Laws of Chemical Combination
Learning the fundamental laws governing chemical reactions and mass conservation.
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These two laws laid the foundation for modern chemistry and John Dalton's atomic theory, which proposed that matter is made of indivisible atoms that combine in fixed whole-number ratios to form compounds. For example, pure water always contains hydrogen and oxygen in the same 1:8 ratio by mass, whether the water comes from a river, rain, or is produced synthetically in a laboratory — this consistency is direct evidence supporting the Law of Constant Proportions.
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• Law of Conservation of Mass: mass is neither created nor destroyed in a chemical reaction.
• Law of Constant Proportions: a compound always has the same elements in the same fixed mass ratio.
• These laws led to Dalton's atomic theory of indivisible atoms combining in fixed ratios.
• Water always contains hydrogen and oxygen in a 1:8 mass ratio, regardless of its source.