Atoms
Etymology
The name atom comes from the Greek ἄτομος (atomos, "indivisible") from ἀ- (a-, "not") and τέμνω (temnō, "I cut"),[3] which means uncuttable, or indivisible, something that cannot be divided further.[4] The concept of an atom as an indivisible component of matter was first proposed by early Indian and Greek philosophers. In the 18th and 19th centuries, chemists provided a physical basis for this idea by showing that certain substances could not be further broken down by chemical methods, and they applied the ancient philosophical name of atom to the chemical entity. During the late 19th and early 20th centuries, physicists discovered subatomic components and structure inside the atom, thereby demonstrating that the chemical "atom" was divisible and that the name might not be appropriate.[5][6] However, it was retained. This has led to some debate about whether the ancient philosophers, who intended to refer to fundamental individual objects with their concept of "atoms," were referring to modern chemical atoms, or something more like indivisible subatomic particles such as leptons or quarks, or even some more fundamental particle that has yet to be discovered.[7]
History
Main article: Atomic theory
Atomism
Main article: Atomism
The concept that matter is composed of discrete units and cannot be divided into arbitrarily tiny quantities has been around for millennia, but these ideas were founded in abstract, philosophical reasoning rather than experimentation and empirical observation. The nature of atoms in philosophy varied considerably over time and between cultures and schools, and often had spiritual elements. Nevertheless, the basic idea of the atom was adopted by scientists thousands of years later because it elegantly explained new discoveries in the field of chemistry.[8] The ancient name of "atom" from atomism had already been nearly universally used to describe chemical atoms by that time, and it was therefore retained as a term, long
The name atom comes from the Greek ἄτομος (atomos, "indivisible") from ἀ- (a-, "not") and τέμνω (temnō, "I cut"),[3] which means uncuttable, or indivisible, something that cannot be divided further.[4] The concept of an atom as an indivisible component of matter was first proposed by early Indian and Greek philosophers. In the 18th and 19th centuries, chemists provided a physical basis for this idea by showing that certain substances could not be further broken down by chemical methods, and they applied the ancient philosophical name of atom to the chemical entity. During the late 19th and early 20th centuries, physicists discovered subatomic components and structure inside the atom, thereby demonstrating that the chemical "atom" was divisible and that the name might not be appropriate.[5][6] However, it was retained. This has led to some debate about whether the ancient philosophers, who intended to refer to fundamental individual objects with their concept of "atoms," were referring to modern chemical atoms, or something more like indivisible subatomic particles such as leptons or quarks, or even some more fundamental particle that has yet to be discovered.[7]
History
Main article: Atomic theory
Atomism
Main article: Atomism
The concept that matter is composed of discrete units and cannot be divided into arbitrarily tiny quantities has been around for millennia, but these ideas were founded in abstract, philosophical reasoning rather than experimentation and empirical observation. The nature of atoms in philosophy varied considerably over time and between cultures and schools, and often had spiritual elements. Nevertheless, the basic idea of the atom was adopted by scientists thousands of years later because it elegantly explained new discoveries in the field of chemistry.[8] The ancient name of "atom" from atomism had already been nearly universally used to describe chemical atoms by that time, and it was therefore retained as a term, long