How Did Democritus Contribute To The Development Of Atomic Theory

John Dalton wrote the modern atomic theory, a fundamental component of that is, the mole ratios of elements in a compound will be small whole numbers.

He is also best known for the theory that was created by himself. The theory of Democritus and Leucippus held that everything is composed of "atoms", which are physically, but not geometrically, indivisible; that between atoms, there lies empty space; that atoms are indestructible; have always been, and always will be, in motion; that there are an infinite number of atoms, and kinds of atoms, which differ in shape, and size. Of the mass of atoms, Democritus said "The more any indivisible exceeds, the heavier it is." But his exact position on weight of atoms is

Democritus of Abdera was a greek philosopher born around 460 BC, a cheerful and blissful man. He was one of the two founding fathers of the Atomic Theory. His thought process on the theory, was that matter was comprised of tiny building particles called atoms. This theory was widely questionable at this time. As people were not very well accustomed with accepting new ideas, and/or new concepts of philosophy and science. This theory was only partially correct, and as scientist of the more modern age began to look deeper into Democritus’s work, they begin to make new theories and hypothesize new ideas about the atom. Which later on, would lead to the development of the atomic theory and the most accurate description of the atom with the work of Niels Bohr.

Once upon a time, the atoms which make up everything, including our bodies, were formed in the stars. Most of those stars are dead now but they left us the most important legacy – atoms. Atoms are small particles which make up everything. From the chair you're sitting on, to the nails on your left hand, your funny nose you so desperately dislike. Those atoms, of course, form more complex structures which make us breathe, and run, and sleep, and read, and cry. They make up our life. Sadly, our atoms at one point become too tired of us and they want to escape. We may get sick, or be hit by a bus, or we may one day just not wake up. When they decide to leave us, there is no coming back. We die.

The Ancient Greeks were the firsts to speculate on the composition of matter. They thought that it was possible that individual particles made up matter.

the old view of atoms as the basic building blocks of the material world and Newtonian physics

  The understanding of the structure of atoms has changed throughout history. The first documented case of the discovery of atoms dates back to 450 B.C with two Greek philosophers, Leucippus and Democritus (Doc. 1). This was only a theory; however, they proposed the idea that all matter is made up of atoms.

He stated that this was a mysterious force but never continued his research on it. Then in 460 B.C. there was a philosopher named Democritus. Democritus and his mentor Leocippus posed the question that if he broke bread into multiple pieces how many would breaks would it take until there was no more bread. He then was able to make a few theories being all matter was created of atoms and atoms are solid but not invisible. However, there was a man named Aristotle and many other philosophers who disagreed with Democritus and said matter was composed of four main elements. Earth, fire, air, and water. For example, a liquid was made of water and a stone was made of rock. Therefore, Democritus’s theory “ was rejected by Aristotle, one of the most influential philosophers of Ancient Greece; and the atomic theory was ignored for nearly 2,000 years.”(

Democritus made the atomic theory widely known, which stated that the universe is composed of two elements: the atoms and the void in which these atoms exist and move. (More, 1646)

Around 1803 John Dalton, an English chemist developed the first useful atomic theory of matter. Amedeo Avogadro, the Italian chemist in 1811 published an article drawing the distinction between the atom and the molecule, which now is known as “Avogadro’s

At the beginning of the twentieth century a scientist called Albert Einstein had a special theory about atoms. His theory was that atoms had a lot of energy locked within them. After this theory was published scientists worked hard to prove that this theory was true. After thirty years of experiments they discovered that within the nucleus there is a lot of energy and splitting the atom would release it.

Democritus, an Ancient Greek philosopher, is widely considered to be the founding father of the Atomic Theory. Democritus proposed that matter is composed of atoms, which move through empty space. He also proposed that atoms are solid, homogeneous, indestructible, and indivisible, and that different types of atoms have different kinds of sizes and shapes, which determine the properties of matter. Democritus and other Greek philosophers Leucippus and Epicurus, were among the first to propose the size, shape, and connectivity of atoms. Democritus theorized that iron atoms are solid with hooks (which locked them in place with each other, therefore creating a solid), water ‘atoms’ are smooth and slippery, (which caused them to be in a liquid state),

“By 1687, he had theorized that gravity was a force that could hold objects, such as the moon, in orbit around the Earth, and he worked out equations to prove it” (Challenging Limits). He then calculated the laws of motion that held the planets in their orbits around the sun. Along with his research, he invented calculus, the method for working out the speed of an object at any given moment during its path. By the 20th century, scientist could demonstrate atoms and the tiny charged particles they contained called electrons. The electrons are virtually invisible, but Leeuwenhoek used them from an electron microscope that magnified ten million times. Allowing future scientist to develop the MRI scanner, a precise diagnostic tool used to learn about the work of the brain. In addition to the discovery of atoms and their electrons, a physicist by the name of Albert Einstein formulated the theorem E=mc2. Stating that energy resided in matter itself. With this, scientist learned that atoms are our greatest repository of energy. Scientist began to ask if they themselves, “if we could split atoms, could we release the new, limitless supply of energy” (Challenging Limits)? Soon, scientist did split atoms that released massive surges of energy, but also produced lethal radioactivity. This groundbreaking discovery provided a possible solution to what created the

The Discovery of the Atom first came from the Greeks which made a theory “The idea that all matter is made up of tiny, indivisible particles, or atoms, is believed to have originated with the Greek philosopher Leucippus of Miletus and his student Democritus of Abdera in the 5th century B.C. (The word atom comes from the Greek word atomos, which means “indivisible.”)” (InfoPlease Atomic theory)

Dalton was the son of a Quaker weaver. When only 12 he took charge of