2. John Dalton (1766-1844), the
English Chemist was born in a poor
weaver’s family. He started his
career as a school teacher and
later became a school principal. He
presented atomic theory of matter
in 1808.
3. 1)_ All matter is composed of extremely small particles called atoms, which cannot
be subdivided, created, or destroyed.
2)_ Atoms of a given element are identical in their physical and chemical properties.
3)_ Atoms of different elements differ in their physical and chemical properties.
4)_ Atoms of different elements combine in simple. whole-number ratios to form
compounds.
5)_ In chemical reactions, atoms are combined, separated, or rearranged but never
created, destroyed, or changed.
4. 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.