Dalton's Atomic Theory (Article) - Khan Academy

12/26/2019 Dalton's atomic theory (article) | Khan Academy
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Science · Chemistry · Electronic structure of atoms

· History of atomic structure
Dalton's atomic theory

The postulates of Dalton's atomic theory: which points do we
s ll use today, and what have we learned since Dalton?
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https://www.khanacademy.org/science/chemistry/electronic-structure-of-atoms/history-of-atomic-structure/a/daltons-atomic-theory-version-2 1/18
Key Points
Dalton's atomic theory was the first complete
a empt to describe all ma er in terms of atoms
and their proper es.
Dalton based his theory on the law of

conserva on of mass and the law of constant
composi on.
The first part of his theory states that all ma er

is made of atoms, which are indivisible.
The second part of the theory says all atoms of

a given element are iden cal in mass and
proper es.
The third part says compounds are

combina ons of two or more different types of
atoms.
The fourth part of the theory states that a

chemical reac on is a rearrangement of atoms.
Parts of the theory had to be modified based

on the discovery of subatomic par cles and
isotopes.
Chemists ask ques ons.

Privacy - Terms
Chemistry is full of unanswered ques ons. One of

the first ques ons people have been asking since
ancient mes is What is the world made of?
That is, if we were to zoom in ~100000000000

mes—that is 11 zeros!—on the skin of your
finger p, what would we see? Would that look any
different from zooming in on, say, an apple? If we
then cut up the apple into nier and nier pieces
using an imaginary ny 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 s ll have apple proper es?
The answers to these ques ons are fundamental to

modern chemistry, and chemists didn't agree on the
answer un l a few hundred years ago. Thanks to
scien sts 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, proper es of
ma er such as color, phase (e.g., solid, liquid, gas),
and even smell come from interac ons on an
atomic level. This ar cle will discuss John Dalton's
atomic theory, which was the first complete
Basis for Dalton's theory

Dalton based his theory on two laws: the law of
Privacy - Terms
composi on.
The law of conserva on of mass says that ma er is

not created or destroyed in a closed system. That
means if we have a chemical reac on, the amount
of each element must be the same in the star ng
materials and the products. We use the law of
conserva on of mass every me we balance
equa ons!
A chemist thinks of table salt as sodium and chloride ions arranged in a crystal
la ce structure. Image credit: "Image of salt" by OpenStax Anatomy and
Physiology, CC-BY-NC-SA 4.0.
The law of constant composi on says that a pure

compound will always have the same propor on of
the same elements. For example, table salt, which
has the molecular formula NaCl, contains the same
propor ons of the elements sodium and chlorine
no ma er how much salt you have or where the
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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 composi on.
Concept check: A me-travelling scien st from the

early 1700s decides to run the following
experiment: he takes a 10 gram sample of ethanol
(CH3 CH2 OH) and burns it in the presence of
oxygen in an open beaker. A er the reac on is
done, the beaker is empty. Does this result violate
the law of conserva on of mass?
[Show answer]
Part 1: All ma er is made of atoms.

Dalton hypothesized that the law of conserva on
of mass and the law of definite propor ons could
be explained using the idea of atoms. He proposed
that all ma er is made of ny indivisible par cles
called atoms, which he imagined as "solid, massy,
hard, impenetrable, movable par cle(s)".
Science Chemistry It is important to note that since Dalton did not

Electronic structure of have the necessary instruments to see or otherwise
atoms History of atomic experiment on individual atoms, he did not have
structure
any insight into whether they might have any
History of atomic structure
internal structure. We might visualize Dalton's atom
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The history of atomic as a piece in a molecular modeling kit, where
chemistry
different elements are spheres of different sizes
and colors. While this is a handy model for some
applica ons, we now know that atoms are far from
Discovery of the electron being solid spheres.
and nucleus
Rutherford’s gold foil

experiment Part 2: All atoms of a given element
are iden cal in mass and proper es.
Bohr's model of hydrogen
Dalton proposed that every single atom of an
Next lesson
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 s ll know this to be mostly
true. A sodium atom is different from a carbon
atom. Elements may share some similar boiling
points, mel ng points, and electronega vi es, but
no two elements have the same exact set of
proper es.
[Why is this only MOSTLY true?]
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A basic molecular modeling kit, including spherical atoms of different size and
color that can be connected by s cks to represent chemical bonds. Image
credit: "Photo of modeling kit" by Sonia on Wikimedia Commons, CC-BY 3.0
Part 3: Compounds are

