Subject Code Chem 1 Chemistry 1

Module Code 1.0 Introduction and Review

Lesson Code 1.3 Dalton’s Atomic Theory
Time Frame 30 minutes

Components Tasks TA1 ATA2

(min) (min)

Target After working on this module, you are expected to: 1

1. Apply the different laws of chemical combinations in solving
problems
• Law of Conservation of Mass
• Law of Definite Composition
• Law of Multiple Proportions
2. Relate the importance of this chemistry concept to everyday
life

Hook In the previous modules, we learned to differentiate the properties 5

of matter either extensive or intensive properties, physical and
chemical properties. We also classify matter as an element, a mixture
or a compound. This means that a matter can exist as an element
which is composed of one type of atom, a compound that is
composed of two or more elements in a chemical combination.
However, have we really tried to understand what an atom is?

Let us start by giving you a challenge. Get a piece of paper try

dividing the piece of paper in half as you go along. Then divide the
half-piece of paper again in half. Then, you repeat the process.

Figure 1. Illustration for the paper dividing challenge.

How many divisions will you take to cut that paper until you can’t cut
it no more? Can you divide it forever? Would you eventually run into
very basic particles that are no longer divisible, not because of their
minute sizes but you are now dealing with the fundamental nature of
matter itself?

1
Time allocation suggested by the teacher.
2
Actual time allocation spent by the student (for information purposes only).
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CHEMISTRY 1 Dalton’s Atomic Theory
 That was the fundamental question that an English scientist and a
school teacher, John Dalton was trying to understand. During this
time, Dalton formulated a precise definition of the building blocks of
matter we call atoms. This was then called Dalton’s Atomic Theory

Ignite Dalton’s work can be summarized as: (Brown et. al, 2012) 20

1.) Each element is composed of extremely small particles called

atom.
2.) All atoms of a given element are identical, but the atoms of
one element are different from the atom of different element.
3.) Atoms of one element cannot be changed into atoms of a
different element by chemical reactions; atoms are neither
created nor destroyed in chemical reactions.
4.) Compounds are formed when atoms of more than one
element combine; a given compound always has the same
relative number and kind of atoms.

This time, let us illustrate the Dalton’s atomic theory by making a

cheese hamburger with a delicious brown beef patty and a bit of
lettuce. In this case, the cheese burger is the product, each individual
ingredient is the reactant and the process of making the cheese burger
is the chemical reaction.

Postulate 1: Each element is composed of extremely small particles

called atom.

In the case of our cheese burger, every ingredient represents an

individual atom of every element.

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CHEMISTRY 1 Dalton’s Atomic Theory
 Postulate 2: All atoms of a given element are identical, but the atoms
of one element are different from the atom of different element.

First of all let us base this on the premise of our hamburger. In a

standardized production, like in fast food chains. Every burger that
these fast food chains serve should have the same quality of
hamburger buns, cheese, lettuce, and burger patty. Let us focus on
cheddar cheese for example. For it to be called a cheddar cheese, it
should have the same properties as other cheddar cheese -- color,
taste, texture, etc. Its properties are different from other cheese like
mozzarella and parmesan. Even though they are of the all called
cheese, they are not the actually the same.

This concept is the same as comparing gold to silver. Silver and gold
belong to the same family in the periodic table. This means that
atoms of gold and silver may have similar properties. However
because of the difference in the number of protons, neutrons and
electrons, these two actually have different properties such as density,
melting point, and so on.

As you can see every ingredient represents different kinds of

elements. If they are of different element, then they must differ in
properties. Like in the case of your cheese burger, the taste of one
ingredient is different from the other ingredients.

Postulate 3: Atoms of one element cannot be changed into atoms of

a different element by chemical reactions; atoms are neither created
nor destroyed in chemical reactions.

In the case of our burger, we cannot magically change a lettuce in to a

beef patty, nor change a beef patty into a lettuce.

That is why the field of alchemy for finding the “philosopher stone”
that will turn every element into gold did not succeed. Simply
because you cannot convert metals like mercury, silver or lead into
gold.

In this case you cannot create this ingredient nor destroy the
ingredients. However, is this always the case? You will find out later
in succeeding modules that this is not always the case since these
atoms can be split into its elementary particles. Like the every
ingredients of the burger wherein it can also be sliced into smaller
pieces.

Postulate 4: Compounds are formed when atoms of more than one

element combine; a given compound always has the same relative
number and kind of atoms.
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CHEMISTRY 1 Dalton’s Atomic Theory
 As we initially said, the cheese burger is the product, the ingredients
are the reactants and the process of making the cheese burger is the
reaction. In the process of making the cheese burger every ingredient
is combined to form the cheese burger. If we use a different
ingredient then it is a different burger.

