According to Dalton’s atomic theory, atoms, which are indestructible and indivisible building blocks, make up all substances. Unlike other elements, which have atoms of different sizes and weights, an element’s atoms have all the same size and mass.
Dalton proposed that the concept of atoms could be used to explain the laws of conservation of mass and definite proportions. He proposed that atoms, which he described as “solid, massy, hard, impenetrable, moving particle(s),” are the smallest, indivisible units of matter.
- The matter is made up of indivisible particles known as atoms.
- The properties of all the atoms of a given element are the same, including mass. This can also be stated as all the atoms of an element have identical mass and chemical properties; atoms of different elements have different masses and chemical properties.
- Atoms of different elements combine in fixed ratios to form compounds.
- Atoms are neither created nor destroyed. The formation of new products (compounds) results from the rearrangement of existing atoms (reactants) in a chemical reaction.
- The relative number and kinds of atoms are constant in a given compound.
