![]() The same more complex substances he called compounds. He found two important factors: (1) the simplest substances, which he called elements, could not be broken down any further, and (2) these elements always reacted with each other in the same proportions. He reacted various substances until they were in their simplest state. His chemical experiments involved very careful weighing of all the chemicals. ![]() One of the most famous chemists of the end of the eighteenth century was Antoine Lavoisier. ![]() They even began using the word atom again. By the seventeenth century, some of these chemists began thinking about the reactions they were seeing in terms of smallest parts. 1100) onward, many chemical reactions were studied. Aristotle's teachings against the idea of Democritus's atom were so powerful that the idea of the atom fell out of philosophical fashion for the next 2,000 years.Īlthough atomic theory was abandoned for this long period, scientific experimentation, especially in chemistry, flourished. Aristotle said there were only four elements (earth, air, fire, water) and that these had some smallest unit that made up all matter. Aristotle, one of the most influential philosophers of that time, believed in some kind of "smallest part" of matter but not with Democritus's descriptions. In his theory, different objects looked different because of the way the atoms were arranged. This tiniest building block that could no longer be cut he named atomos, Greek for "no-cut." Atomos has been changed in modern times to "atom." The atoms Democritus envisioned differed only in shape and size. He imagined starting with a large piece of matter and gradually cutting it into smaller and smaller pieces, finally reaching the smallest piece. One of these philosophers was named Democritus. If they could see small enough things, they would find that the same "building blocks" they started with were still there. Still others believed that whatever comprised matter, it must be something that could not be destroyed but only recombined into new forms. Others believed that matter was made entirely of fire in everchanging forms. Some said everything was made of water, which comes in three forms (solid ice, liquid water, and gaseous steam). C., many Greek philosophers struggled to understand the nature of matter. Although Democritus' theory was remarkable, it was rejected by Aristotle, one of the most influential philosophers of Ancient Greece and the atomic theory was ignored for nearly 2,000 years.Beginning in about 600 B. Therefore, changes in matter were a result of dissociations or combinations of the atoms as they moved throughout the void. In addition, Democritus believed that the atoms differed in size and shape, were in constant motion in a void, collided with each other and during these collisions, could rebound or stick together. Democritus, theorized that atoms were specific to the material which they composed. He called these small pieces of matter " atomos," the Greek word for indivisible. Democritus knew that if a stone was divided in half, the two halves would have essentially the same properties as the whole.Therefore, he reasoned that if the stone were to be continually cut into smaller and smaller pieces then at some point, there would be a piece which would be so small as to be indivisible. One of the first atomic theorists was Democritus, a Greek philosopher who lived in the fifth century BC. In this lesson, we will review the development of the atomic theory. Atomic Structure, Periodicity, and Matter: Development of the Atomic Theory
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