Prout's hypothesis

Prout's hypothesis was an early 19th century attempt to explain the existence of the various hydrogen. He then hypothesized that the hydrogen atom was the only truly fundamental object, and that the atoms of other elements were actually groupings of various numbers of hydrogen atoms.

Influence

Prout's hypothesis remained influential in chemistry throughout the 1820s. However, more careful measurements of the atomic weights, such as those compiled by hydrogen, could not at the time be explained in terms of Prout's hypothesis. Some came up with the ad hoc claim that the basic unit was one-half of a hydrogen atom, but further discrepancies surfaced. This resulted in hypothesis that one-quarter of a hydrogen atom was the common unit. Although these turn out to be wrong, these conjectures catalyzed further measurement of atomic weights, a great benefit to chemistry.

The discrepancy in the neutrons. Neutrons in nuclei decay into protons by emission of beta radiation.

The modern version of Prout's rule is that the proton number P and neutron number N is equal to sum of the masses of its constituent protons and neutrons minus its binding energy.

See also

• Whole Number Rule

References