Dalton's atomic theory

The postulates of Dalton's atomic theory: which points do we still use today, and
what have we learned since Dalton?
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Key Points
 Dalton's atomic theory was the first complete attempt
to describe all matter in terms of atoms and their properties.

 Dalton based his theory on the law of conservation of

mass and the law of constant composition.

 The first part of his theory states that all matter is

made of atoms, which are indivisible.

 The second part of the theory says all atoms of a

given element are identical in mass and properties.

 The third part says compounds are combinations of

two or more different types of atoms.

 The fourth part of the theory states that a chemical

reaction is a rearrangement of atoms.

 Parts of the theory had to be modified based on the

discovery of subatomic particles and isotopes.

Chemists ask questions.

Chemistry is full of unanswered questions. One of the first
questions people have been asking since ancient times
is What is the world made of?
That is, if we were to zoom in ~100000000000 times—that is
11 zeros!—on the skin of your fingertip, what would we see?
Would that look any different from zooming in on, say, an
apple? If we then cut up the apple into tinier and tinier pieces
using an imaginary tiny knife, would we reach a point where
the pieces could no longer be cut any smaller? What would
those pieces look like, and would they still have apple
properties?

The answers to these questions are fundamental to modern

chemistry, and chemists didn't agree on the answer until a
few hundred years ago. Thanks to scientists such as John
Dalton, modern chemists think of the world in terms of
atoms. Even if we can't see atoms with our naked eye,
properties of matter such as color, phase (e.g., solid, liquid,
gas), and even smell come from interactions on an atomic
level. This article will discuss John Dalton's atomic theory,
which was the first complete attempt to describe all matter in
terms of atoms and their properties.

Basis for Dalton's theory

Dalton based his theory on two laws: the law of conservation
of mass and the law of constant composition.

The law of conservation of mass says that matter is not

created or destroyed in a closed system. That means if we
have a chemical reaction, the amount of each element must
be the same in the starting materials and the products. We
use the law of conservation of mass every time we balance
equations!

The crystal lattice of sodium chloride shows the sodium and

chloride ions in a 1:1 ratio.
A chemist thinks of table salt as sodium and chloride ions arranged in a crystal lattice
structure. Image credit:  "Image of salt" by OpenStax Anatomy and Physiology, CC-BY-
NC-SA 4.0.

The law of constant composition says that a pure

compound will always have the same proportion of the same
elements. For example, table salt, which has the molecular
formula \text{NaCl}NaCl, contains the same proportions of the
elements sodium and chlorine no matter how much salt you
have or where the salt came from. If we were to combine
some sodium metal and chlorine gas—which I wouldn't
recommend doing at home—we could make more table salt
which will have the same composition.

Concept check: A time-travelling scientist from the early

1700s decides to run the following experiment: he takes a 10
gram sample of ethanol (\text{CH}_3 \text{CH}_2 \text {OH}CH3
CH2OH) and burns it in the presence of oxygen in an open
beaker. After the reaction is done, the beaker is empty. Does
this result violate the law of conservation of mass?
[Show answer]

\text{CO}_2(g)\text H_2 \text O(g)

Dalton's atomic theory

Part 1: All matter is made of atoms.

Dalton hypothesized that the law of conservation of mass and
the law of definite proportions could be explained using the
idea of atoms. He proposed that all matter is made of tiny
indivisible particles called atoms, which he imagined as
"solid, massy, hard, impenetrable, movable particle(s)".

It is important to note that since Dalton did not have the

necessary instruments to see or otherwise experiment on
individual atoms, he did not have any insight into whether
they might have any internal structure. We might visualize
Dalton's atom as a piece in a molecular modeling kit, where
different elements are spheres of different sizes and colors.
While this is a handy model for some applications, we now
know that atoms are far from being solid spheres.

