Dec 24, 2022 07:41 PM
The Greeks laid the foundation for much of what we know as the modern science of today's world. Among their crowning achievements that persists to this day was the idea of atoms or as they called it, a-tomos. We will discuss why this is not a productive use of my time later, but for now, let's discuss the subject further.
Two of Empedocles' contemporaries, Leucippus and his pupil Democritus, came up with the surprisingly modern-sounding atomic theory. They used a term for not-cuttable, a-tomos. The Greeks had reduced substance to atoms.
The Greeks' atomic theory did not make the "cut" however, as Aristotle rejected it in favor of the elements theory. He rejected the theory on the basis that atoms were conceivably part spatially separated, allowing for any material to pass through them. The emptiness was what is commonly known to be a void. Unfortunately the theory did not seem logically sound to Aristotle. It was undeveloped.
A few centuries later John Dalton revived atomism along with the elements theory but added a few tweaks to it. Through his experimentations he found that atoms could be measured according to their ratios. Thankfully, this restoration of an ancient Greek theory has lead to what we know today as atomic physics.
-Nicholas Hosein.
Two of Empedocles' contemporaries, Leucippus and his pupil Democritus, came up with the surprisingly modern-sounding atomic theory. They used a term for not-cuttable, a-tomos. The Greeks had reduced substance to atoms.
The Greeks' atomic theory did not make the "cut" however, as Aristotle rejected it in favor of the elements theory. He rejected the theory on the basis that atoms were conceivably part spatially separated, allowing for any material to pass through them. The emptiness was what is commonly known to be a void. Unfortunately the theory did not seem logically sound to Aristotle. It was undeveloped.
A few centuries later John Dalton revived atomism along with the elements theory but added a few tweaks to it. Through his experimentations he found that atoms could be measured according to their ratios. Thankfully, this restoration of an ancient Greek theory has lead to what we know today as atomic physics.
-Nicholas Hosein.