Matter is continuous.

” - Aristotle’s view

“Matter is made of discrete particles.” - Democritus’ view

Aristotle’s idea prevailed for more than 2,000 years!

Law of Conservation of Mass

Law of Definite Proportions

In a chemical reaction, the total mass of the materials reacted (reactants) is equal to the total mass of
the materials that were produced (products).

The total mass remains constant during a chemical reaction.

For example, 2.02 grams of hydrogen react completely with 16.0 grams of oxygen to form exactly 18.02
grams of water.

Any pure sample of a chemical compound, from whatever source and however prepared, always
contains the same elements and always in the same proportions by mass

The mass ratio of chlorine to sodium in sodium chloride or table salt is 1.54 : 1.0.

What mass of chlorine will completely use up 3.5 g of sodium metal?

Ans: 5.4 g of chlorine

Postulates of the theory

All matter is made up of atoms. Atoms are hard, indivisible, indestructible particles.

Note: Experiments have shown that atoms are made up of smaller particles and
are not entirely indivisible and indestructible.

Atoms of the same element are identical in all properties; and atoms of one element differ in properties
from atoms of another element.

Note: We now know that many elements have more than one isotopes.

Postulates of the theory

Compounds are combinations of atoms of two or more elements. A compound is made up of a fixed
number of each of its constituent elements.

Note: Today, we know some compounds which are different in properties but with exactly the
same %composition.

In chemical reactions, atoms of reactants combine or rearrange to form products. No atom is created
nor destroyed in chemical reactions.
 The Law of Multiple Proportions states that when two elements form two different compounds, the
ratio of the mass ratio of one compound to the mass ratio of the other is a small whole number.

This law was established by John Dalton himself after he proposed the atomic theory.

Mass Ratio:
Compound %N %O
mass N / mass O
Nitrous oxide 63.6 g N 1.75
63.6 36.4
(N2O) 36.4 g O 1
Nitric Oxide 46.7 g N 0.876
46.7 53.3
(NO) 53.3 g O 1
An atom consists of

a nucleus

electrons

The nucleus is made up of

protons

neutrons

Protons, neutrons and electrons are called fundamental or subatomic particles.

The particles in the nucleus – protons and neutrons – are called nucleons.

The radius of the nucleus is approximately 10–15 m.

most of the volume of the atom is made up of empty space which is occupied by electrons.

almost all (99.98%) the mass of the atom is concentrated in the nucleus.

Atomic number, Z, is the number of protons in the nucleus of an atom. Each element has a different
atomic number which is the identifying characteristic of the element.
Mass number, A, is the total number of protons and neutrons in the nucleus.

Atoms are neutral particles because the number of protons equals the number of electrons.

Atoms of a given element have the same atomic number, but may differ in

number of neutrons.

mass number

mass

These are called ISOTOPES.

Isotopes are identified by their mass number.

Each of these particles (nucleons) has a relative mass very close to 1 u.

Relative atomic mass is therefore very close to, but not exactly equal to the mass number.

Any natural sample of an element is a mixture of its isotopes.

The relative atomic mass of the element is calculated based on the abundance (percentage) of each
isotope.

The calculated mass is called average atomic mass.

When two or more atoms of non-metallic elements combine, a molecule is formed.

Molecules may be made up of atoms of the same element, such as O2 and P4, or of different elements,
such as water, H2O, and glucose, C6H12O6.

The relative molecular mass, Mr, is the ratio of the mass of one molecule of the substance to 1/12 of the
mass of one atom of C-12.

The relative molecular mass is calculated by adding up the relative atomic masses of all atoms present in
the molecule.

For example, the relative molecular mass of ethanoic acid (acetic acid), CH3COOH, is

[12 + (3 x 1.0) + 12 + (2 x 16.0) + 1.0] = 60.0 u

Ionic compounds like CaF2 and network solids such as SiC do not exist as molecules.

The relative mass of such compounds is called relative formula mass.

The relative formula mass of CaF2 is calculated as

[40.1 + (2 x 19.0)] = 78.1 u