chemistry Chemistry is the scientific study of the properties and behavior of matter. It is a natural science that covers the elements that make up matter to the compounds made of atoms, molecules and ions: their composition, structure, proper ...

, the whole number rule states that the masses of the isotopes are whole number multiples of the mass of the

hydrogen Hydrogen is the chemical element with the symbol H and atomic number 1. Hydrogen is the lightest element. At standard conditions hydrogen is a gas of diatomic molecules having the formula . It is colorless, odorless, tasteless, non-to ...

atom. The rule is a modified version of

Prout's hypothesis Prout's hypothesis was an early 19th-century attempt to explain the existence of the various chemical elements through a hypothesis regarding the internal structure of the atom. In 1815 and 1816, the English chemist William Prout published two p ...

proposed in 1815, to the effect that

atomic weight Relative atomic mass (symbol: ''A''; sometimes abbreviated RAM or r.a.m.), also known by the deprecated synonym atomic weight, is a dimensionless physical quantity defined as the ratio of the average mass of atoms of a chemical element in a giv ...

s are multiples of the weight of the hydrogen atom. It is also known as the Aston whole number rule after Francis W. Aston who was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1922 "for his discovery, by means of his

mass spectrograph Mass spectrometry (MS) is an analytical technique that is used to measure the mass-to-charge ratio of ions. The results are presented as a '' mass spectrum'', a plot of intensity as a function of the mass-to-charge ratio. Mass spectrometry is us ...

, of isotopes, in a large number of non-radioactive elements, and for his enunciation of the whole-number rule."

Law of definite proportions

The

law of definite proportions In chemistry, the law of definite proportions, sometimes called Proust's law, or law of constant composition states that a given chemical compound always contains its component elements in fixed ratio (by mass) and does not depend on its source an ...

was formulated by Joseph Proust around 1800 and states that all samples of a chemical compound will have the same elemental composition by mass. The

atomic theory Atomic theory is the scientific theory that matter is composed of particles called atoms. Atomic theory traces its origins to an ancient philosophical tradition known as atomism. According to this idea, if one were to take a lump of matter ...

John Dalton John Dalton (; 5 or 6 September 1766 – 27 July 1844) was an English chemist, physicist and meteorologist. He is best known for introducing the atomic theory into chemistry, and for his research into Color blindness, colour blindness, which ...

expanded this concept and explained matter as consisting of discrete

atom Every atom is composed of a nucleus and one or more electrons bound to the nucleus. The nucleus is made of one or more protons and a number of neutrons. Only the most common variety of hydrogen has no neutrons. Every solid, liquid, gas, a ...

s with one kind of atom for each element combined in fixed proportions to form compounds.

Prout's hypothesis

In 1815,

William Prout William Prout FRS (; 15 January 1785 – 9 April 1850) was an English chemist, physician, and natural theologian. He is remembered today mainly for what is called Prout's hypothesis. Biography Prout was born in Horton, Gloucestershire in ...

reported on his observation that the

s of the elements were whole multiples of the atomic weight of

. He then hypothesized that the hydrogen atom was the fundamental object and that the other elements were a combination of different numbers of hydrogen atoms.

Aston's discovery of isotopes

In 1920, Francis W. Aston demonstrated through the use of a

mass spectrometer Mass spectrometry (MS) is an analytical technique that is used to measure the mass-to-charge ratio of ions. The results are presented as a '' mass spectrum'', a plot of intensity as a function of the mass-to-charge ratio. Mass spectrometry is us ...

that apparent deviations from Prout's hypothesis are predominantly due to the existence of

isotopes Isotopes are two or more types of atoms that have the same atomic number (number of protons in their nuclei) and position in the periodic table (and hence belong to the same chemical element), and that differ in nucleon numbers ( mass numbers ...

. For example, Aston discovered that neon has two isotopes with masses very close to 20 and 22 as per the whole number rule, and proposed that the non-integer value 20.2 for the atomic weight of neon is due to the fact that natural neon is a mixture of about 90% neon-20 and 10% neon-22). A secondary cause of deviations is the

binding energy In physics and chemistry, binding energy is the smallest amount of energy required to remove a particle from a system of particles or to disassemble a system of particles into individual parts. In the former meaning the term is predominantly use ...

mass defect Nuclear binding energy in experimental physics is the minimum energy that is required to disassemble the nucleus of an atom into its constituent protons and neutrons, known collectively as nucleons. The binding energy for stable nuclei is alway ...

of the individual isotopes.

Discovery of the neutron

During the 1920s, it was thought that the atomic nucleus was made of protons and electrons, which would account for the disparity between the

atomic number The atomic number or nuclear charge number (symbol ''Z'') of a chemical element is the charge number of an atomic nucleus. For ordinary nuclei, this is equal to the proton number (''n''p) or the number of protons found in the nucleus of ever ...

of an atom and its

atomic mass The atomic mass (''m''a or ''m'') is the mass of an atom. Although the SI unit of mass is the kilogram (symbol: kg), atomic mass is often expressed in the non-SI unit dalton (symbol: Da) – equivalently, unified atomic mass unit (u). 1&n ...

.Friedlander G., Kennedy J.W. and Miller J.M. (1964) ''Nuclear and Radiochemistry'' (2nd edition), Wiley, pp. 22–23 and 38–39 In 1932,

James Chadwick Sir James Chadwick, (20 October 1891 – 24 July 1974) was an English physicist who was awarded the 1935 Nobel Prize in Physics for his discovery of the neutron in 1932. In 1941, he wrote the final draft of the MAUD Report, which inspi ...

discovered an uncharged particle of approximately the mass as the proton, which he called the

neutron The neutron is a subatomic particle, symbol or , which has a neutral (not positive or negative) charge, and a mass slightly greater than that of a proton. Protons and neutrons constitute the atomic nucleus, nuclei of atoms. Since protons and ...

. The fact that the atomic nucleus is composed of protons and neutrons was rapidly accepted and Chadwick was awarded the

Nobel Prize in Physics ) , image = Nobel Prize.png , alt = A golden medallion with an embossed image of a bearded man facing left in profile. To the left of the man is the text "ALFR•" then "NOBEL", and on the right, the text (smaller) "NAT•" then " ...

in 1935 for his discovery. The modern form of the whole number rule is that the

of a given elemental

isotope Isotopes are two or more types of atoms that have the same atomic number (number of protons in their nuclei) and position in the periodic table (and hence belong to the same chemical element), and that differ in nucleon numbers ( mass num ...

is approximately the

mass number The mass number (symbol ''A'', from the German word ''Atomgewicht'' tomic weight, also called atomic mass number or nucleon number, is the total number of protons and neutrons (together known as nucleons) in an atomic nucleus. It is approxima ...

(number of protons plus neutrons) times an

atomic mass unit The dalton or unified atomic mass unit (symbols: Da or u) is a non-SI unit of mass widely used in physics and chemistry. It is defined as of the mass of an unbound neutral atom of carbon-12 in its nuclear and electronic ground state and at ...

(approximate mass of a proton, neutron, or hydrogen-1 atom). This rule predicts the

nuclide A nuclide (or nucleide, from atomic nucleus, nucleus, also known as nuclear species) is a class of atoms characterized by their number of protons, ''Z'', their number of neutrons, ''N'', and their nuclear energy state. The word ''nuclide'' was co ...

s and isotopes with an error of at most 1%, with most of the error explained by the mass deficit caused by

nuclear binding energy Nuclear binding energy in experimental physics is the minimum energy that is required to disassemble the nucleus of an atom into its constituent protons and neutrons, known collectively as nucleons. The binding energy for stable nuclei is alway ...

References

External links