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Discovery of atomic structure and periodicity. Dr. Orla Ni Dhubhghaill o.nidhubhghaill@ucc.ie. Early days - Philosophy. Aristotle (384 – 322 B.C.) Matter is continuous “Nature abhors a vacuum”. Democritus (460 – 371 B.C.) Matter made up of atoms and space.
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Discovery of atomic structure and periodicity Dr. Orla Ni Dhubhghaill o.nidhubhghaill@ucc.ie
Early days - Philosophy • Aristotle (384 – • 322 B.C.) • Matter is continuous • “Nature abhors a • vacuum” • Democritus (460 – 371 B.C.) • Matter made up of atoms and space http://dbhs.wvusd.k12.ca.us/webdocs/AtomicStructure/ AtomicStructure.html
1417 – rediscovery of De Rerum Natura by Lucretius 14th/15th century – “Division of natural things has a limit” Aristotle’s teachings thought to be correct Atomic Theory = Godlessness 1624 (Paris) – death penalty for those opposed to Aristotle’s teachings Early Days - Philosophy • Solution – Pierre Gassendi (1592 – 1655) • Atoms are the smallest indivisible part of • matter • Created by God
John Dalton (1766-1844) "Having been in my progress so often misled by taking for granted the results of others, I have determined to write as little as possible but what I can attest by my own experience” Belief in atoms based on experimental evidence
Dalton’s postulates • All matter is made up of atoms • Atoms of the same element are identical, in mass and chemical properties • When a compound is decomposed, the recovered atoms are unchanged; they can re-combine to form the same or new compound. • Atoms of different elements combine in simple whole number ratios to form compounds • http://www.slcc.edu/schools/hum_sci/physics/whatis/biography/dalton.html • http://www.rsc.org/publishing/journals/DT/article.asp?doi=b307622a
‘Laws’ governing reactions Law of conservation of mass – Lavoisier, 1789 Total mass of products of chemical reaction is the same as total mass of reactants. Law of constant composition – Proust, 1797 Reacting elements combine in a constant ratio in a given compound
Dalton’s Law of Multiple Proportions • If two elements combine to form more than one compound, then the amounts of one element that combine with a fixed amount of the other will differ by factors that are the ratios of small whole numbers
Dalton’s chemical symbols Adapted from Dickerson, Gray, Haight, Chemical Principles, 3rd edition, 1979