Atomic Theory

Early Theories of the Atom

Colin Petite, Emma Stewart, Kelsey VanderBaaren, Peggy Kenny

Leucippus

• Teacher of Democritus• He is the creator of the atomic theory. He said

that everything was made of indivisible elements called atoms.

• He came either from Miletus or from Elea. • Leucippus and Democritus went the school of

Eleatic, which was a science school that believed that “everything is one,” the two students did not oppose of this and decided to contribute and come of with their own idea which is what we now call “atoms”.

Democritus

• Born in Abdara, Thrace around 458 BCE, lived to be 90 years old.

• He announced the Atomic Theory. • The Atomic Theory means the

world is composed of 2 elements, atoms and the void in which the exist and move. Democritus has written approximately 70 books.

• He didn’t actually come up with the Atomic Theory, Leucippus, his teacher did.

Aristotle

• Artistotle, born in Stagire, Macedonia, in 384 B.C

• Aristotle attacked and argued the idea of the atom and the existence of particles, which was the belief of Democritus.

• Roman Catholic theologians strongly believed in Aristotle's beliefs.

Epicurus• Born in the Greek colony on

Samos • A strong believer of

Democritus and was against Aristotle's orders

• Became a teacher in Colophon, an ancient Greek city

• Died in his early 70’s

Dark Ages• The years between 400 A.D – 1500 A.D were called the medieval

times. This was when science, and experiences and truth were all lost. Aristotle an ancient Greek philosopher announced that all things were made up of “Water, Earth, Air and Fire”. In other parts of the world their were other theories and ideas proposed, but most people did not understand or know about the Muslim and Arab science world.

• When the modern world began to develop after the “dark ages” many philosophers and scientist began to develop theories, influenced by ancient Greek atomic theory.

John Dalton John Dalton was born in Cumberland County, England in 1766. He was a chemist, meteorologist and physicist and is best known for his work in developing the modern atomic theory.

Dalton's Atomic Theory:• That all elements were made of tiny particles

called atoms.• That all atoms of a specific element are all

identical.• The atoms of one element are different from all

other elements.• Atoms of one element can combine with the

atoms from the other elements to make chemical compounds.

• Atoms can neither be created nor destroyed or divided into smaller parts in a chemical process. Chemical reaction just changes the way the atoms are grouped together.

Works Cited

 • http://ce.t.soka.ac.jp/chem/iwanami/intorduct/ch01atomic.pdf• http://galileo.phys.virginia.edu/classes/252/atoms.html• http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/democritus/• http://hi.fi.tripod.com/timeline/timeline.htm • http://www.timelineindex.com/content/view/1228 • http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Dalton • http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Democritus • http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aristotle • http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leucippus • http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dark_Ages • http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epicurus • http://www.epicurus.net/ http://scienceworld.wolfram.com/biography/Dalton.html