Level: introductory
Reference: Thomas Thomson (1773-1852), "On the Daltonian Theory of Definite Proportions in Chemical Combinations," Annals of Philosophy 2, 32-43 (1813)
Notes: Thomas Thomson (1773-1852) was a medical doctor better known today for his contributions to chemistry. He was author of an influential textbook (System of Chemistry) and editor of the scientific journal Annals of Philosophy (as in "natural philosophy," his time's term for natural science). He was an early advocate of Dalton's atomic theory and Prout's hypothesis.
This exercise is based on a paper Thomson published in his journal, Annals of Philosophy, on some applications of Dalton's atomic theory to chemical composition. The exercise refers students to the periodic table for modern atomic masses, so the computation is not what Thomson did with the data. He used these data to determine combining weights, which are closely related to atomic weights.
Solutions: To download solutions, go to:
http://web.lemoyne.edu/giunta/classicalcs/tthomson.doc
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