John Dalton
John
Dalton was born in September
5,1766 in Eaglesfield in Cumberland, England.
Dalton and his family lived
in a small country house. His family had been
Quakers since 1690. Quakers
where members of a society of friends. John had a
brother named Mary and A
brother named Charles, when he was born his brother was
twelve years old and
his sister was two years old. Dalton's birth was not
recorded, so when he
grew up older he asked one of his relatives and got and
answer which was his
birthday. His parents were honest people and good workers.
His dad Joseph
had land he had inherited were Dalton and his brother Charles
help out with
the crop. His mother Deborah Greenup homespun textile Dalton's
sister help
her too. John Dalton's family were poor but "although they were
never hungry
they were poor" Dalton was lucky he was a Quaker , other boys
received little
or no education, but as Quakers Dalton received a fair education
at the
closest Quaker school . For Dalton it was an achievement going to
school
since in those times only one out of two-hundred and fifteen people
could read.
John Dalton went to the Quaker school at Pardshow Hall.
Dalton was quick when it
came to studies and in mathematical problems he was
good and seem to be tireless
of them. John Fletcher was Dalton's teacher, he
was a smart man who didn't use a
rod to hammer in learning to Dalton, he was
to provide Dalton with a excellent
back-round and lifelong quest for
knowledge. Then came Elihu Robinson a rich
Quaker gentlemen. who become
Dalton's mentor, and was another person to lead
Dalton to mathematics ,
science, and specially meteorology. John Dalton had an
intense fascination
for meteorology he even in fact kept careful daily weather
records for forty
six straight years. When Dalton was twelve he opened his
school in
Eaglesfield. He was smaller than some boys so he was threatened by the
older
boys who wanted to fight with the young teacher. He managed to control
the
kids for two years, but eventually due to poor salary Dalton return to
work the
land for his rich uncle. In 1785 Dalton and his brother opened
another school
this time at Kendall where Dalton had recently moved in. The
school offered
English, Latin, Greek, French, along with twenty one
mathematics and science
subjects. Although they were sixty students
attending, Dalton and Charles had to
borrow money and take outside jobs to
support themselves. John Dalton was very
smart, but he was poor, unorganized
and he was colorblind, In France this
condition was known as Daltonism. Being
colorblind was terrible for a chemist,
but inspite of this disadvantages he
helped contribute to science. Once in his
mom's birthday, he bought his mom
some very special stockings. He taught they
were blue and asked his brother
to verify if it were really blue, that's when
Dalton found out him and
his brother were both colorblind. Dalton studied the
condition from which
himself suffer colorblindness. And he did a paper in it
which, brought more
attention than then his first book published when presented
to the Manchester
Literary and Philosophical Society. His paper was the earliest
description of
the phenomenon of vision. John Dalton later met another man named
Gough
who was his new mentor. He was the son of a wealthy tradesman, and was
blind.
He taught Dalton languages, mathematics, and optics. Dalton dedicated
to
Gough two of his earliest published books to Gough who had encourage
his
lifelong interest in meteorology, Gough was the one that told Dalton to
keep a
daily journal, and he would for forty six straight years. Through
his
observations Dalton was the first to prove the validity of the concept
that rain
is precipitated by a decrease in temperature, not by a change in
atmospheric
pressure. In 1787 Dalton began to try to get more money by
selling his eleven
volume classified botanical collections and giving public
lectures. His studying
were to prepare him for medical school, but because of
lacked of money, his
family discourage him and did not feel he was suited for
a physician. In 1793
Dalton moved to Manchester to tutor at New College.
He joined the Manchester
Literary and Philosophical Society. It was there
at New College in Manchester
were Dalton published his first book in 1793,
entitled Meteorological
Observation and Essays. In his first book he said
that each gas exists and its
independently and purely physically, rather than
chemically. However his first
published attracted little attention. Dalton's
most important contribution to
science, was his atomic theory that "matter is
composed of atoms differing
weights and combine in simple ratios by weight".
In 1808 Dalton published a
third book entitled A New System of Chemical
Philosophy. In this book he listed
the atomic weights of a number of known
elements related to the weight of
hydrogen, although his weight were not
precisely accurate they did in fact form
the basis for the modern periodic
table of the elements. Dalton came to this
atomic theory by studying the
physical properties of atmospheric air and other
gases. While in the quest he
discovered the law of partial pressures of mixed
gases which became known as
Dalton's Law. Dalton's Law stated that the total
pressure put out by a
mixture of gases would pout out if it alone occupied the
whole volume.
Dalton's law applies only to ideal gases. But it might hold
closely enough
for real gases. For example, I f water was put into a closed
container of dry
air, some water will evaporate, and the pressure inside the
container will
increase by an amount approximately equal to the partial pressure
of the
water vapor. In 1804 and 1809 Dalton was invited to teach courses n
The
Royal Institution in London. In 1822 he was made a fellow of the
Royal Society
and was awarded the society's gold medal in 1826. Here are some
laws of
importance. First- matter is made of atoms. Second- atoms are
indiscrutable,
which means that in chemical reactions the atoms rearrange but
they never break
apart. Third- atoms of an element are identical. Fourth-
Atom of different
elements are different. Fifth-Say's compounds are
combinations of the smallest
whole ratios. He postulated that al atoms from a
given element weight the same.
He also postulated that all chemical
compounds are made up of elements in well
defined proportions. Dalton once
separated water into two gases, hydrogen and
oxygen. He notice that the
oxygen gas created was eight times heavier than the
hydrogen gas . Hydrogen
was known to be the lightest gas of all. The Law of
Multiple Proportion
was apparently developed by Dalton himself around 1804. The
law of multiple
proportions states that when two elements are observed to form
more than one
compound between them, the mass ratios in one compound will be
related to the
mass ratios in the other, in the proportions of the whole
numbers, that means
that if for example you have CO and CO2 the oxygen to carbon
ratios are 16:12
and 32:12. That means that the second ration is exactly twice
as the first
because they are exactly twice as many oxygen's in CO2 per carbon
as there
are in CO. The way he did this is by decomposing. The ratios were
determine
by synthesizing compound from pure elements. For example when a
measured
amount of hydrogen was burned in excess oxygen an exact amount of
water
always evolved. The result of the water product was weighted, and since
the
hydrogen used was known, the oxygen used was determined assuming
conservation of
mass. In this way it was found that water contains 11.19%
hydrogen and 88.81%
oxygen by mass. Since it was the lightest element known,
and assumed to be a
fundamental value, Dalton assumed by research that
hydrogen should have an
atomic mass of one. In 1830 Dalton because one of the
eight foreign associates
of the French Academy of Sciences. And one July
27,1894 John Dalton died of
normal reason. He was really old when he died. In
conclusion John Dalton was one
of the greatest thinkers. He was an English,
and foreign language teacher,
chemist physicist. Was born in September 6,1766
and died in July 27,1894. Dalton
is best known for developing the ancient
concept of atoms into a scientific
theory that has become a foundation of
modern chemistry. All his life he learn
and never quit , and wanted others to
learn too as wll so he considered himself
a teacher and earned his living by
teaching and lecturing others until 1833,
when he was given an annual civil
pension. Today units of atomic mass are often
referred to as dalton's on
honor of John Dalton. His analytical apparatus could
be called the worlds
first mass spectrometer. Dalton would always be remember
for his
contributions to science. He was the only one that form a basis for
the
periodic table of the
elements.