Atomic Theory Webquest - Book Report/Review Example

Lavoisier was able to carry out a series of laboratory experiments that led to the formulation of this law. These experiments (which are as follows) are done in closed vessels, in which of course the mass of species involved in the reaction remained constant all throughout. (1) One experiment performed by Lavoisier involved heating a sealed glass vessel containing a sample of tin and some air. Lavoisier found that before heating, the mass of the entire system (vessel + tin + air) is equal to the mass of the system after heating (vessel + tin calx + remaining air).

In this experiment, tin calx (which is now known as tin oxide) is the product of the reaction which he showed consisted of the tin together with a portion of the air. (2) Another experiment done by Lavoisier was on red mercury compound in which he boiled the former in a sealed apparatus. After reaction had occurred, aside from the formation of oxygen gas, the red mercury became silvery liquid. Lavoisier confirmed by weighing the apparatus that the chemical species were the same in quantity before and after the experiment (Zinni). d. Which of Dalton’s four principles does it support, and how does it support it?

The second principle (atoms are neither created nor destroyed in chemical reactions) supports the law of conservation of mass. . b. Who developed it The law of definite proportions was developed and declared by Joseph Proust, a French chemist, in 1806 (Carson). c. Describe the experiments this person carried out that led to the laws formulation. Joseph Proust discovered this law when he was conducting some experiments that involved determination of chemical formulas. Most of his experiments were done primarily on metal compounds (the most common one is on oxides of copper).

He reacted several elements with oxygen and he found out that amount of oxygen in the product from these reactions was always fixed at one or two values. Another experiment of Proust that led to the discovery of the law of definite proportions was on copper (II) carbonate. Proust showed that this compound always had 5.3 parts copper to 1 part carbon to 4 parts oxygen (Joseph Louis Proust). 3. a. What is the law of multiple proportions The law of multiple proportions is a statement that when two or more elements form more than one compound, the mass ratios of the elements in the compounds are simple whole numbers of each other. b. How is different from the law of definite proportions?

The laws of definite proportions and multiple proportions have something to do with Dalton’s Atomic Theory. The difference is that the former concerns itself with the combination of elements for the formation of one compound which results in a simple whole number ratio, meaning that no matter how a compound is produced, it has to have the same elements ratio. On the other hand, the latter has something to do with a comparison between two same elements that make up two different compounds where the division of these two ratios should be a simple whole number ratio.

This means that this law pertains