It starts with Democritus and Leucippus, the first philosophers to discuss atoms. “Models of the Atom Timeline” – YouTube: This video is about the different ways that scientists have pictured the atoms over the years. Like the early philosophers, Dalton’s theories were not popularly accepted for much of the 19th century, but his ideas have since been accepted, with amendments addressing subatomic particles and the interconversion of energy and mass. Chemical reactions may result in their rearrangement but not their creation or destruction.ĭalton also outlined a law of multiple proportions, which described how reactants will combine in set ratios.
However, these ideas were largely ignored at the time, as most philosophers favored the Aristotelian perspective. Democritus proposed that different types and combinations of these particles were responsible for the various forms of matter. The Greeks called these particles atomos, meaning indivisible, and the modern word “atom” is derived from this term. This idea was recorded as early as the 5th century BCE by Leucippus and Democritus.
Matter is composed of indivisible building blocks. law of multiple proportions: The law stating that reactants will always combine in set whole number ratios.atom: The smallest possible amount of matter that still retains its identity as a chemical element, now known to consist of a nucleus surrounded by electrons.John Dalton, an English chemist and meteorologist, is credited with the first modern atomic theory based on his experiments with atmospheric gases.The idea of an indivisible particle was further elaborated upon and explored by a number of scientists and philosophers, including Galileo, Newton, Boyle, Lavoisier, and Dalton.The ancient Greek philosophers Democritus and Leucippus recorded the concept of the atomos, an indivisible building block of matter, as early as the 5th century BCE.