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Who Is John Dalton

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John Dalton (1766-1844) was an English chemist who pioneered the work in the development of modern atomic theory. The idea of the atom was first proposed by Greek Philosopher, Democritus, in 460. His theory was widely ignored because many people believed that because the atoms were too small to see, the ideas were too theoretical and therefore there was no proof of the atoms existence. Nobody continued with the exploration of this until the 1700’s when scientific method was established. Dalton examined many results accumulated by chemists, including Lavoisier and Proust, as well as conducting his own experiments to attempt to discover a logical way to explain the principles of law of conservation of mass and law of definite proportions. In …show more content…

This is what was identified as Dalton’s rule of ‘great simplicity’. He stated that when atoms combine in one ratio ‘…it must be presumed to be a binary one, unless some cause appear to the contrary’. The knowledge of ratios was insufficient, at that time, to determine the actual number of elemental atoms in each compound. This caused Dalton to believe that water was OH and ammonia was NH which is quite different from our modern understanding of the formulas of water (H_2 O) and ammonia (〖NH〗_4). This was a mistake in assuming that all compounds in 1:1 ratio. His atomic weights were also not sufficiently accurate as he stated that oxygen had an atomic weight of seven rather than what eight, which is what we classify it as today. Since the discovery of isotopes, the assumption that atoms of a given element are identical in their physical and chemical properties has been destroyed as some have varying weights. Nuclear fission and nuclear fusion have also disproved the theory that atoms are indestructible and preserve their identities in all chemical reactions. The modern atomic theory has now been modified to reflect the discoveries and knowledge of scientists

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