Fundamental Laws of

Chemistry
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The Sceptical Chymist
 A book published by an
Anglo-Irish philosopher
Robert Boyle (1627-
1691).
 In this book, he defined
“element” as the
simplest form that
cannot be broken down
further by any chemical
means.
 Combination of the
atoms of elements forms
different “compounds”.

Fundamental Laws of Chemistry

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Joseph Priestley
 Dephlogisticated air (1733-1804)
-isolated oxygen gas
through heating

Antoine-Laurent Lavoisier
 (1743-1749)
Carried out further experiments
about dephlogisticated air
(oxygen), and found out that it is
involve in combustion and
respiration

Fundamental Laws of Chemistry

 Law of Conservation
4
of Mass
 His data led him to
conclude that matter
can undergo changes
during chemical
reaction, but the total
mass of the substances
is constant.
 The law stated that in a
chemical reaction, the
mass of the substances
produced is equal to
the mass of substances
reaction.

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The law allows chemists to determine the amount of reactants or
products involved in a chemical reaction.

Example:

silver nitrate + sodium chromate ⟶ silver chromate + sodium nitrate

5.0 𝑔 + 2.4 g = 4.9 𝑔 + 2.5 𝑔
7.4 𝑔 = 7.4 g

Fundamental Laws of Chemistry

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Joseph-Louis Proust – the law of definite proportions
Also called as the law of definite
composition, states that any
sample of given compound will
always be composed of the same
elements in the same proportion by
mass.

Example:  Nitrous oxide (𝑁2 𝑂), also known

A 100 g water sample contains 89%
oxygen and 11% hydrogen by
mass; 100 kg of water also contains
the same percentage by mass.
as laughing gas, is used as an
anesthetic. In whatever form it is
used, it is always composed of
64% nitrogen and 36% oxygen
by mass.

Fundamental Laws of Chemistry

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John Dalton
States that when two
elements combine with
each other to form
more than one
compound, the mass of
one element that
combine with a fixed
mass of the other are in
a ratio of small whole
numbers.
Fundamental Laws of Chemistry
– Law of Multiple Proportions
 Example:
Carbon and oxygen can
combine to form two different
compounds. In forming Carbon
Monoxide (CO), 5.0 g of carbon
combines with 6.7 grams of oxygen;
while in forming 𝐶𝑂2 , 5.0 g of carbon
combines with 13.3 g of oxygen the
ratio of masses of oxygen with the
same amount of carbon is 6.7:13.3 or
simply about 1:2.
8 Dalton’s Atomic Theory

Four postulates of atomic theory:

• Matter is made up of extremely small
indivisible particles called atoms.
• Atoms of the same element are
identical and are different from
those of other elements.
• Compounds are formed when
atoms of different elements
combine in certain whole-number
ratios.
• Atoms are arranged only during
chemical reaction to form new
compounds.

Dalton’s Atomic Theory

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Inside the Atom
Inside the Atom
10 Subatomic particles
Electrons
 Discovered by British
physicist Joseph John
Thomson (1856-1940)
while studying the
nature of cathode rays
 Negative particles
were more than1000
times lighter than the
hydrogen atom, but its
mass is the same
regardless of the
element it came from.

Inside the Atom

11
Nucleus: Protons and Neutrons
Ernest Rutherford discovered
and described the alpha
 James Chadwick
and beta rays as positively
and negatively charged Discovered the other
radiations respectively. type of particle in the
• 1909 – performed gold nucleus – the neutron.
foil experiment which
led to the emergence
of nuclear model of an
atom.
• 1920 – discovered the
proton
Inside the Atom
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The nucleus at the

center consists of
protons and neutrons,
collectively known as
nucleons. The mass of
atom depends
entirely on the
nucleus, around in
which the electrons
move at very high
speed.

Inside the Atom

13 Characteristics of Subatomic Particles

Mass
Subatomic Symbol Charge
Particle Gram Atomic Mass (coulomb)
Unit

Electron 𝑒− 9.110 𝑥 10−28 5.486 𝑥 10−4 −1.602 𝑥 10−19

1.007276
Proton p 1.673 𝑥 10−24 1.602 𝑥 10−19

1.008665
Neutron n 1.675 𝑥 10−24 0

Inside the Atom

 I hope you learned
14
something!
Thank you for listening!

Fundamental Laws of Chemistry