Cannizzaro’s argument can be easily demonstrated using the compounds hydrogen chloride, water, ammonia, and methane, and the element hydrogen, which had been shown to be diatomic (H2) by using Gay-Lussac’s reasoning and his law of combining volumes. The experimental values for vapor density of these substances, all determined under the same conditions of temperature and pressure, are also required for Cannizzaro’s method for establishing atomic masses. The densities of these gaseous substances (at 100 ° C and one atmosphere pressure) are expressed in grams per liter. If that unknown number of molecules is called N, and if m H represents the mass of a single hydrogen atom, then m H ? 2N is the total
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