jan 1, 400 BC - Democritus Discovery
Description:
Introduced the idea of the Atom as the basic building block of matter.
All matter consists of atoms, which cannot be further subdivided into smaller particles.
- Atoms are extremely small—too small to see.
- Atoms are solid particles that are indestructible.
- Atoms are separated from one another by emptiness, or “void.”
Democritus had a thought experiment. The idea was if you took a material and divided it half, you would have a smaller but identical portion. If you keep dividing it, there would eventually be a point where you've reached the smallest representative element of your material and cannot cut it any further.
Democritus did not carry out any experiments to see if his theory was correct, he based his theory on his observations.
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