<p>John Dalton (1766 - 1844) was an English chemist, physicist, and meteorologist. He is best known for proposing the modern <a data-lesson="early-ideas-atomic-theory" data-subject="chemistry" data-tutorial="atoms-molecules-ions" href="https://app.ulearngo.com/chemistry/atoms-molecules-ions/early-ideas-atomic-theory">atomic theory</a> and for his research into <a data-lesson="changes-in-colour" data-subject="chemistry" data-tutorial="energy-and-chemical-reactions" href="https://app.ulearngo.com/chemistry/energy-and-chemical-reactions/changes-in-colour">colour</a> blindness, sometimes referred to as Daltonism in his honour.</p>
<div class="wp-caption alignnone" id="attachment_104458" style="width: 800px"><a href="https://data.ulearngo.com/assets/78b1ec09-02b8-4513-98dd-8572656684b3"><img alt="John Dalton" class="size-full wp-image-104458" height="988" src="https://data.ulearngo.com/assets/78b1ec09-02b8-4513-98dd-8572656684b3" width="800"/></a><p class="wp-caption-text">British physicist and chemist John Dalton (1766-1844) by Charles Turner (1773-1857) after James Lonsdale (1777-1839). Mezzotint. Image credit: public domain</p></div>
<h2>Dalton's Model of the Atom</h2>
<p>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 <a data-lesson="discussion-on-atomic-models" data-subject="chemistry" data-tutorial="chemistry-essential-ideas" href="https://app.ulearngo.com/chemistry/chemistry-essential-ideas/discussion-on-atomic-models">model</a> <a data-lesson="orbital-shapes-and-valence-electrons" data-subject="chemistry" data-tutorial="chemistry-essential-ideas" href="https://app.ulearngo.com/chemistry/chemistry-essential-ideas/orbital-shapes-and-valence-electrons">electrons</a> and <a data-lesson="the-nucleus-2" data-subject="chemistry" data-tutorial="chemistry-essential-ideas" href="https://app.ulearngo.com/chemistry/chemistry-essential-ideas/the-nucleus-2">the nucleus</a> were unknown.</p>
<div class="wp-caption alignnone" style="width: 193px"><img alt="30132f894232ba12ad4c711d40181ed0.png" height="193" src="https://data.ulearngo.com/assets/b3c967b2-0028-4ed9-a4bd-c3a66de3496c" width="193"/><p class="wp-caption-text">The atom according to Dalton.</p></div>
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Dalton's Model of the Atom

Chemistry generally explores the substances of which matter is composed, the investigation of their properties and reactions, and the use of such reactions to form new substances. 

Chemistry

Explore the essential ideas in chemistry, including the scientific method, laboratory skills and safety, states of matter, measurement uncertainty, models of the atom, electronic configurations, and more.


Dalton's Model of the Atom

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