Eberhard Bunsen Biography

Robert Wilhelm Eberhard Bunsen was born on March 31, 1811 in Göttingen University. He was a German chemist, and from his invention of the Bunsen burner, which Peter Desega had aided him with, he became famous around the world. Robert had earned his highest degree award in his father’s University in Germany. Robert was said to be the most influential chemistry teacher of his time, and had even taught Dmitri Mendeleev who was the creator of “The Periodic Table of Elements.” Furthermore, Robert and Gustav Kirchhoff were the first two people to use spectroscopy in a chemical analysis, which had led to the discovery of the two elements known as Cesium, and Rubidium. Robert had also written many letters and books, which are now held in the RSC archive, and had worked until his retirement at the University of Heidelberg. Bunsen had a friend named Sir Henry Roscoe who had also stated that Bunsen was a great man. However, he had never married, which is what allowed Robert to be more devoted to his work and research. Even though Robert was a popular man to many, he had unfortunately died in 1899. Robert had lost his vision in his right eye when an organic compound had exploded during his research on Organic Chemistry.

Richard August Carl Emil Erlenmeyer was born in the year of 1825, in Taunusstien, Hesse. He had studied physics and other subjects before studying chemistry. Erlenmeyer had once been enthusiastic about pharmacy, but had lost his excitement for it, which led him back to the University of Gießen to study chemistry. For his PhD, Emil made a thesis that had grabbed the interest of Robert Bunsen. At the University of Heidelberg, he had introduced the formula of naphthalene and the Erlenmeyer rule of keto-enol tautomerism. In 18...

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...sen burner, the oxygen gives more energy to the electrons in the flame, causing the flame to heat up more and more. Therefore, the chemical reaction of methane gas reacting with oxygen to produce carbon dioxide and water vapor is given off by the Bunsen burner. We can now understand that the yellow flame contains heat as a cause of the oxygen that was a part of the reaction, but to make the flame hotter, the percentage of oxygen being fed to the Bunsen burner must increase.

The twisting of the Bunsen burner barrel makes it work better because it allows oxygen to be added, which then allows the flame to become hotter, permitting you to heat substances at a faster rate, so that you can be more productive. This is because, when you add oxygen, the oxygen gives off energy to the electrons that make it move more rapidly, causing the flame to turn from yellow to blue.