Think of a compound which originally has atoms A and B. If we use

a different atom or we increase the number of either atom A or B,
then that resulting compound is a different from the original
compound.

Now, let us use the postulates of John Dalton to explain the different
Mass Laws. These are the laws that led to the development and the
acceptance of Dalton’s Atomic Theory. These laws are:

Law of Conservation of Mass

“In a reaction matter is not created nor destroyed”

This means that in a chemical reaction the total mass of the

substances in the product has the same total mass as your reactants.
This means that when you combine the two substances together to
form a product the sum of the individual masses of your reactant is
the same as the total mass in the product. Just like the example in
figure 1.

Silberberg, 2006
Figure 1. The total mass of lead nitrate solution and sodium chromate solution before
they react (A) is the same as the total mass after they have reacted (8) to form lead
chromate (yellow solid) and sodium nitrate solution.

If we look back to our cheese burger the total mass of the ingredients
if weighed will become the total mass of the cheese burger.

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CHEMISTRY 1 Dalton’s Atomic Theory
 Law of Definite Proportions

“All compounds, regardless of source or how they are prepared

have the same proportions of their basic elements”

This means that all elements composing a given compound occurs in

a fixed (definite) composition in all samples of that specific
compound, regardless of where it is found or the process of making
that compound. Let say for example carbon dioxide, the gas that we
release in respiration, is also the same gas that is being released when
we mix baking soda and vinegar to make baking soda volcano. The
carbon dioxide which heats up the Earth’s atmosphere have the same
elemental proportions as the carbon dioxide that heats up the
atmosphere of Mars and Venus.

If we are to prove it mathematically through mass ratios: (Tro, 2017)

Two samples of carbon dioxide are decomposed into their constituent

elements. A sample produced from the atmosphere produced 26.7g of
oxygen and 10.0 g of carbon. Another sample from that was collected
from the forested areas of the Philippines produced 8.54 g of oxygen
and 3.20 g of carbon. Shows that the carbon dioxide collected from
both sampling sites have the same elemental proportions.

𝑭𝒐𝒓 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒇𝒊𝒓𝒔𝒕 𝒔𝒂𝒎𝒑𝒍𝒆:

𝑚𝑎𝑠𝑠 𝑜𝑓 𝑜𝑥𝑦𝑔𝑒𝑛 26.7 𝑔
= = 2.67 𝑜𝑟 2.67: 1
𝑚𝑎𝑠𝑠 𝑜𝑓 𝑐𝑎𝑟𝑏𝑜𝑛 10.0 𝑔

𝑭𝒐𝒓 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒔𝒆𝒄𝒐𝒏𝒅 𝒔𝒂𝒎𝒑𝒍𝒆:

𝑚𝑎𝑠𝑠 𝑜𝑓 𝑜𝑥𝑦𝑔𝑒𝑛 8.54 𝑔
= = 2.67 𝑜𝑟 2.67: 1
𝑚𝑎𝑠𝑠 𝑜𝑓 𝑐𝑎𝑟𝑏𝑜𝑛 3.20 𝑔

Carbon dioxide, CO2 is always made up of 1 carbon atom and 2

oxygen atoms. This is always true regardless of the compounds
source.

We can also prove this mathematically using the process of percent

by mass or the fraction by mass (Silberberg, 2006), wherein it is
expressed as the part of the compounds mass contributed by the
element. It is obtained by dividing the mass of each element by the
total mass of the compound.

Let us consider a sample of calcium carbonate. Calcium carbonate

has many sources. It can be from the limestone that were deposited
in a cave or it can be from the shell production of seashells.

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CHEMISTRY 1 Dalton’s Atomic Theory
 Two samples of calcium carbonate where collected from different
sources: a 20.0g sample and a 1.00g sample.

The table below shows the elemental mass composition of the sample
of calcium carbonate

Table 1. Elemental and percentage composition from a sample of

calcium carbonate.
Analysis by mass Analysis by mass Percent by mass
(grams/20.0g) (grams/1.00g)
8.0g calcium 0.40 g calcium 40% calcium
2.4g carbon 0.12 g carbon 12% carbon
9.6g oxygen 0.48 g oxygen 48% oxygen
Total: Total: Total:
20.0g 1.00g 100%

As you can see the two different mass samples have the same
percentages for each element in a pure sample of calcium carbonate.
The Law of Definite Proportions tells us that pure samples of calcium
carbonate always contain the same percent by mass.

