What is the Law of Definite Proportions?

1 Answer
anor277
Mar 13, 2017

Explanation:

The #"law of definite proportions"# or the #"law of constant composition"# holds that a chemical compound always contains its component elements in a fixed ratio, regardless of the source of the compound. Joseph Proust proposed a similar #"law of constant composition."#

An example of this law is that water ALWAYS has a composition by mass of #1/8# hydrogen, and #7/8# oxygen. This law allows us to propose empirical formulae, and by extension molecular formulae, if the molecular mass is known.

Related questions
See all questions in What Is Chemistry?
Impact of this question
7269 views around the world
You can reuse this answer
Creative Commons License