![]() ![]() The Democritean atom is an inert solid (merely excluding other bodies from its volume) that interacts with other atoms mechanically. ![]() Iron atoms are solid with hooks that lock them into a solid water atoms are smooth and slippery salt atoms, because of their taste, are sharp and pointed and air atoms are light and whirling, pervading all other materials.ĭemocritus used the analogies of humans’ sense experiences to give a picture or an image of an atom that differentiated them from each other by their shape, their size, and the arrangement of their parts.Ĭonnections were defined by material links in which single atoms were supplied with attachments: some with hooks and eyes, others with balls and sockets. ![]() They claimed that the solidness of the material depends on the shape of the atoms involved. Shape and Connectivity of AtomsĪlong with Leucippus and Epicurus, Democritus suggested the earliest views on the shapes and connectivity of atoms. Atoms are indestructible, there lies a space between them, they are infinite in numbers, they have always been and always will be in motion, and they vary in shape and size. They are physically, but not geometrically, indivisible. The Democritus Atomic Theory said that everything in this world is composed of “Atoms”. He was the teacher of Pythagoras.Ĭontributions of Democritus and Leucippus are difficult to disintegrate as they are often mentioned together. He was well known to his contemporary northern-born philosopher Aristotle. There are disagreements regarding the exact year of birth, but it is probably around 460 BC.ĭemocritus is said to have been disliked by Plato and he wished all of his books burned. Who Was Democritus?ĭemocritus was born in Abdera, Thrace. The size and shape of an atom determine the properties of matter. He believed that atoms were uniform, solid, hard, incompressible, and indestructible. The theory of indivisible atoms being the building blocks of matter was not accepted at that time and another Greek philosopher claimed that all matter that exists in the physical world is made up of four important elements namely fire, air, water and earth.Democritus named the building block of matter atoms which means “indivisible”. Properties like mass, shape, size and arrangement are unique for all atoms. His theory explained that atoms of different materials have a unique set of properties distinct from other atoms and therefore called them indestructible and unchangeable.Īccording to him, each atom is homogenous and consists of a void. Based on these observations, he gave his model of an indivisible particle and called it an atom. He took the example of a stone and how cutting it into pieces does not change its fundamental properties and each half can be used to represent the properties of the bulk from which it is derived. All these modern theories were based on a lot of experiments and spectroscopic analysis but Democritus was a Greek philosopher who gave his theory regarding the existence of atoms based on simple everyday observations. There have been many discoveries and many theories have been given by the modern scientists regarding the structure of an atom, its definition and its properties. He gave an early definition of an atom being the most fundamental and basic unit of matter. Hint: Democritus was a Greek philosopher who closely observed and studied the properties of different states of matter. ![]()
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