Abstract for Lecture #4 - (a) Fundamental Chemical Laws; (b) Dalton's Atomic Theory; (c) Canniazzaro's Interpretation


In the first part of this lecture we introduce some fundamental laws of chemistry, namely: (i) the law of conservation of mass, (ii) the law of definite proportions, and (iii) the law of multiple proportions.

In the second part of this lecture we will describe how Dalton's atomic theory explained the above laws by postulating the existence of atoms.

In the third part of this lecture we will describe how Cannizzarro, using Avogadro's hypothesis to explain Gay-Lussac's law of combining volumes arrived at the correct values of the relative atomic masses.

To prepare for this lecture, we suggest that you read sections 2-1 through 2-4 of Zumdahl


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