of conservation of mass    →   zakon o očuvanju mase

Law of conservation of mass states that no detectable gain or loss in mass occurs in chemical reactions. The state of a substance may change in a chemical reaction, for example, from a solid to a gas, but its total mass will not change. Note that the energy released (exothermic) or adsorbed (endothermic) in a chemical reaction is a result of energy transfer between atoms and their environment.

Nernst’s division law    →   Nernstov zakon razdjeljenja

Nernst’s division law states that a substance is divided between two solvents in a way that proportion of concentrations of that substance is at certain temperatures constant, under the condition that both solvents are in the same molecular state. Division coefficient is a proportion of substance concentration in solvents A i B at a defined temperature.

Appearance of division is used for substance extraction.

Newton’s gravitational law    →   Newtonov zakon gravitacije

Every object in the universe attracts every other object with a force (gravitational force F_G) directed along the line through centres of the two objects that is proportional to the product of their masses and inversely proportional to the square of the distance between them.

m₁ and m₂ are masses of the two objects and r is the distance between them. G is universal constant of gravitation, which equals 6.67•10^-26 N m² kg^-2. Strictly speaking, this law applies only to objects that can be considered pointlike object. Otherwise, the force has to be found by integrating the forces between various mass elements.

It is more properly to express Newton’s gravitational law by vector equation:

in which r₁ and r₂ are position vectors of masses m₁ and m₂.

Gravitational forces act on distance. Newton’s gravitational law is derived from Kepler’s law for planetary motion, using a physical assumption considering Sun as the centre and the source of gravitational force.

Additionally, every object moves in the direction of the force acting on it, with acceleration that is inversely proportional to the mass of object. For bodies on the surface of Earth, the distance r in gravitational law formula is practically equal to the Earth radius, R_E. If the mass of the body on Earth surface is m and the mass of earth is M_E, the gravitational force acting on that body can be expressed as:

where g is gravitational acceleration which is, although dependent on geographical latitude, usually considered as constant equal to 9.81 m s^-2.

Ostwald’s dilution law    →   Ostwaldov zakon razrjeđenja

Ostwald’s dilution law is a relation for the concentration dependence of the molar conductivity Λ of an electrolyte solution, viz.

where c is the solute concentration, K_c is the equilibrium constant for dissociation of the solute, and L₀ is the conductivity at cΛ = 0. The law was first put forward by the German chemist Wilhelm Ostwald (1853-1932).

Snell’s law    →   Snellov zakon

When a light ray comes on a boundary between two transparent media, it will be partly reflected and partly refracted. Both rays, reflected and refracted ray, lay in the plane of incidence. The angle of reflection is equal to the angle of incidence. The angle of refraction (Θ₂) is related to the angle of incidence (Θ₁) via Snell’s law:

where n₁ and n₂ are dimensionless constants - indexes of refraction of the two media.