Dalton, Gay-Lussac, and Avogadro

Contributions to Atomic Mass

Connecting Mass to Moles

One of the greatest challenges early chemists faced was trying to find a way to connect the mass of a substance to the number of particles in the sample. It was determined that elementary particles combined in fixed ratios by weight.

Connecting Mass to Moles

This led Dalton to the atomic model of matter
Example: The mass ratio of oxygen to hydrogen in water is 8:1
This does not tell us how many atoms of each element are involved It could tell us this if we knew the relative mass of each kind of atom

Relative Mass
To assign relative masses to elements it is necessary to know that the samples being compared have the same number of particles
If particles are all the same size, the same size sample would have the same number of particles If particles are different sizes, the same size sample would have different numbers of particles

Relative Mass
At the time, chemists did not know which was true and tended to think the latter was more likely
Example: A bucket of baseballs has fewer balls than an identical bucket of golf balls If this is true in the macroscopic world, why wouldnt it be true in the sub-microscopic one?

Relative Mass
Consider earlier this year when we studied density: was iron more dense than aluminum because iron had more particles per given volume than aluminum or because irons individual particles were more massive than aluminums? Could it be some combination of both?

Relative Mass
The truth is, based on the experiments we conducted earlier in the year, we couldnt say which was true. Dalton did not know what was true during his time either.
Since the mass of individual atoms could not be determined, a system of atomic masses had to be determined by comparison.

Relative Mass
To determine a system of masses by comparison, one element would have to be chosen as the basis of comparison for all others Dalton chose hydrogen and assigned it a mass of 1.

Relative Mass
To find the mass of another element like oxygen:
Compare the masses of equal number of oxygen and hydrogen atoms OR Find the combining masses of oxygen and hydrogen in water

Relative Mass
Dalton thought that the former approach was invalid because he thought identical volumes of hydrogen and oxygen gases would have different numbers of particles He thought the latter was valid but did not take into account that it is valid ONLY if the ratio of atomic combination is known

Reactions of Gases
Research conducted by Gay-Lussac suggested that equal volumes of gases, at the same temperature and pressure, contain equal numbers of particles

Reactions of Gases
Gay-Lussac noted that gases appear to react in simple integer ratios
Example: Two volumes of hydrogen reacted with one volume of oxygen to produce two volumes of water

These findings appeared to contradict the idea that equal volumes of gases have equal numbers of particles

Reactions of Gases
Why? Well, if water is was H2O, then two volumes of hydrogen and one volume of oxygen should make one volume of water
+ + =

Reactions of Gases
Gay-Lussacs law that equal volumes of gases have equal numbers of particles and Daltons atomic theory did not seem to be compatible In 1811, Avogadro wrote a paper that reconciled the two

Avogadros Hypothesis
Avogadro assumed
Equal volumes of gases have equal numbers of molecules These molecules can be split into halfmolecules during chemical reactions That molecules of elemental gases could contain more than a single atom

Avogadros Hypothesis
Two volumes of hydrogen react with one volume of oxygen to produce two volumes of water when hydrogen and oxygen can be split into half-molecules!
+ + = +

Avogadros Hypothesis
If we accept Avogadros Hypothesis, we can compare the mass of various gases and deduce the relative mass of the molecules To do this, we pick a weighable amount of the lightest element (how about 1.0 g?) then use mass ratios to assign atomic masses to the other elements

Implications
If two volumes of hydrogen combine with one volume of oxygen gas, it is reasonable to assume that two molecules of hydrogen are reacting with each molecule of oxygen The word chosen to represent the standard weighable amount of stuff, the mole, comes from the Latin mole cula or little lump