FREE ESSAY ON JOHN DALTON

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