chemical properties
All matter is composed of tiny indivisible particles called atoms. All atoms of an element are identical in mass and chemical properties, whereas atoms of different elements differ in mass and fundamental chemical properties. A chemical compound is a substance that always contains the same atoms in the same ratio. In chemical reactions, atoms from one or more compounds or elements redistribute or rearrange in relation to other atoms to form one or more new compounds. Atoms themselves do not undergo a change of identity in chemical reactions. This last hypothesis suggested that the alchemists goal of transmuting other elements to gold was impossible, at least through chemical reactions. We now know that Daltons atomic theory is essentially correct, with four minor modifications:.