chemistry

Wendell Mitchell Latimer

Wendell Mitchell Latimer is a chemistry topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Wendell Mitchell Latimer rather than just read about it. In short: Wendell Mitchell Latimer (April 22, 1893 – July 6, 1955) was an American chemist known for the discovery of tritium and his description of oxidation states in the book The Oxidation States of the Elements and Their Potentials in Aqueous Solution. He received his PhD from the University of California, Berkeley, for the work with George Ernest Gibson.

Key takeaways

Wendell Mitchell Latimer belongs to chemistry; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Wendell Mitchell Latimer to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Wendell Mitchell Latimer from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Wendell Mitchell Latimer (April 22, 1893 – July 6, 1955) was an American chemist known for the discovery of tritium and his description of oxidation states in the book The Oxidation States of the Elements and Their Potentials in Aqueous Solution. He received his PhD from the University of California, Berkeley, for the work with George Ernest Gibson.

Awards and honors Latimer received many awards and honor during his lifetime, including membership in the National Academy of Sciences, and chairmanship of its Section of Chemistry from 1947 to 1950; the Distinguished Service Award from his alma mater, the University of Kansas, in 1948; the President's Certificate of Merit, in 1948; Faculty Research Lecture in 1953, an honor that the Academic Senate of the University of California annually bestows upon one of its members; the William H. Nichols Medal from the New York Section of the American Chemical Society, in 1955 with a citation for his "Pioneer Studies on the Thermodynamics of Electrolytes, especially the Entropies of Ions in Aqueous Solutions."

Discovery of tritium In 1933 Latimer used the recently discovered Allison effect to discover tritium. Gilbert N. Lewis bet against his discovery, and he had to pay when Latimer showed him his data. However, that same year the Allison effect was discredited in the eyes of the scientific community, and the discovery of tritium was credited to Ernest Rutherford in 1934. Latimer explained years later he had been unable to reproduce his results, and he couldn't even find where he had gone wrong. The events were cited by Irving Langmuir in his 1953 speech about pathological science.

Publications The Oxidation States of the Elements and Their Potentials in Aqueous Solution ASIN B000GRXLSA published 1938.

References

W. F. Giauque (1955). "Wendell M. Latimer, Chemist". Science. 122 (3166): 406–407. Bibcode:1955Sci...122..406G. doi:10.1126/science.122.3166.406. JSTOR 1751554. PMID 17782649. Wendell Mitchell Latimer

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Wendell Mitchell Latimer

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Wendell Mitchell Latimer claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In chemistry, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Wendell Mitchell Latimer before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Wendell Mitchell Latimer ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Wendell Mitchell Latimer

In research: Wendell Mitchell Latimer appears in chemistry research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Wendell Mitchell Latimer in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Wendell Mitchell Latimer is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1893 births, 1955 deaths, 20th-century American chemists, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Wendell Mitchell Latimer outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Wendell Mitchell Latimer in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Wendell Mitchell Latimer means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Wendell Mitchell Latimer out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Wendell Mitchell Latimer in simple terms?

Why does Wendell Mitchell Latimer matter?

Because it connects several chemistry ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Wendell Mitchell Latimer?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Wendell Mitchell Latimer.