combina ons of two or more
different types of atoms.
In the third part of Dalton's atomic theory, he
proposed that compounds are combina ons of two
or more different types of atoms. An example of
such a compound is table salt. Table salt is a
combina on of two separate elements with unique
physical and chemical proper es. The first, sodium,
is a highly reac ve metal. The second, chlorine, is a
toxic gas. When they react, the atoms combine in a
1:1 ra o to form white crystals of NaCl, which we
can sprinkle on our food.
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Since atoms are indivisible, they will always

combine in simple whole number ra os. Therefore,
it would not make sense to write a formula such as
Na0.5 Cl0.5 because you can't have half of an atom!
Part 4: A chemical reac on is a

rearrangement of atoms.
In the fourth and final part of Dalton's atomic
theory, he suggested that chemical reac ons 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 s ll 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" par cle.
In fact, experiments by Ernest Rutherford, Hans
Geiger, and Ernest Marsden showed that atoms are
mostly made up of empty space.
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Scanning transmission electron microscopy (STEM) allows us to see the atomic

level structure of tungsten selenide, WSe2 . 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

a er 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.
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Despite these caveats, Dalton's atomic theory is

s ll mostly true, and it forms the framework of
modern chemistry. Scien sts have even developed
the technology to see the world on an atomic level!
[A ribu ons and references]
Summary
Dalton's atomic theory was the first complete
Dalton based his theory on the law of

composi on.
The first part of his theory states that all ma er

is made of atoms, which are indivisible.
The second part of the theory says all atoms of

a given element are iden cal in mass and
proper es.
The third part says compounds are

combina ons of two or more different types of
atoms.
The fourth part of the theory states that a

chemical reac on is a rearrangement of atoms.
Privacy - Terms
Parts of the theory had to be modified based

on the existence of subatomic par cles and
isotopes.
Sort by: Top Voted
Ques ons Tips & Thanks
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garre jmoore14 4 years ago

more
Why is Daltons theory s ll taught if it is not

100% accurate?
1 (228
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comment votes)
yuki 4 years ago

more
It is also helpful to think about how

science is always evolving-we are
always learning new things and
modifying exis ng theories to take
into account new discoveries. That
happened to Dalton's atomic theory,
and that will likely to happen to many
more theories to come!
1 (325
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comment votes)
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Hridanshu Ruparel 4 years ago

more
Why is not possible to further separate atoms??

7 (34
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comments votes)
4 years
m…
Esther Dickey ago
Actually, it is. Atoms are made up of

protons, neutrons, and electrons.
However, if you remove any of these
par cles the atom will have different
proper es. An atom is the smallest
par cle of an element that has all the
proper es of the element. For
example, sodium in its pure form
reacts violently with water. When you
take away one of its electrons, it
becomes part of table salt and no
longer reacts with water.
12 (115
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Elijah Sy 4 years ago

more
In his gold foil experiment by RutherFord, why

did some par cles pass through and some
par cles bounce back?
1 (20
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comment votes)
4
…
years
Nathan Shapiro ago
Privacy - Terms The helium nuclei (which is alpha
decay from the radioac ve substance

used in this experiment) mostly just
passed through the gold foil, while a
very small por on bounced back. This
is because the atom is composed of
99.99% space, so the helium nuclei
rarely encountered a dense enough
substance to make it bounce back.
However, some mes they hit the
nucleus of a gold atom, deflec ng it.
According to J. J. Thomson's "plum-
pudding" model of the atom, where
the electrons were in a "soup" of
posi ve charge, the helium nuclei
should have passed right through the
gold foil. However, because of this
experiment, the planetary model was
used.
(55
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Eryquin-Mor 4 years ago

more
In part 3 of the ar cle,(Compounds are

combina ons of 2 or more different atoms) how
is it possible that we don't get affected by the
different proper es of the elements and get sick
if chlorine is a TOXIC gas and sodium is a highly
REACTIVE metal?
(16
Reply • Comment votes)
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Ma B 4 years ago
more
Sodium and chlorine are

toxic/explosive because they are
unstable and therefore very reac ve. If
you look at the electrons in the shells,
they want to react to fill their outer
Privacy - Terms shell of electrons. Once they react,
they exist as ions and then lose their

property of being super-reac ve
because they then become stable.
(36
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Danny 4 years ago

more
Why can't there be half an atom? And why are

chemists so sure?
(10
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4 years
m…
bre jsnyder ago
We say that an atom can't be cut in

half, not because it can't actually be
split (aka nuclear fission - reactor,
bomb) but rather because the resul ng
parts would no longer be atoms the
elements the you started with. Ex: you
can't split a Helium atom because to
do so would result in 1 or 2 Hydrogen
atoms and some le over bits - but it
would no longer BE Helium.
(33
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Ma hew Siviour 4 years ago

more
What era/ period of me did Dalton conclude

his theory?
1 (10
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Ma B 4 years ago
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Dalton was born in 1766 and died in

