Edmund Davy facts for kids

Edmund Davy (born in 1785, died in 1857) was a clever chemist. He taught chemistry at important places like the Royal Cork Institution and the Royal Dublin Society in Ireland. He is famous for discovering a gas called acetylene, which is used for light. He was also a founding member of the Chemical Society.

A Family of Scientists

Edmund Davy was a cousin of Humphry Davy. Humphry was a very famous chemist. He invented the Davy lamp, which made mines much safer for workers.

Edmund was born in Penzance, Cornwall, a town in England. In 1804, when he was about 19, he moved to London. For eight years, he worked as an assistant to Humphry Davy. He helped Humphry in his laboratory at the Royal Institution. Edmund also looked after the Royal Society's collection of minerals.

Humphry Davy once discovered a metal called potassium. Edmund saw how excited Humphry was. He described Humphry dancing around the room with joy!

Humphry Davy's younger brother, Dr. John Davy, was also a chemist. He helped Humphry for a few years. John was the first to make and name phosgene gas.

Edmund's son, Edmund William Davy, also became a professor of medicine. He helped his father with some experiments. This shows that science was a family affair for the Davys!

Amazing Discoveries

Edmund Davy made several important discoveries in chemistry.

Spongy Platinum

Edmund Davy was the first to find a special form of platinum. It was like a sponge and could soak up gases. Later, another chemist, Justus Liebig, made it even purer. This spongy platinum could absorb 250 times its own size in oxygen gas!

Edmund also found that this finely divided platinum could make things react without needing a flame. For example, in 1820, he saw that alcohol vapors turned into acetic acid when near platinum. This happened even at room temperature. This was an early sign of platinum's catalytic property. This means it helps chemical reactions happen faster without changing itself.

Stopping Rust

In 1829, Edmund Davy found a way to stop corrosion, or rust. He discovered that using blocks of zinc could protect iron structures, like those on buoys.

He published his findings in 1835. He showed how zinc could protect iron. Soon after, a French engineer patented a way to coat iron with liquid zinc. This is how galvanized iron is made today.

This method is called cathodic protection. Humphry Davy had also worked on this idea earlier. He suggested using iron blocks to protect the copper sheathing on Navy ships. This method stopped the copper from rusting. However, it also meant more sea creatures grew on the ships, slowing them down!

Finding Poisons with Electricity

Edmund Davy also did experiments to find metallic poisons. He used electricity to detect them. He could apply an electric current to a solution. This would make the salts of poisonous metals appear.

This method was very useful. It worked even if there was other stuff, like food, in the sample. Davy claimed he could find as little as 1/2500th of a grain of arsenic using his test.

The Discovery of Acetylene

In 1836, Edmund Davy accidentally discovered a new gas. He called it a "new carburet of hydrogen." He found it while trying to make potassium metal. He heated potassium carbonate with carbon. This made a substance called potassium carbide. When this carbide reacted with water, it released the new gas.

This gas was later named "acetylene" by Marcellin Berthelot in 1860. Davy realized how useful this gas could be. He thought it would be "admirably adapted for the purpose of artificial light." He believed it could be a great way to make light if it was cheap enough.

Chemistry for Farmers

Davy was keen on sharing scientific knowledge. He gave many lectures in Ireland. In his talks at the Royal Dublin Society, he showed how chemistry could help farmers.

He wrote papers about manures and other chemical aids for farming. For example, he wrote about using peat to help public health and farming. He also studied how plants take up arsenic. He found that plants could absorb a lot of arsenic without dying. He knew that arsenic was a poison that could build up in the body. He warned that this could harm people and animals over time.