Question

State law of definite proportions.

Answer 1

Hint: Law of definite proportions states that the samples of a compound will always have the same proportion of the elements by mass. It is found that this law is the basis for the study of stoichiometry.

Complete step by step answer:
- It is also called Proust's law, or law of constant composition. The law of definite proportions forms the basis of stoichiometry.
- ensures that the chemical compound is always created using the same proportions, regardless of the amount of the compound which is being made.
- We can see that there are several examples of this law:
- We use vinegar that is a common household item. It has a chemical formula. We can see that it is made from 2 atoms of carbon, 2 atoms of oxygen and 4 atoms of hydrogen. There is no other combination of oxygen, carbon and hydrogen could be made to form vinegar.
- We can have another example of water. Water is found to contain 88.81% oxygen and 11.19% hydrogen by mass, so we can see that it doesn’t matter how it was prepared or from where the sample of water came from.

Note:
- One should not confuse between the law of definite proportions and the law of multiple proportions.
- The law of definite proportions states the samples of a compound will always contain the same proportion of elements by mass.
- Whereas, the law of multiple proportions states that if two elements combine to form more than one chemical compound, then the ratios of the masses of the second element that combine with a fixed mass of the first element will be ratios of small whole numbers.