Foundations of Atomic Theory

Law of Conservation of Mass

Mass is neither destroyed nor created during ordinary chemical
reactions.

Law of Definite Proportions

The fact that a chemical compound contains the same elements
in exactly the same proportions by mass regardless of the size
of the sample or source of the compound.

Law of Multiple Proportions

If two or more different compounds are composed of the
same two elements, then the ratio of the masses of the
second element combined with a certain mass of the first
elements is always a ratio of small whole numbers.
 Conservation of Atoms
John Dalton
2 H2 + O2 2 H2O
H
H
H2 O O H 2O
H
O2 H
+
O H
H
H2
H O H 2O
H

4 atoms hydrogen 4 atoms hydrogen

2 atoms oxygen 2 atoms oxygen
Dorin, Demmin, Gabel, Chemistry The Study of Matter , 3rd Edition, 1990, page 204
 Legos are Similar to Atoms

H
H
H2 H O O H 2O
H
+ O2
H O H
H2 H O H 2O
H

Lego's can be taken apart and built into many different things.
Atoms can be rearranged into different substances.
 Conservation of Mass
High
voltage
electrodes

Before reaction glass After reaction

chamber
O2

High
voltage

H2O

H2 5.0 g H2
O2 0 g H2
80 g O2
45
? g H2O
300 g (mass
of chamber) 40 g O2
+
385 g total 300 g (mass
of chamber)
+
385 g total

Dorin, Demmin, Gabel, Chemistry The Study of Matter , 3rd Edition, 1990, page 204
 Law of Definite Proportions
Joseph Louis Proust (1754 – 1826)

• Each compound has a specific ratio of

elements
• It is a ratio by mass
• Water is always 8 grams of oxygen for
every one gram of hydrogen
 The Law of Multiple Proportions

• Dalton could not use his theory to determine the

elemental compositions of chemical compounds
because he had no reliable scale of atomic masses.

• Dalton’s data led to a general statement known as the

law of multiple proportions.

• Law states that when two elements form a series of

compounds, the ratios of the masses of the second
element that are present per gram of the first element
can almost always be expressed as the ratios of
integers.

Copyright © 2007 Pearson Benjamin Cummings. All rights reserved.

 Daltons Atomic Theory
• Dalton stated that
elements consisted of
tiny particles called atoms

• He also called the

elements pure
substances because all
atoms of an element
were identical and that in
particular they had the
same mass.
 Dalton’s Atomic Theory
1. All matter consists of tiny particles.
Dalton, like the Greeks, called these particles “atoms”.

2. Atoms of one element can neither be subdivided nor changed into

atoms of any other element.

3. Atoms can neither be created nor destroyed.

4. All atoms of the same element are identical in mass, size, and
other properties.

5. Atoms of one element differ in mass and other properties from

atoms of other elements.

6. In compounds, atoms of different elements combine in simple, whole

number ratios.
 Dalton’s Symbols

John Dalton
1808
Daltons’ Models of Atoms

Carbon dioxide, CO2

Water, H2O

Methane, CH4