Question

Which postulate of Dalton’s theory is consistent with the following observation concerning the weights of reactants and products? When 100 grams of solid calcium carbonate is heated, 44 grams of carbon dioxide and 56 grams of calcium oxide are produced.

Short answer

Postulate 5- During a chemical change, atoms are not generated nor destroyed; rather, they are rearranged to produce substances that differ from thoseexistent before the change.

Step-by-step solution

Dalton’s atomic theory:

Postulate 1:

Matter is made up of extremely microscopic particles known as atoms. An atom is the smallest unit of an element capable of participating in a chemical reaction.

Postulate 2:

An element is made up of only one sort of atom, which has a mass that is unique to the element and is shared by all atoms of that element. A macroscopic sample of an element comprises an enormous number of atoms with identical chemical characteristics.

Postulate 3:

Atoms of one element have properties that differ from atoms of all other elements.

postulate 4:

A compound is made up of atoms from two or more elements that are mixed in a tiny, whole-number ratio. The numbers of atoms of each of a compound's elements are always present in the same ratio.

postulate 5:

During a chemical change, atoms are not generated nor destroyed; rather, they are rearranged to produce substances that differ from those existent before the change.