Democritus & Aristotle

DEMOCRITUS & ARISTOTLE

   

                                                                                   Aristotle's Theory of Atoms

       

JOBS:

BIOGRAPHER - LILY

HISTORIAN - LUIS

CHEMIST - TOMMY

PHOTO JOURNALIST - SIERRA

Our blog is about philosophers Aristotle (384-322 BC) and Democritus (Ph460-370 BC). Somewhere around 460 BC Democritus developed the idea of atoms. Aristotle dismissed Democritus' ideas of the atomic theory as "worthless". Many trusted Aristotle and took after his beliefs so they too did not believe Democritus' ideas. The two were the biggest competitors in natural sciences. Democritus had no formal education and learned from his travels throughout Greece. Aristotle was educated at the Plato Academy in Athens for 20 years. The two received much praise for their discoveries and works. Although he did not receive any formal awards, Aristotle received fame through recognition of being such a well known philosopher. Democritus received the Nobel prize for chemistry after his death.

"It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it." -Aristotle
"Nothing exists except atoms and empty space; everything else is opinion." -Democritus

Democritus was the first to propose an atomic universe, also the first philosopher to posit that we are in the "Milky Way". According to Aristotle, Democritus claimed the soul was composed of fire-atoms while the body was of earth-atoms and the earth atoms needed energy of the fire for cohesion. Democritus argues that the world, including humans, is composed of atoms. Aristotle believed that knowledge could be obtained through interacting with physical objects. He was the first genuine scientist in history. Aristotle is credited with the earliest study of formal logic.

Democritus states that everything is composed of atoms and are also physically and geometrically individual. In between atoms lies empty space. All atoms are indestructible and are solid but invisible. Atoms differ in size , shape, mass and position  arrangement. Solids,Liquids and oils are made up of different atoms. Solids are made up of small pointy atoms. Liquids are made up of large round atoms. Oils consist of very fine small atoms that can slip past one another easily.  

LINKS TO VIDEOS: Democtrius' Atomic Theory
Aristotle's Atomic Theory

ATOM: The basic unit of a chemical element: