Democritus and Aristotle By Chelise Lomax and Amanda Warkow
Democritus 460 BCE- 370 BCE (90 years old) Born in Abdera, Greece Death is unsure but, at some point in his life he was blind one of his eyes Was an ancient Greek philosopher who was the first to propose of the atom Known as the laughing professor
Education Babylon, Egypt, Ethiopia and maybe India Mentor: Leucippus Who may have suggest the existence of the atom
Biggest rivals: Aristotle Theophrastus Diogenes
Experiment He took a seashell and broke it in half. He then took that half and broke it in half over and over and over and over again until he was finally left with a fine powder. He then took the smallest piece from the powder and tried to break that but could not.
Atoms He called these small pieces of matter "atoms," the Greek word for indivisible Theory: Matter could not be divided into smaller and smaller pieces forever, eventually the smallest possible piece would be obtained called an atom
Atoms continued Democritus thought the whole universe is composed of atoms in a void, constantly moving around according to determinate, understandable laws.
More Atoms These atoms could hit each other and bounce off, and they can* hook together to make bigger things. A matter of combination and re-combination of infinite bits of binding stuff . *hooks that combine to other atoms making up the materials of life They can have different sizes, weights, and shapes maybe some are spheres, some are cylinders
Even More Atoms Part of the theory also stated that the characteristics of an object are determined by the shape of its atoms. So, for example, sweet things are made of smooth atoms, bitter things are made of sharp atoms.
Most of the characteristics of atoms are only qualitative There no characteristics that of atoms that are quantitative
ideas did not invoked no God or judge of human behavior, it was questioned by many could not prove his opinions to others and because of this his fellow peers mocked him
Aristotle 384 BCE-322 BCE Born in Stagira, Greece Educated at Plato’s Academy Mentor: Plato Formed the Lyceum- school that offered science, math, philosophy, and politics Taught Alex the Great Rivals: Plato and Democritus
Most Important Work Introduced scientific method Realized first observe and describe then explain Invented the rules of logic The void and continuity
The Void and Continuity Denied existence of a void Universe filled continuously with substance Compressibility of air does not imply empty space Levity/Gravity Vacancy not a prerequisite for natural motion
Work on Atomic Theory Opposed Democritus' atomic theory Thought matter was made of air, water, fire and Earth Felt that regardless of the number or times you cut a form of matter in half, you would always have a smaller piece of that matter
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