Modern Chemistry

Rediscovering the Atom


Although some Greek philosophers theorized about the existence of unbreakable atoms of different shapes and sizes, Aristotle suggested that instead, everything in the universe is composed of the four elements air, earth, fire, and water. Aristotle's idea was more popular, and atomism was largely forgotten. Over time, the writings of Democritus and Epicurus and other Greek atomists were lost. Atomism laid dormant for over a thousand years. During this time, alchemists come close to rediscovering the atom through their experiments with elemental metals, but it wasn't until the latter part of the eighteenth century that atomism was revived.
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