Ancient Ideas On The Nature of Matter

Chapter 10
Ancient Ideas on the

Nature of Matter
What is matter ultimately made of?
 This question has been asked since the time of the
Ancient Greeks.
 Matter is made up of what atoms and molecules
are made of, meaning anything made of positively
charged protons, neutral neutrons, and negatively
charged electrons.
 The Greek philosophers had agreed that all materials
made up of a "primal matter". However, their
views differed on what the primal matter was.
 Thales of Miletus-He was
a Greek mathematician,
astronomer and pre-
Socratic philosopher from
Miletus in Ionia, Asia
Minor. He was one of the
Seven Sages of Greece. He
said that it was water is a
primal matter, since water
was found everywhere.
 Anaximenes the Miletus-
He was an Ancient Greek
Pre-Socratic philosopher
active in the latter half of
the 6th century BC. The
details of his life are
obscure because none of
his work has been
preserved. He said that it
was air because air is
always in motion.
 Heraclitus of Ephesus son of Bloson-
He was a pre-Socratic Ionian Greek
philosopher, and a native of the city
of Ephesus, in modern-day Turkey
and then part of the Persian Empire.
Due to the oracular and paradoxical
nature of his philosophy, and his
fondness for word play, he was
called "The Obscure" even in
antiquity. He said that it was fire
since fire was a better presentation
of the changing world.
 Aristotle-He was a Greek
philosopher and polymath during
the Classical period in Ancient
Greece. He was the founder of the
Lyceum and the Peripatetic school
of philosophy and Aristotelian
tradition. Along with his teacher
Plato, he has been called the
"Father of Western Philosophy".
 He proposed that all substance
are composed of the four elements
namely: Air, Earth, Water and
Fire. These four elements that
compose matter according to him.
 According to him too, varying
proportions of these elements
gave rise to the different
forms of matter. Because of
that, Aristotle was the most
influential philosopher at
that time and his idea was
believed by many for a long
period of time.
 A remarkable proposal was
made by Democritus and his
teacher, Leucippus. They
thought that all things are
composed of matter that cannot
be further divided.
 According to them, this
indivisible piece can be
called Atom (from the Greek
word Atomos, which
means "indivisible").
TRIVIA FOR THIS YEAR
 The one who chose earth/land is
the primal matter is Anaximander.
 Anaximander, was a pre-Socratic
Greek philosopher who lived in
Miletus, a city of Ionia. He
belonged to the Milesian school
and learned the teachings of his
master Thales. He succeeded
Thales and became the second
master of that school where he
counted Anaximenes and,
arguably, Pythagoras amongst his
pupils.
 Leucippus is reported in
some ancient sources to
have been a philosopher
who was the earliest
Greek to develop the
theory of atomism—the
idea that everything is
composed entirely of
various imperishable,
indivisible elements
called atoms.
 Atomic Theory
-all matter is made
up of tiny indivisible
particles (atoms).
According to the
modern version, the
atoms of each element
are effectively identical,
but differ from those of
other elements, and
unite to form
compounds in fixed
proportions.
ATOMIC THEORY
 In chemistry and physics, atomic theory is a
scientific theory of the nature of matter, which
states that matter is composed of discrete units
called atoms. It began as a philosophical concept
in ancient Greece and entered the scientific
mainstream in the early 19th century when
discoveries in the field of chemistry showed that
matter did indeed behave as if it were made up of
atoms.
LEARNER'S ASSESSMENT
 1-2. Who are these people that made a remarkable proposal that
they said that all things are composed of matter that cannot be
divided?
 3-5. Give 3 people that according to them, that element is the
primal matter.
 6-10. What element do you choose that is primal matter and why
σας ευχαριστώ που ακούσατε την
παρουσίασή μου
 (thank
you for listening
to my presentation)

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Chapter 10

Ancient Ideas on the

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