How the concept of the atom evolved from Ancient Greek to the present Flashcards
- About 2,500 years ago, early Greek
philosophers believed the entire
universe was a - In other words, “everything was one”
single, huge entity
They believed that all objects, all
matter, and all substances were
connected as a _ “thing”
single, unchangeable
proponents of The Indivisible Atom
- Democritus
- Leucippus
Greek scholars who believed that matter could be divided into tiny particles until such point whereit can no longer be divided anymore.
- Democritus
- Leucippus
atoms, which
come from the Greek word
ATOMOS
atomos means
uncuttable
proponents of Arguments Against Atomism
- Anaxagoras
- Empedocles
- Anaximenes
- Heraclitus
- Aristotle
He propounded a physical theory of
“everything-in-everything,” and claimed that everything in the universe is composed of small, divisible particles
Anaxagoras
this is called _ (which translates to “mind” or “intellect” in Greek)
nous
He proposed that all universe was composed of matter in the four
fundamental elements: earth, water, air,
and fire. He believed that these elements combined and separated through the actions of two opposing forces he called “love” (philia) and “strife” (neikos)
Empedocles
philia is
love
neikos is
strife
He believed that air (a boundless, infinite substance that can be altered and transformed into various forms) is the fundamental substance from which all things in the universe originate and to which they ultimately return
Anaximenes
He believed that the primeval substance is fire and change is the only reality. He argued that permanence was an illusion and everything is in a state of constant flux
Heraclitus
He believed that everything in the
universe is made up of the four elements: air, fire, water, and earth. He stated that believing in atoms would mean putting restriction on the gods, who have the power to divide elements smaller than the atom.
Aristotle
air, fire,
water, and earth, are the primordial
substances. He called them _
roots
A set of five geometric shapes of solids
that are characterized by having equal
faces, equal angles, and equal edge
lengths
Platonic Solids
The word element came from the Greek word “στοιχεῖον” (stoicheion) which means smallest division. It was first used by _
Plato
Air was
wet and hot
Fire was
hot and dry
Water was
wet and cold
Earth was
dry and cold
Aether was
neither hot
nor cold and was neither
wet nor dry
It was a speculative science with goals of finding the elixir of life and the
philosopher’s stone, which could
transform base metals into gold
alchemy
