Discuss the claim that [in the History of Chemistry] some knowledge are discovered and others are invented.

 

        In 1869, Dmitriy Mendeleev published what came to be known as the first Periodic Table of Atomic Elements, which was based on properties of elements which were displayed frequently and with an amount of regularity. He arranged the elements in accordance to their atomic weight, from lightest, to heaviest, though he noted gaps in the table where he predicted the existence of then unknown elements, naming the undiscovered elements eka-aluminium, eka-silicon and eka-boron. These elements, when discovered, would later be come to be known as Gallium, Germanium and Scandium. A few questions that would undoubtedly come to mind would be as follows: How did Mendeleev predict the existence of the elements? How and what did he use to ascertain the properties of these predicted elements? What made Mendeleev name the elements as a such? And why were they eventually named as such? These are just a few questions that might surface concordantly from one’s findings. Hence, in this essay, i will attempt to answer and address these concerns.

        

        The concept of induction is a tool of extreme importance in the area of science, which goals include the finding of regularities and patterns among observed findings, before making a hypothesis and experimenting to test the hypothesis. An apropos example of the application of this concept would be that of Mendeleev’s invention of the periodic table in 1869; it was based on recurring trends that were observed by him. His arrangement of the elements in terms of their weight, from lightest to heaviest, saw him organizing them into a table. It was only when Mendeleev organized the table into horizontal rows did he observe a pattern between the elements. However, this pattern was only present when he left certain blanks in the table. This is a prime example of inductive reasoning, as his predictions of the elements were based on the hypothesis that was supported by the premises, though there was no solid proof to suggest that the conclusion was necessitated to be true.

        

        In his assumption that the blanks were left there, he noticed that elements with similar chemical properties appeared at regular intervals in the form of vertical columns on the table, leading him to suggest that the blank spaces were held by elements that were chemically similar to elements in the same column. Mendeleev thus proceeded to predicted their chemical properties by logically basing his conclusions on the elements before and after the his predicted elements. Whilst mean with copious amounts of inital skepticism, the accuracy of Mendeleev’s predictions became apparent in the years to come. As demonstrated in table 1 and 2, the Mendeleev’s predictions were fairly accurate. This is reflective of the employment of deductive reasoning by Mendeleev, whereby the validity of Mendeleev's argument is ascertained by the truth of the conclusion being a logical consequence of its premises being true.

Table 1

Table 2

        Next comes the question of naming- how then did Mendeleev name the elements? As mentioned earlier, elements in the same columns were found to have similar chemcialy properties, hence Mendeleev named predicted elements similarly to already discovered elements in the column. The word eka utilised by Mendeleev is a Sanskrit prefix that means one, which indicated his prediction with regards to its position in his periodic table by the number of places below the element. Hence eka-aluminium, or Gallium, would be found directly below aluminium, similarly applying that for the other two elements.

        Language is a medium which is often utilized to convey background information; and upon further analysis of its contextual usage, language also yields a deep insight into the significance of the term. Gallium, derived from the latin word Gallia meaning “Gaul”, quintessentially meaning modern day Frances, was discovered by French scientist Lecoq de Boisbaudran in 1875. Though it was predicted by Mendeleev in 1869 as eka-aluminium, Boisbaudran named it Gallium after his homeland of France, thus showing how through language, the background of the discoverers of the elements could be conveyed. Similarly, the elements of Scandium and Germanium were discovered by a Scandinavian and German scientist respectively, leading to their names.

        Thus, in conclusion, one can see how inductive, deductive reasoning, as well as language as a ways of knowing can be seen to be rather accurate, though in reality, they are also hindered by limitations with regards to their employment, which make it inadequate to thoroughly prove something scientifically. While deduction is based on a logical progression based on true premises, it does not allow for observation or experimentation to test the validity. Likewise, though induction is driven by observation of trends, it does not use the logical progression which is featured in the deductive reasoning to make its proof. Hence, the development of scientific method would necessitate the synthesis and usage of BOTH logical approached to make for an all encompassing conclusion.

Bibliography

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gallium#History

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mendeleev%27s_predicted_elements#Ekasilicon_and_Germanium

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Language

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