![]() Dalton formulated his theory by focusing on experimental results (in contrast to the ancient Greek philosophers) by studied the weights of various elements and compounds. His atomic theory is a fundamental concept that states that all elements are composed of atoms. While it must be assumed that many more scientists, philosophers, and others studied composition of matter after Democritus, a major leap forward in our understanding of the composition of matter took place in the 1800's with the work of the British scientists John Dalton. In contrast, Dalton's efforts were based on experimentation and testing ideas against reality. Greek philosophers were "all thought and no action" and did not feel the need to test their theories with reality. Sadly, it took over two millennia before the theory of atomos (or "atoms," as they're known today) was fully appreciated. Greek philosophers dismissed Democritus' theory entirely. Dalton's theory stated hat all atoms of a given element have exactly the same size and mass. Dalton showed that matter always combined in fixed ratios based on mass or based on volume in the case of gases. In a lot of ways, you can think of the Greek philosophers as being "all thought and no action." It's truly amazing how much they achieved using their minds, but because they never performed any experiments, they missed or rejected a lot of discoveries that they could have made otherwise. Dalton's atomic theory states that chemical reactions involve combination, separation, or rearrangement of atoms. ![]() As a result, they had some very interesting ideas, but they felt no need to justify their ideas based on life experiences. The early Greek philosophers tried to understand the nature of the world through reason and logic, but not through experiment and observation. According to Democritus, other characteristics, like color and taste, did not reflect properties of the atomos themselves, but rather, resulted from the different ways in which the atomos were combined and connected to one another. He thought, however, that shape, size, and mass were the only properties differentiating the different types of atomos. Democritus even extended this theory, suggesting that there were different varieties of atomos with different shapes, sizes, and masses. Unlike the Greek philosophers, John Dalton believed in both logical thinking and experimentation.ĭemocritus then reasoned that changes occur when the many atomos in an object were reconnected or recombined in different ways. (right) B ritish physicist and chemist John Dalton (1766-1844). Democritus was known as the "laughing philosopher." It was a good thing he liked to laugh, because most other philosophers were laughing at his theories. \): (left) Democritus by Hendrick ter Brugghen, 1628.
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