Chapter 3 AAATOMSTOMSTOMS ANDANDAND MOLECULES Ancient Indian and Greek philosophers have much experimentations by Lavoisier and always wondered about the unknown and Joseph L. Proust. unseen form of matter. The idea of divisibility of matter was considered long back in India, 3.1.1 LAW OF CONSERVATION OF MASS around 500 BC. An Indian philosopher Maharishi Kanad, postulated that if we go on Is there a change in mass when a chemical dividing matter (padarth), we shall get smaller change (chemical reaction) takes place? and smaller particles. Ultimately, a stage will come when we shall come across the smallest Activity ______________ 3.1 particles beyond which further division will • Take one of the following sets, X and Y not be possible. He named these particles of chemicals– Parmanu. Another Indian philosopher, X Y Pakudha Katyayama, elaborated this doctrine (i) copper sulphate sodium carbonate and said that these particles normally exist 1.25 g 1.43 g in a combined form which gives us various (ii) barium chloride sodium sulphate forms of matter. 1.22 g 1.53 g Around the same era, ancient Greek (iii) lead nitrate sodium chloride philosophers – Democritus and Leucippus 2.07 g 1.17 g • suggested that if we go on dividing matter, a Prepare separately a 5% solution of any one pair of substances listed stage will come when particles obtained under X and Y each in 10 mL in water. cannot be divided further. Democritus called • Take a little amount of solution of Y in these indivisible particles atoms (meaning a conical flask and some solution of indivisible). All this was based on X in an ignition tube. philosophical considerations and not much • Hang the ignition tube in the flask experimental work to validate these ideas carefully; see that the solutions do not could be done till the eighteenth century. get mixed. Put a cork on the flask By the end of the eighteenth century, (see Fig. 3.1). scientists recognised the difference between elements and compounds and naturally became interested in finding out how and why elements combine and what happens when they combine. Antoine L. Lavoisier laid the foundation of chemical sciences by establishing two important laws of chemical combination. 3.1 Laws of Chemical Combination The following two laws of chemical Fig. 3.1: Ignition tube containing solution of X, dipped combination were established after in a conical flask containing solution of Y. 2021-22 • Weigh the flask with its contents conservation of mass and the law of definite carefully. proportions. • Now tilt and swirl the flask, so that the solutions X and Y get mixed. John Dalton was born in • Weigh again. a poor weaver’s family in • What happens in the reaction flask? 1766 in England. He • Do you think that a chemical reaction began his career as a has taken place? teacher at the age of • Why should we put a cork on the mouth twelve. Seven years later of the flask? he became a school • Does the mass of the flask and its principal. In 1793, Dalton contents change? left for Manchester to teach mathematics, John Dalton Law of conservation of mass states that physics and chemistry in mass can neither be created nor destroyed in a college. He spent most of his life there a chemical reaction. teaching and researching. In 1808, he 3.1.2 LAW OF CONSTANT PROPORTIONS presented his atomic theory which was a turning point in the study of matter. Lavoisier, along with other scientists, noted that many compounds were composed of two According to Dalton’s atomic theory, all or more elements and each such compound matter, whether an element, a compound or had the same elements in the same a mixture is composed of small particles called proportions, irrespective of where the atoms. The postulates of this theory may be compound came from or who prepared it. stated as follows: In a compound such as water, the ratio of (i) All matter is made of very tiny particles the mass of hydrogen to the mass of oxygen is called atoms, which participate in always 1:8, whatever the source of water. Thus, chemical reactions. if 9 g of water is decomposed, 1 g of hydrogen (ii) Atoms are indivisible particles, which and 8 g of oxygen are always obtained. cannot be created or destroyed in a Similarly in ammonia, nitrogen and hydrogen chemical reaction. are always present in the ratio 14:3 by mass, (iii) Atoms of a given element are identical whatever the method or the source from which in mass and chemical properties. it is obtained. (iv) Atoms of different elements have This led to the law of constant proportions