Dalton's Model of the Atom

John Dalton proposed that all matter is composed of very small things which he called atoms. This was not a completely new concept as the ancient Greeks (notably Democritus) had proposed that all matter is composed of small, indivisible (cannot be divided) ...

John Dalton (1766 - 1844) was an English chemist, physicist, and meteorologist. He is best known for proposing the modern atomic theory and for his research into colour blindness, sometimes referred to as Daltonism in his honour.

John Dalton

British physicist and chemist John Dalton (1766-1844) by Charles Turner (1773-1857) after James Lonsdale (1777-1839). Mezzotint. Image credit: public domain

Dalton's Model of the Atom

John Dalton proposed that all matter is composed of very small things which he called atoms. This was not a completely new concept as the ancient Greeks (notably Democritus) had proposed that all matter is composed of small, indivisible (cannot be divided) objects. When Dalton proposed his model electrons and the nucleus were unknown.

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The atom according to Dalton.

This lesson is part of:

Essential Ideas in Chemistry

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