Law of Multiple Proportions

“If two elements A and B combine to form more than one

compound, the masses of B that can combine with a given mass of
A are the ratio of small whole numbers”

During this time Dalton suspected that an element A can combine

with an element B multiple times to form more different compounds.
This means that the masses of B that react with a fixed mass of A are
always related to one another as small-whole number ratios. Let us
consider carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide. The ratio of oxygen to
carbon in carbon dioxide is 2.67 g of oxygen per 1.00 g of carbon. On
the other hand, another experiment suggests that the ratio of oxygen
to carbon is 1.33 g of oxygen per 1.00 g of carbon. If we are to
compare the ratios of the oxygen of both carbon dioxide and carbon
monoxide this will become

𝑚𝑎𝑠𝑠 𝑜𝑥𝑦𝑔𝑒𝑛 𝑡𝑜 𝑜𝑛𝑒 𝑔𝑟𝑎𝑚 𝑐𝑎𝑟𝑏𝑜𝑛 𝑑𝑖𝑜𝑥𝑖𝑑𝑒 2.67 𝑔

=
𝑚𝑎𝑠𝑠 𝑜𝑥𝑦𝑔𝑒𝑛 𝑡𝑜 𝑜𝑛𝑒 𝑔𝑟𝑎𝑚 𝑐𝑎𝑟𝑏𝑜𝑛 𝑚𝑜𝑛𝑜𝑥𝑖𝑑𝑒 1.33 𝑔
= 2 𝑜𝑟 2: 1

This means that in carbon dioxide, there are two oxygen atoms while
in carbon monoxide you only have one oxygen atom. (Silberberg,
2006)

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CHEMISTRY 1 Dalton’s Atomic Theory
 To prove that during the time of Dalton was very hard since they do
not have the technology to visualize individual atoms. This time with
the advent and usage of modern tools, have proven that carbon
dioxide has one carbon atom and two oxygen atoms, while carbon
monoxide contains only one atom of carbon and one atom of oxygen
as shown in Figure 2.

Tro, 2017
Figure 2. Space-filling model of carbon dioxide and carbon monoxide
indicating the oxygen atom in red and oxygen atom in black.

These mass laws and the postulates of Dalton’s Atomic Theory

correlate with another in proving the existence of atoms and chemical
reaction. This does not mean that the laws of chemistry should only
focus on these laws and postulates. The proofs of disproving some of
the postulates come in the recent century due to discoveries such as
the existence of subatomic particles and nuclear reaction.

Navigate Work on the following exercises to find out if you understood the 4
lesson.

1.) Illustrate the different aspects of Dalton’s atomic theory using

everyday activities and real life analogies that is not related to
atoms or molecules. (possible answers may include the
illustration of making cheese burgers like the one in this module)
Imagination is your limit.

2.) Two samples of carbon monoxide are decomposed into their

constituent elements. One sample of liquid carbon monoxide used in
the laboratory produced 2.00 g of oxygen then producing 1.50 g of
carbon. Another sample taken from the atmosphere produced 11.7 g
of oxygen and 9.0 g of carbon. Show that these results are consistent
with the law of definite proportions.
(answer 1.33 g of oxygen is to 1 gram of carbon)
Knot Here are some of the significant key ideas that you should remember 2
about Dalton’s Atomic Theory and the mass laws that was derived or
was proved from Dalton’s Atomic Theory.
▪ . Every element is composed of atoms that are indestructible.
▪ Atoms of the same element have the same properties, while
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CHEMISTRY 1 Dalton’s Atomic Theory
 of atom of a different elements are not.
▪ In a chemical reaction you can only combine, re-arrange, or
separate elements.
▪ You can neither create nor destroy and atom.
▪ All compounds, regardless of source or how they are
prepared have the same proportions of their basic elements.
and;
▪ If two elements A and B combine to form more than one
compound, the masses of B that can combine with a given
mass of A are the ratio of small whole numbers.

References

Brown T., LEMay, H., Murphy, C & Woodward, P. (2012).Chemistry: The Central Science 12th
Edition.USA: Pearson Education Inc.

Chang, Raymond (2008), General Chemistry: The Essential Concepts 5th Edition. New York:
McGraw-Hill Companies.

J. Albarico (PSHS-CBRZ). (undated). THINK Framework. Based on Science Links by E.G.

Ramos and N. Apolinario, Quezon City. Rex Bookstore.

Silberberg, Martin (2006), Chemistry: The Molecular Nature of Matter and Change 4th Edition. New
York: McGraw-Hill Companies.

Tro, Nivaldo (2017), Chemistry: A Molecular Approach 4th Edition, USA: Pearson Education Inc.

Prepared by: DEXTER VILE J. LAURDEN Reviewed by: LESTER MENDOZA

Position: Special Science Teacher II Position: Special Science Teacher II

Campus: CALABARZONRC Campus: Main

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CHEMISTRY 1 Dalton’s Atomic Theory