In: Chemistry
William Prout (1815) proposed that all other atoms are built up of hydrogen atoms, suggesting that all elements should have integral atomic masses based on an atomic mass of one for hydrogen. This hypothesis appeared discredited by the discovery of atomic masses, such as 24.3 u for magnesium and 35.5 u for chlorine. In terms of modern knowledge, explain why Prout’s hypothesis is actually quite reasonable.
We now recognize that the values of 24.3 u and 35.3 u for the masses of Mg and Cl represent a weighted-average that considers the mass and abundance of each isotope. The experimental mass of each isotope is very close to the natural number and therefore very close to an integer multiple of the mass of 1H, thus supporting Prout’s hypothesis.