Like if carbon dioxide is in the air how did we know it was CO2? We didn’t just zoom into the air and C bouncing around with 2 Os
In: 4
The first step was figuring out that stuff breaks down into other stuff, and then figuring out that we can put it back together.
This meant that substances don’t just transform into other substances, but that there’s building blocks (the chemical elements).
People then tried to isolate new elements from natural substances. This cemented the theory.
Ever since then, scientists tried to find precise ways to analyse substances.
The classic way is to take a sample and to destruct it with mechanical procedures (like smashing or filtering), to burn them and to gather the ashes, also the gasses; the using acids and bases to “rip apart” chemical compounds, forming salts; then electrolysis to rip apart compounds in a different way. There’s also filter chromatography: like the rings coffee stains can make on a towel, solutions of substances travel differently through filter substrates. This also means the concentration of fractions of mixtures.
Eventually, scientists found connections between substances and the way they influence light. Substances and (elements themselves) absorb and reflect light differently. This means that the light that comes from a sample contains information about the sample. We figured out how to use this information.
Today there’s even more methods, mostly relying on the methods described above.
Latest Answers