You can read the definition of the law of multiple proportions here
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Law_of_multiple_proportions
and see a couple of examples.
BUT.. the easy way to demonstrate this is by interpreting the law like this
.. "the ratios of the ratios of the masses of elements 1 to element 2
.. .in the compounds is a ratio of small whole numbers"
ie.
.. . (1000 / 3433)
.. ----- ---- ----- ---- = 1.67 = 5 / 3
.. . (2500 / 14308)
5 and 3 are small whole numbers
problem solved!
*********
*********
and this makes sense because if we do the math, we see our compounds are
compound #1
.. moles P = 1000g * (1mol / 30.97g) = 32.2
.. moles Cl = 3433g * (1mol / 35.45g) = 96.8
.. compound is PCl3
compound #2
.. moles P = 2500g * (1mol / 30.97g) = 80.7
.. moles Cl = 14308g * (1mol / 35.45g) = 403.7
.. compound is PCl5
and
.. we can see where the 3 and 5 come from
the idea with Daltons law is that when 2 elements form a series of compounds, the mass of the compounds changes as we add (or subtract) integer number of atoms.
**********
excellent work MicatKie
David.. you ridicule Micatkie for making the process complicated, but you're doing the same math + adding an extra step to make the mass of P constant. You don't need to do that..That's not what the law of multiple proportions is all about.