Desenvolvimento e aceitação do modelo de ligação química de Gilbert Newton Lewis: um estudo historiográfico

Abstract

The chemical bond is a fundamental concept in chemistry and one of the essential curricular contents for understanding the school subject. As with other chemical knowledge, the history of its development and acceptance by chemistry practitioners has often been omitted from textbooks aimed at primary and higher education. In this context, this study aimed to conduct a historiographical investigation into the development and acceptance of the chemical bond model proposed by American physicist-chemist Gilbert Newton Lewis (1875-1946). To this end, we adopted a historiographical approach based on bibliographical and documentary research, following the procedures recommended for preparing a study in the History of Science (MARTINS, 2005). The study revealed that the need to understand the bonding between atoms that make up molecules was a growing research problem at the beginning of the 20th century, driven by the development of atomic theories that served as a basis for understanding how atoms bond to form molecules. In 1916, Lewis published an explanatory model for chemical bonds based on his theory of the cubic atom, which was developed in 1902. Unlike other researchers, Lewis's motivation was to explain the physicochemical properties of known substances, such as the difference between polar and apolar substances. The acceptance of Lewis' explanatory model was significantly influenced by American chemists Irving Langmuir (1881-1967) and Linus Pauling (1901-1994), who played a crucial role in its popularization and validation.