Les rapports d’affinité de Geoffroy, ou la clé d’un mariage réussi sous les lois de la thermodynamique

Abstract

Geoffroy’s affinity ratios or the key to a successful blending under the laws of thermodynamic – On the 27th of August 1718, Geoffroy issued a communication to the French Royal Academy of Sciences entitled : «Table des différents rapports observés en chimie entre différentes substances.». This table is a major step to the understanding of the chemical reaction ; it creates a classification by affinity between chemical substances according to their tendency towards preferential union. These selective affinities lead for example to define a scale of values in according to the acid’s strength, or the more or less ease for metals to give amalgam.