Atomic Theory In Ancient Greece

/ statedclearly
Full video: • What Is An Atom And Ho...
We're zipping back over 2,400 years to ancient Greece, where the philosopher Democritus had a big idea about tiny things. He and his teacher, Leucippus are among the first thinkers to argue for the existence of atoms-those incredibly small building blocks of matter.
Democritus looked around and thought, "What if everything is made up of tiny, indivisible pieces?" He called these pieces "atomos," which means "uncuttable" or "indivisible" in Greek. His reasoning? If you keep cutting a piece of matter into smaller and smaller pieces, you'd eventually reach a point where you couldn't cut it anymore, but it would still have the properties of the original material.
Democritus's theory was more of a thought experiment than based on experiments-back then, they didn’t have the tools to see atoms. He believed everything in the universe, including us, is made up of these atoms, moving through empty space. They come together in different combinations and arrangements to form all the materials and objects we see.
So why did he argue this way? Democritus was trying to answer a big question: "What is the simplest explanation for the diversity and complexity of the material world?" His answer was atoms, the smallest bits of matter, combining and recombining in various ways.
BUT WAIT THERE'S MORE
Democritus gets the spotlight because early modern chemists knew his concepts well, but he was not really the first thinker, in recorded history, to have argued the case of the atom:
Before Democritus in Greece, there was a philosopher in India who also played with the idea of atoms. His name was Kanada, a sage and philosopher who founded the Vaisheshika school of philosophy around the 6th century BCE.
Kanada proposed that everything in the universe is made up of particles he called “anu,” or atoms, which are eternal and indivisible. He theorized that these atoms combine in various ways to form more complex objects, which can be seen and experienced. According to Kanada, these combinations happen under the influence of nature’s forces, which govern how they combine, break up, and interact.
This was a revolutionary idea because it suggested a systematic and natural order to the universe, all based on these tiny, unseen building blocks. Kanada’s work is the earliest known atomic theories. It is not clear if his ideas made it to Greece or if Democritus came to his ideas independently but next time you study atoms in chemistry class, remember, the roots of these ideas are both deep and wide, spanning continents and civilizations!

[@4203105]

Except you can split atoms. Ancient fail. (jk)

[@mat41174]

Thanks genius

[@Mr.Engineer.]

"That which can be asserted without evidence, can also be dismissed without evidence"
Had it only been that simple we wouldn't have any religions left, ohh what a wonderful earth that would have been 😃

[@mhdfrb9971]

I don't think anything can be explained by empirical evidence

[@BK-hp6fv]

Its always funny when people think that the gap voided by religion can be filled with anything but religion. Otherwise we wouldn't have any religions left.

[@Mr.Engineer.]

Why would we want to have any religion left?
i say good riddance 🤠

[@ChRakesh-t5h]

Hey in 600 bc maharshi kanada discovered atom

[@langbo9999]

Very smart man he was.

[@PocketGear-x9j]

😂😂 ask Hindus they will tell who discovered Frist don't teach ur grandfathers

[@Animedoo100]

Maharishi Kanda, people believed that he discovered atom in 2nd century BCE ,but Democritus discovered it before then him did

[@PocketGear-x9j]

@@Animedoo100 read a bhagvat gita it's at least 5000 year text it mentions about atoms and particles 😂😂 , and also mentioned the Hindu gods as the fundamental particles of atom as Shiva as neutron,
Bhrama as electron, vhisnu as proton and Shakthi as energy shell or something , I did'nt actually remember that part.

[@Animedoo100]

@@PocketGear-x9j bro 😂😂 really bhagwat gita main Nahi Likha Hain ounke bareame, vedic sastra main likha hain 🤣🤣 pahile pad ke aaouh kuch vi bolte hoo

[@PocketGear-x9j]

@@Animedoo100 bro really I mentioned bhagvat gita because in that Krishna indirectly mentioned about particle and all other things are mentioned in other texts and which is mentioned about atoms and stuff before 400 bce like the other guy said first u supported the video but now you itself accepting that it's mentioned in ancient texts before that guy in the name of correcting me 😂😂😂

[@Animedoo100]

@@PocketGear-x9j Broo , There's huge difference between discovery and experiment, Rishi kand is father of atom but he didn't give the experiment or practical theory but john Dalton did,Maanta hi john dalton chor Hain but dafan facts KO vi khola Jo Ki rishi kand ne nahi bataya Tha