In: Chemistry
Sulfur forms two compounds with oxygen. In the first compound, 1.000 g sulfur is combined with 0.998 g oxygen, and in the second, 1.000 g sulfur is combined with 1.497 g oxygen. Show that these results are consistent with Dalton’s law of multiple proportions.
For a given mass of sulfur, the mass of oxygen in the second compound (SO3) relative to the mass of oxygen in the first compound (SO2) is in a ratio of 3:2. These results are entirely consistent with the Law of Multiple Proportions because the same two elements, sulfur and oxygen in this case, have reacted together to give two different compounds that have masses of oxygen that are in the ratio of small positive integers for a fixed amount of sulfur.
SO3 to SO2 oxygen mass ratio adheres to Law of Multiple Proportions: fixed sulfur yields proportional oxygen masses.