![]() Wait 100 years, and John Dalton elaborates on this theory, stating that different elements are made of different atoms and that these elements amalgamate in specific ratios to form compounds. In his 1661 book, The Sceptical Chymist, Boyle suggested that matter consists of tiny particles which combine in different ways to form elements, and that different elements could join to form compounds. ![]() This theory loitered in dark alchemist’s labs for centuries, but then a man by the name of Robert Boyle came along and gave Atomic Theory the scientific credence that it deserved. Unfortunately, Democritus’ hypothesis led him to believe in a spherical planet, a notion too radical for many of his contemporaries, and his theory was largely forgotten, whilst the up-and-coming loudmouth Aristotle led the rest of the world to believe in 5 elements: Earth, Fire, Air, Water and Ether (the upper sky).ġ800 years down the line, however, a mystery alchemist, writing under the pen name Geber, documented how materials such as mercury and sulphur could be broken down into their ‘corpuscles’ (minute particles that he believed to be the building blocks of all things. This was the ‘uncuttable’ level, and ‘uncuttable’ translates to Ancient Greek as ‘atom’. His leap of genius, however, was to speculate that, although a loaf could be cut in half, eventually it would reach a level in which no more divisions could be made. As he smelt the freshly baked bread carried by his servant, he deduced that there must be tiny particles of bread leaving the loaf and entering his nostrils. He was a laterally-minded man, and he used such skills to compose his Atomic Theory. You are Democritus, and you are about to introduce Ancient Greece to The Atom.Ĭirca 400 BC, Democritus was a well-off, well-travelled Greek, with a background in philosophy. The smell of warm bread wafts up the staircase but instead of thinking lunchtime, you are about to formulate the beginnings of one of the most important scientific theories ever devised. ![]()
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