IDEAS of

ANCIENT
GREEKS on the
ELEMENTS
 Ancient Greeks believed that…

•EARTH •AIR
•WATER •FIRE

This theory was suggested around 450 BC, and it was later supported and
added to by Aristotle.
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EARTH
▪ Theearth is full of a wide variety of rocks and
minerals which provides the soil to grow
vegetation and support life
▪ The two most common elements in the earth’s
crust are oxygen (46%) and silicon (28%).
▪ the most abundant mineral in the earth’s crust
is silica (silicon dioxide)

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 The early conception of the atomic theory and elements started in
Greece where some of the Greek philosophers and scholars were
determined to find out the urstuff, or the composition of matter.

▪ According to Thales of Miletus (640-546 B.C.), in both the

synthesis during life and the decomposition after death,
water was the primary component of all matter.

▪ For Anaximenes (526 B.C.), air was the primary component;

▪ Whereas for Heraclitus (535-475 B.C.), it was fire.

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THALES of MILETUS ANAXIMENES HERACLITUS

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▪ Pythagoras of Samos (582-475 B.C.), together with his
followers deserted the concept of a single, primary
element for all matter and suggested that all matter is a
combination of the four elements: water, air, fire and
earth.

▪ This later was adopted by Empedocles (450 B.C.), who

developed the theory that all matter in the universe was
composed of various combinations and proportions of
four elementary substances.

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 Empedocles set light to a stick.

▪ Since the stick burns, it obviously contains

fire.
▪ A dirty residue is left behind once the stick
has burnt, so the stick also contains earth.
▪ The residue is damp, so water must be
present.
▪ The burning stick gives off smoke, and thus
air is in there too.
The concept of elements gave rise to one of the most fundamental
theories of later alchemy: the idea that the properties of a
substance depend on what it is made of. 
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▪ Aristotle ( 384-322 B.C.) also supported this
Pythagorean view and added that the four elements—
and therefore all of matter—are infinitely divisible.

Aristotle classified the elements on

whether they were hot or cold and
whether they were wet or dry.

▪ Fire and earth were dry.

▪ Air and water were wet.
▪ Fire and air were hot.
▪ Earth and water were cold.

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▪ In addition, he explained the concept of gravity by
assuming that the four elements had a natural home to
return to when free to do so.

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▪ But it was Leucippus of Milet (c. 500-420.C) who first
believed that all matter—including the four elements—
was composed of a basic building block: the atom.

▪ Atom came from the Greek word “atomos”, which

means indivisible.

▪ Leucippus’s idea was further developed by his student

Democritus of Abdere (460-370 B.C.), who proposed
that the atom has the following characteristics:

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1. Invisible because it is extremely small
2. Indivisible because it cannot be broken down
to tinier unit
3. Solid, spherical, not empty
4. Surrounded by an empty space
5. External because atoms are seamless
6. Immeasurable number of shapes

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