Ma. Jane S.

Postorioso
11-STEM-1A

Atomos or atoms are the smallest particles of an element that have the properties of that element and may be
combined chemically. Atoms represents that matter could not be divided into smaller and smaller pieces
forever, until the smallest possible piece would be reached, this piece would be 'indivisible', in short atom
can’t destroy and the first one who suggested that is Democritus, he was a Greek philosopher known as "The
Laughing Philosopher" who lived between 460 and 370 B.C. and he is the one who started looking for matter
over 2400 years ago. He suggested that matter was made up of microscopic particles called atoms means ‘not
to be cut’ and these ideas were opposed by the more popular philosophers of his day.

Unfortunately for Democritus there are some philosophers especially Aristotle who disagreed with his theory
or ideas, they came to the conclusion that matter consisted of various combinations of the four elements; fire,
water, earth, and air. This hypothesis was believed for over two thousand years.

Until 1783, when Antoine Lavoisier reacted oxygen with inflammable air, obtaining "water in a very pure
state," and correctly concluded that water was not an element, but a composite of oxygen and inflammable air,
or hydrogen as it is now known. To test his idea, Lavoisier converted water into oxygen and combustible air.
In 1789 he gave the Law of Conservation of Mass that states that matter can neither be created nor destroyed.
In other words, the total mass, that is, the sum of the mass of reacting mixture and the products formed
remains constant.

Dalton was aware of French chemist Joseph Proust's research, which established that all samples of a pure
substance have the same components in the same proportion by mass. This is known as the Law of Definite
Proportions.

In this way, John Dalton (1766-1844), the "Father of Chemistry" and English teacher, meteorologist, and
chemist, also contributed to revolutionize of chemistry. He came to the conclusion that all matter is made up
of small, definite particles known as atoms. Atoms are indivisible and indestructible, and atoms of a particular
element share identical properties, including weight. He also established that atoms of different elements have
different masses. Atoms of different elements combine in fixed whole-number ratios when forming
compounds, we also known it as Law of Multiple Proportion states that if two elements combine to form more
than one compound, the masses of these elements in the reaction are in the ratio of small whole numbers and
finally proposed a modern atomic theory that is now widely accepted by scientists.

These atomic theories are important for us to know what is deeply going on in chemistry and understanding
how things, such as the technology we use, exist. The significance of this study is to understand how
philosophers presented that type of scientific mindfulness, as well as how atomic theory affected our daily
lives, culture, and societal transformation.