CONTRIBUTION OF

JOHN DALTON
TOWARD THE
UNDERSTANDING OF
THE CONCEPT OF
CHEMICAL ELEMENTS
 Elements are primary substances that
compose all matters in our surroundings.
There are many different kinds of elements.
In fact there are 118 of them. Eighty-eight of
them are naturally occurring and the rest of
them are produced artificially and cannot be
found in nature.
Atom is the smallest particle of an element that retains the
characteristics of the element you could just imagine that
the things around us are built up with billions of atoms
particle together.
The idea of the atom is relatively new. It gained
acceptance as a theory only in the early 1800s when John
Dalton, an English teacher and scientist, proposed an
atomic theory about the indivisible building blocks of
matter called atoms. His hypothesis which state in part that
the atom were responsible for the formation of compounds
by combining two or more elements can be summarized as
follow;
1. All elements of matter are composed of extremely small
particles called atoms.
2. Atoms of the same elements are identical, having the same
size , mass and chemical properties. Atoms of one element are
different from atoms of another element. Different properties
shown by elements such as O and H explain why they are
different from one another.
3. Compounds are composed of two or more element. In any
compounds, the ratio of the number of atoms of any two of
the elements present is either an integer or a simple fraction
to form a certain compound, what is needed is not only the
atoms of the right element, but also the specific number of
these atom. This an extension of the law of proportion
published in 1799 by a French Chemist Joseph Proust. It
state that different sample of the same compound always
contain constituent elements in the same proportion by mass.
 Another law supported by the hypothesis is the “Law of
Multiple Proportion “ states that if two elements can
combine to form more than one compound, the mass of one
element that combines with a fixed mass of the other element is
in the ratios of whole numbers.
Different compound made of the same element s differ in the
number of atom each kind that combine .
Examples are Carbon (C) and Oxygen (O).
These elements combine to form CO or CO₂.

4. A chemical reaction involves only the separation, combination, or

rearrangement atoms. It does not result in their creation or
destruction. This is the “Law of Conservation of Mass” which
states that matter can be neither created nor destroyed. Because
matter made up of atom that are unchanged in a chemical
reaction, it follows that mass can conserved as well.
J0hn Dalton’s experiments eventually led the acceptance of
the idea of the atom. In 1803, he proposed an atomic that
says:
1. Atoms are invisible particles and all elements ate
composed of atoms.
2. Same elements have exactly alike atoms.
3. While atoms of same elements are the same, atoms of
different elements are different.
4. Two or more atoms of elements can be combined to form
compounds. They combine in fixed ratios of whole
numbers forming particles of molecules.
5. Atoms are units of chemical change which involves
combination or rearrangement of atoms where they are
not created,destroyed,or changed.
The atomic theory offers an acceptable explanation of the laws of
chemical change where atoms merely rearrange, so that the number of
atoms of each element in the reactant is equal to number of
atoms in the products . The mass of the chemically reacting remains
constant.

DALTON’S ATOMIC THEORY can be stated as follows:

Matter is discrete (discontinuous) and made of very small particles
called atoms.
Atoms can neither be created nor destroyed in a chemical reaction or it
is indivisible and indestructible materials.
Atoms of the same element are identical in all respect, having the same
size, shape and structure, and especially mass.
Atoms of different elements have different properties and different
masses.
Atoms of different elements can combine in a fixed ratio of small whole
numbers to form compounds.
Compounds are composed of atoms of different elements.
MOLECULES – is the smallest particles of a substance that
retains the properties of the substance and is capable of
independent existence.

ATOMS – the smallest particle of a chemical element that

can exist alone or in combination. It has two main parts the
central core called NUCLEUS and the surrounding electron
field. It cannot be broken down further without changing
the chemical nature of the substance.
 PARTS OF AN ATOM:
1. Nucleus – is the tiny central core/part of an atom which contains both the
positively charge protons and the uncharged neutrons.
2. Sub-atomic particles
A. Protons – was discovered by ERNEST RUTHERFORD, a New Zealand Physicist in
1910.
-has a positive charge with a mass of approximately 1 atomic mass unit. It is much
heavier and larger than electron.
B. Electron – discovered by a British Physicist, Joseph John Thomson who receive the
Noble Prize in Physics in 1906.
- it is a tiny, very light in negatively charge subatomic particle of an atom. It has a mass
of 1/1836 atomic mass unit. ”Protons and Electrons have the opposite charge that is
why there in an attraction between these two subatomic particles that holds the
electron around the nucleus.”
C. Neutron- discovered by a British Physicist, James Chadwick in 1932. It is large and
heavy like protons. It has a Zero charge.
“In an uncharged atom, the number of electrons is equal to the number of protons
making the atom neutral.”