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regular shape like a triangle, square, or pentagon, and each angle was a pole thus enabling it to unite with three, four, five or more atoms of other substances. Thus one atom of nitrogen unites with three of hydrogen, one of carbon with four of hydrogen, and so on.
Every substance has, therefore, what is called 'quantivalence' or power of uniting with it a greater or less quantity of other atoms, and conversely that of replacing in combinations other atoms, or groups of atoms, the sum of whose quantivalence equals its own.
Polarity involves opposition of relations or two poles, and electrical only differs from magnetic polarity in the fact that in the latter the two poles are in the same body, while in the former they are in separate bodies. Atoms and radicals, which are multi-polar, can attract and form molecules with as many other atoms or radicals as they have poles. This is called their degree of atomnity, which is the same as their quantivalence,
POLARITY IN MATTER
The quantities of substances depend not only on the qualities of their constituent elements, but also on the manner in which these elements are grouped. Two substances may have exactly the same chemical composition and yet be very different. As an instance of this, butyric acid, which gives the offensive odour to rancid butter, has exactly the same composition as acetic ether, which gives the flavour to a ripe apple. They consist of the same number of atoms of the same elements-carbon, hydrogen and oxygen-united in the same proportions. This applies to a number of
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