Re: What is the difference between Daltonides and Berthollides?

What is the difference between Daltonides and Bertholides?

For my chemistry class we have the option of doing "One More Step" and one of them is to find the difference between the compounds Daltonides and those known as Bertholides.

Daltonides are compounds which (per John Dalton's 1808 book A New System of Chemical Philosophy) are compose of elements in exact integer ratios. Water, which we know as H₂O but Dalton thought had the formula HO, is a Daltonide compound. And my own field, organic chemistry, is exclusively concerned with Daltonides (all molecular compounds, up to and including giants like hemoglobin and DNA, are Daltonides).

However, many minerals and ceramics are Berthollides, compounds in which the elements do not necessarily combine in exact integer ratios. Rutile, a white pigment commonly given the formula TiO₂, often has formulas such as TiO_1.8 in practice. And at least one of the yttrium barium copper oxide superconducting ceramics is a Bertollide, with a formula ranging from YBa₂Cu₃O₆ to YBa₂Cu₃O₇.