| I am F. A.
Kekulé. During the 1840's, Edward
Frankland realized the
strength of the unitary concept
of compounds, but he still thought
radicals might
be stable groups.
While
searching for free radicals he noticed that elements always had the same
number
of groups attached. He was led by this to the concept of valence--
the
combining
power of an attracting element always will be satisfied by the same
number
of atoms.
I would suggest that you look at some compounds and try to figure out the valence of phosphorus.
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Friedrich August Kekulé
(1829-1896) |