1844, so you can imagine that it
happened in between
(11
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Sam D 4 years ago

more
Didn't Antoine Lavoisier propose the law of

conserva on of mass?
(7
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Ma B 4 years ago
more
A peer reviewed journal, ERIC,

published "A Historical Note on the
Conserva on of Mass." This states in
their abstract that this is not en rely
true:
"Although most historians of science

a ribute the formula on of the law of
conserva on of ma er in chemical
reac ons to Antoine Lavoisier at the
end of the eighteenth century, several
earlier researchers had already
assumed this law in their work. These
researchers include Joseph Black,
Henry Cavendish, M. V. Lomonosov,
and Jean Rey."
1 (7
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Pooja Goyal 4 years ago

more
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cant we put protons (h+) into a nucleus of he

(he+) to get nucleus of an new element
(5
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sedspqr 4 years ago

more
To do this would require nuclear fusion

(combining smaller atomic nuclei to
form a larger one), a process which is
not yet quite possible in the lab. It
would produce more energy than an
atomic bomb would.
It is not nonexistent, however. This
process occurs constantly in the core
of the sun - basically, what you asked
about is what gives Earth the energy
necessary to support human life!
1 (7
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Thadd Hudson 4 years ago

more
Did Dalton make up another theory that we can

use instead of the one that was originally
created?
1 (4
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Elijah Sy 4 years ago

more
Well there are several parts to Dalton's

theory. His only theory is the atomic
theory and today we know that atoms
can be destroyed by nuclear reac ons
but not by chemical reac ons. Also,
there are different kinds of atoms
(differing by their masses) within an
Privacy - Terms element that are known as "isotopes",
but isotopes of an element have the

same chemical proper es. Hope that
helped. But his theory was not 100%
correct.
-
h p://www.iun.edu/~cpanhd/C101we
bnotes/composi on/dalton.html
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Erin Boyle 4 years ago

more
Why can you not add

protons/neutrons/electrons to an atom?
(3
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Ma B 4 years ago
more
You cannot add protons and neutrons

because they are in the center of an
atom and held ghly by the strong
nuclear force. However, you can add
electrons to atoms and this happens all
the me: the gaining and losing of
electrons is precisely what chemical
reac ons are!
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Discovery of the electron and nucleus
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Science · Chemistry · Electronic structure of atoms

Dalton's atomic theory

Google Classroom Facebook

Dalton based his theory on the law of

The ﬁrst part of his theory states that all ma er

The second part of the theory says all atoms of

The third part says compounds are

The fourth part of the theory states that a

Parts of the theory had to be modiﬁed based

Chemists ask ques ons.

Chemistry is full of unanswered ques ons. One of

That is, if we were to zoom in ~100000000000

The answers to these ques ons are fundamental to

Basis for Dalton's theory

The law of conserva on of mass says that ma er is

The law of constant composi on says that a pure

sodium metal and chlorine gas—which I wouldn't

Concept check: A me-travelling scien st from the

Dalton's atomic theory

Part 1: All ma er is made of atoms.

Science Chemistry It is important to note that since Dalton did not

Rutherford’s gold foil

[Why is this only MOSTLY true?]

Part 3: Compounds are

Since atoms are indivisible, they will always

Part 4: A chemical reac on is a

What have we learned since

Scanning transmission electron microscopy (STEM) allows us to see the atomic

Part two of Dalton's theory had to be modiﬁed

Despite these caveats, Dalton's atomic theory is

[A ribu ons and references]

Dalton based his theory on the law of

The ﬁrst part of his theory states that all ma er

The second part of the theory says all atoms of

The third part says compounds are

The fourth part of the theory states that a

Parts of the theory had to be modiﬁed based

Sort by: Top Voted

Ques ons Tips & Thanks

Want to join the conversa on?

garre jmoore14 4 years ago

Why is Daltons theory s ll taught if it is not

yuki 4 years ago

It is also helpful to think about how

See 1 more reply

Hridanshu Ruparel 4 years ago

Why is not possible to further separate atoms??

Actually, it is. Atoms are made up of

See 1 more reply

Elijah Sy 4 years ago

In his gold foil experiment by RutherFord, why

Privacy - Terms The helium nuclei (which is alpha

decay from the radioac ve substance

See 5 more replies

Eryquin-Mor 4 years ago

In part 3 of the ar cle,(Compounds are

Sodium and chlorine are

they exist as ions and then lose their

See 3 more replies