Gay-Lussac's burette and volumetric analysis
Bureta y volumetría de Gay-Lussac
- Date
- 1824 · confidence medium
- Place
- Paris, Île-de-France, France
- Credited to
- Joseph Louis Gay-Lussac (building on Descroizilles)
- Field
- Knowledge & symbols
⚠️ Disputed: the sources disagree.
What it is
A graduated tube with a tap or clamp for dropping a reagent drop by drop until neutralisation, so that the volume consumed gives the concentration of a sample. Gay-Lussac refined it in 1824 and systematised volumetric titration, faster than weighing precipitates.
François Descroizilles devised graduated 'alkalimeters' and 'chlorometers' around 1791; Gay-Lussac refined them (1824) and Mohr added the pinch clamp (1855). The paternity of the burette is shared.
What it led to
- volumetric analysis of acids, alkalis, chlorine and silver
- quality control in the chemical and pharmaceutical industries
- calibrated pipettes and volumetric glassware