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.