different masses and chemical which is also known as the law of definite properties. proportions. This law was stated by Proust as (v) Atoms combine in the ratio of small “In a chemical substance the elements are whole numbers to form compounds. always present in definite proportions by (vi) The relative number and kinds of atoms are constant in a given mass”. The next problem faced by scientists was compound. You will study in the next chapter that all to give appropriate explanations of these laws. atoms are made up of still smaller particles. British chemist John Dalton provided the basic theory about the nature of matter. Dalton picked up the idea of divisibility of uestions matter, which was till then just a philosophy. 1. In a reaction, 5.3 g of sodium He took the name ‘atoms’ as given by the carbonate reacted with 6 g of Greeks and said that the smallest particles of acetic acid. The products were matter are atoms. His theory was based on the 2.2 g of carbon dioxide, 0.9 g laws of chemical combination. Dalton’s atomic water and 8.2 g of sodium theory provided an explanation for the law of Q acetate. Show that these 32 SCIENCE 2021-22 observations are in agreement We might think that if atoms are so with the law of conservation of insignificant in size, why should we care about mass. them? This is because our entire world is sodium carbonate + acetic acid made up of atoms. We may not be able to see → sodium acetate + carbon them, but they are there, and constantly dioxide + water affecting whatever we do. Through modern 2. Hydrogen and oxygen combine in techniques, we can now produce magnified the ratio of 1:8 by mass to form images of surfaces of elements showing atoms. water. What mass of oxygen gas would be required to react completely with 3 g of hydrogen gas? 3. Which postulate of Dalton’s atomic theory is the result of the law of conservation of mass? 4. Which postulate of Dalton’s atomic theory can explain the law of definite proportions? 3.2 What is an Atom? Have you ever observed a mason building walls, from these walls a room and then a Fig. 3.2: An image of the surface of silicon collection of rooms to form a building? What is the building block of the huge building? What about the building block of an ant-hill? 3.2.1 WHAT ARE THE MODERN DAY It is a small grain of sand. Similarly, the SYMBOLS OF ATOMS OF DIFFERENT building blocks of all matter are atoms. ELEMENTS? How big are atoms? Dalton was the first scientist to use the Atoms are very small, they are smaller than symbols for elements in a very specific sense. anything that we can imagine or compare When he used a symbol for an element he with. More than millions of atoms when also meant a definite quantity of that element, stacked would make a layer barely as thick that is, one atom of that element. Berzilius as this sheet of paper. suggested that the symbols of elements be Atomic radius is measured in nanometres. made from one or two letters of the name of 1/10 9 m = 1 nm the element. 1 m = 109 nm Relative Sizes Radii (in m) Example 10–10 Atom of hydrogen 10–9 Molecule of water 10–8 Molecule of haemoglobin 10–4 Grain of sand 10–3 Ant Fig. 3.3: Symbols for some elements as proposed by –1 10 Apple Dalton ATOMS AND MOLECULES 33 2021-22 In the beginning, the names of elements passage of time and repeated usage you will were derived from the name of the place where automatically be able to reproduce the they were found for the first time. For example, symbols). the name copper was taken from Cyprus. Some names were taken from specific colours. For example, gold was taken from the English word 3.2.2 ATOMIC MASS meaning yellow. Now-a-days, IUPAC The most remarkable concept that Dalton’s (International Union of Pure and Applied atomic theory proposed was that of the atomic Chemistry) is an international scientific organisation which approves names of mass. According to him, each element had a elements, symbols and units. Many of the characteristic atomic mass. The theory could symbols are the first one or two letters of the explain the law of constant proportions so well element’s name in English. The first letter of a that scientists were prompted to measure the symbol is always written as a capital letter atomic mass of an atom. Since determining the (uppercase) and the second letter as a small mass of an individual atom was a relatively letter (lowercase). difficult task, relative atomic masses were For example determined using the laws of chemical (i) hydrogen, H combinations and the compounds formed.