Part 2: All atoms of a given element

are identical in mass and properties.
Dalton proposed that every single atom of an element, such
as gold, is the same as every other atom of that element. He
also noted that the atoms of one element differ from the
atoms of all other elements. Today, we still know this to be
mostly true. A sodium atom is different from a carbon atom.
Elements may share some similar boiling points, melting
points, and electronegativities, but no two elements have the
same exact set of properties.
[Why is this only MOSTLY true?]
Picture of a molecular modeling kit including multiple types of
plastic spheres in different colors that represent elements
and stick-like plastic "bonds".
A basic molecular modeling kit, including spherical atoms of different size and color that
can be connected by sticks to represent chemical bonds. Image credit: "Photo of
modeling kit" by Sonia on Wikimedia Commons, CC-BY 3.0

Part 3: Compounds are combinations

of two or more different types of
atoms.
In the third part of Dalton's atomic theory, he proposed that
compounds are combinations of two or more different types
of atoms. An example of such a compound is table salt. Table
salt is a combination of two separate elements with unique
physical and chemical properties. The first, sodium, is a
highly reactive metal. The second, chlorine, is a toxic gas.
When they react, the atoms combine in a 1:1 ratio to form
white crystals of \text{NaCl}NaCl, which we can sprinkle on our
food.

Since atoms are indivisible, they will always combine in

simple whole number ratios. Therefore, it would not make
sense to write a formula such
as \text{Na}_{0.5}\text{Cl}_{0.5}Na0.5Cl0.5 because you can't have
half of an atom!

Part 4: A chemical reaction is a

rearrangement of atoms.
In the fourth and final part of Dalton's atomic theory, he
suggested that chemical reactions don't destroy or create
atoms. They merely rearranged the atoms. Using our salt
example again, when sodium combines with chlorine to make
salt, both the sodium and chlorine atoms still exist. They
simply rearrange to form a new compound.

What have we learned since Dalton

proposed his theory?
The short answer: a lot! For instance, we now know that
atoms are not indivisible—as stated in part one—because
they are made up of protons, neutrons, and electrons. The
modern picture of an atom is very different from Dalton's
"solid, massy" particle. In fact, experiments by Ernest
Rutherford, Hans Geiger, and Ernest Marsden showed that
atoms are mostly made up of empty space.

Image of tungsten diselenide, \text{WSe}_2WSe2.

 Scanning transmission electron microscopy (STEM) allows us to see the atomic level
structure of tungsten selenide, WSe_22. Image credit: "STEM image"  by Kazu Suenaga
et al. on Wikimedia Commons,  CC BY 4.0

Part two of Dalton's theory had to be modified after mass

spectrometry experiments demonstrated that atoms of the
same element can have different masses because the
number of neutrons can vary for different isotopes of the
same element. For more on isotopes, you can watch this
video on atomic number, mass number, and isotopes.

Despite these caveats, Dalton's atomic theory is still mostly

true, and it forms the framework of modern chemistry.
Scientists have even developed the technology to see the
world on an atomic level!
[Attributions and references]

1.
2.

Summary
 Dalton's atomic theory was the first complete attempt to
describe all matter in terms of atoms and their properties.

 Dalton based his theory on the law of conservation of

mass and the law of constant composition.

 The first part of his theory states that all matter is made
of atoms, which are indivisible.

 The second part of the theory says all atoms of a given

element are identical in mass and properties.
 The third part says compounds are combinations of two
or more different types of atoms.

 The fourth part of the theory states that a chemical

reaction is a rearrangement of atoms.

 Parts of the theory had to be modified based on the

existence of subatomic particles and isotopes.

Democritus first suggested the existence of the atom but it took almost two
millennia before the atom was placed on a solid foothold as a fundamental chemical
object by John Dalton (1766-1844). Although two centuries old, Dalton's atomic
theory remains valid in modern chemical thought.

Dalton's Atomic Theory

1) All matter is made of atoms. Atoms are indivisible and

indestructible.
2) All atoms of a given element are identical in mass and properties

3) Compounds are formed by a combination of two or more different

kinds of atoms.

4) A chemical reaction is a rearrangementof atoms.

Modern atomic theory is, of course, a little more involved than Dalton's theory but the
essence of Dalton's theory remains valid. Today we know that atoms can be destroyed
via nuclear reactions but not by chemical reactions. Also, there are different kinds of
atoms (differing by their masses) within an element that are known as "isotopes", but
isotopes of an element have the same chemical properties.

Many heretofore unexplained chemical phenomena were quickly explained by Dalton

with his theory. Dalton's theory quickly became the theoretical foundation in
chemistry.

Dalton’s Atomic Theory

The main points of Dalton’s atomic theory are:

1. Everything is composed of atoms, which are the indivisible building blocks of

matter and cannot be destroyed.
2. All atoms of an element are identical.
3. The atoms of different elements vary in size and mass.
4. Compounds are produced through different whole-number combinations of
atoms.
5. A chemical reaction results in the rearrangement of atoms in the reactant and
product compounds.