Question

what is law of reciprocal proportion

Answer 1

Law of reciprocal proportion

The Law of reciprocal proportion states that :

"If two different elements combine separately with the same weight of a third element, the ratio of the masses in which they do so are either the same or a simple multiple of the mass ratio in which they combine."

For example:

• Consider 3 grams of C reacting with 1 g of H to form methane.
• And 8 g of O reacting with 1 g of H to form water.
• Here, the mass ratio of carbon and oxygen is 3:8.
• Similarly, 12 g of C reacts with 32 g of O to form $C{O}_2$
• The mass ratio of carbon and oxygen is 12:32 = 3:8
• The mass ratio in which C and O combine with each other is the same as the mass ratio in which they separately combine with a fixed mass of H.