Editing Michael Faraday (section)

===Chemistry===
[[File:Ri 2014 - glass making - Faraday.jpg|thumb|left|upright=0.80|Equipment used by Faraday to make glass on display at the [[Royal Institution]] in London]]
Faraday's earliest chemical work was as an assistant to [[Humphry Davy]]. Faraday was involved in the study of [[chlorine]]; he discovered two new compounds of chlorine and [[carbon]]:  [[hexachloroethane]] which he made via the chlorination of [[ethylene]] and [[carbon tetrachloride]] from the decomposition of the former. He also conducted the first rough experiments on the diffusion of gases, a phenomenon that was first pointed out by [[John Dalton]]. The physical importance of this phenomenon was more fully revealed by [[Thomas Graham (chemist)|Thomas Graham]] and [[Joseph Loschmidt]]. Faraday succeeded in liquefying several gases, investigated the alloys of steel, and produced several new kinds of glass intended for optical purposes. A specimen of one of these heavy glasses subsequently became historically important; when the glass was placed in a magnetic field Faraday determined the rotation of the plane of polarisation of light. This specimen was also the first substance found to be repelled by the poles of a magnet.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Hadfield |first1=Robert Abbott |title=A research on Faraday's 'steel and alloys' |journal=Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series A, Containing Papers of a Mathematical or Physical Character |date=1931 |volume=230 |issue=681–693 |pages=221–292 |doi=10.1098/rsta.1932.0007 |doi-access=free }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last1=Akerlof |first1=Carl W. |title=Faraday Rotation |url=http://instructor.physics.lsa.umich.edu/adv-labs/Faraday/Faraday_Effect-july09-5.pdf |access-date=29 November 2023}}</ref>

Faraday invented an early form of what was to become the [[Bunsen burner]], which is still in practical use in science laboratories around the world as a convenient source of heat.<ref>{{Cite journal|author1-link=William B. Jensen| last =Jensen  | first =William B. |doi=10.1021/ed082p518 | title =The Origin of the Bunsen Burner | journal=[[Journal of Chemical Education]]  | volume = 82  | issue = 4 | page =518 | year =2005  | url = http://jchemed.chem.wisc.edu/HS/Journal/Issues/2005/Apr/clicSubscriber/V82N04/p518.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050530143615/http://jchemed.chem.wisc.edu/HS/Journal/Issues/2005/Apr/clicSubscriber/V82N04/p518.pdf |archive-date=30 May 2005 |bibcode = 2005JChEd..82..518J }}</ref><ref>[[#Faraday1827|Faraday (1827)]], p. 127.</ref>
Faraday worked extensively in the field of chemistry, discovering chemical substances such as [[benzene]] (which he called bicarburet of hydrogen) and liquefying gases such as chlorine. The liquefying of gases helped to establish that gases are the vapours of liquids possessing a very low boiling point and gave a more solid basis to the concept of molecular aggregation. In 1820 Faraday reported the first synthesis of compounds made from carbon and chlorine, [[hexachloroethane|C<sub>2</sub>Cl<sub>6</sub>]] and [[carbon tetrachloride|CCl<sub>4</sub>]], and published his results the following year.<ref>{{Cite journal| author=Faraday, Michael | title = On two new Compounds of Chlorine and Carbon, and on a new Compound of Iodine, Carbon, and Hydrogen | journal=Philosophical Transactions | year = 1821 | volume = 111| pages = 47–74 | doi = 10.1098/rstl.1821.0007 | s2cid = 186212922 | doi-access =  }}</ref><ref>{{Cite book| last = Faraday | first = Michael | title = Experimental Researches in Chemistry and Physics | publisher=[[Richard Taylor and William Francis]] | year= 1859 | location = London | pages = 33–53| isbn = 978-0-85066-841-4}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book | last = Williams | first = L. Pearce | title = Michael Faraday: A Biography | publisher = [[Basic Books]] | year = 1965 | location = New York | pages = [https://archive.org/details/michaelfaradaybi0000will_g3v0/page/122 122–123] | isbn = 978-0-306-80299-7 | url = https://archive.org/details/michaelfaradaybi0000will_g3v0/page/122 }}</ref> Faraday also determined the composition of the chlorine [[clathrate hydrate]], which had been discovered by Humphry Davy in 1810.<ref>{{Cite journal| author=Faraday, Michael | title = On Hydrate of Chlorine |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lhw_AAAAYAAJ&pg=PA71| journal=Quarterly Journal of Science | year = 1823 | volume = 15| page = 71 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite book| last = Faraday | first = Michael | title = Experimental Researches in Chemistry and Physics | publisher=Richard Taylor and William Francis | year= 1859 | location = London | pages = 81–84| isbn = 978-0-85066-841-4}}</ref> Faraday is also responsible for discovering the [[Faraday's laws of electrolysis|laws of electrolysis]], and for popularising terminology such as [[anode]], [[cathode]], [[electrode]], and [[ion]], terms proposed in large part by [[William Whewell]].<ref>{{cite journal | author = Ehl, Rosemary Gene |author2=Ihde, Aaron |url=http://www.elch.chem.msu.ru/rus/wp/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/ed031p226FaradayLaw.pdf | title = Faraday's Electrochemical Laws and the Determination of Equivalent Weights | journal = Journal of Chemical Education | year = 1954 | volume = 31 | issue = May | pages = 226–232 | doi = 10.1021/ed031p226 | bibcode=1954JChEd..31..226E}}</ref>

Faraday was the first to report what later came to be called metallic [[nanoparticles]]. In 1847 he discovered that the optical properties of gold [[colloid]]s differed from those of the corresponding bulk metal. This was probably the first reported observation of the effects of [[quantum]] size, and might be considered to be the birth of [[nanoscience]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.nanogallery.info/nanogallery/?ipg=126 |title=The Birth of Nanotechnology |access-date=25 July 2007 |year=2006 |publisher=Nanogallery.info |quote=Faraday made some attempt to explain what was causing the vivid coloration in his gold mixtures, saying that known phenomena seemed to indicate that a mere variation in the size of gold particles gave rise to a variety of resultant colors. }}</ref>