Law of reciprocal proportions, problem with NH3 and N20 Example...

Hi,

A quick definition of Law of Reciprocal Proportions and an example:

"Law of Reciprocal Proportions: Richter gave this law in 1792. It
states that the two weights of two or more different elements which
separately combine with a definite weight of another element will be
the same as, or simple multiples of the proportions of the weights of
these different elements when they combine amongst themselves. Carbon
and Hydrogen combine with oxygen separately to form two oxides- CO2 and
H2O. In CO2, 12 gms of Carbon combines with 32gms of Oxygen. In water,
two gms of Hydrogen combines with 16gms of Oxygen. So here 12 gms of
carbon and 4 gms of hydrogen combine with a definite weight 32 gms of
oxygen. When carbon and hydrogen will combine with each other they must
have a ratio of 12:4 or a simple multiple of this ratio and actually in
methane CH4 they have the same ratio which is according to this Law of
Reciprocal Proportions." Source : http://ed.augie.edu/~pdhungel/

I fail to see how this example works with Ammonia(NH3) and
DiNitrogenOxide(N20).
NH3 comes in the ratio 14:3 while N20 comes in the ratio 14:8. With
themselves, they make a ratio of 8:3. Now in case of water, the ratio
between O and H is 8:1. 8:1 is neither a multiple nor the same as 8:3.

What am I doing wrong here? I am, I think, exactly following the above
example of CO2 and H2O.

Kind Regards,

Ali

.

Relevant Pages