Atomos, Aristotle and

Alchemy (Chemistry before Modern

History)
At the end of the lesson, the
learners will be able to:

1. Describe the ideas of the Ancient

Greeks on the atoms.
2. Describe the ideas of the Ancient
Greeks on the elements.
3. Describe the contributions of the
alchemists to the science of
chemistry.
List of important names and terms
that we will encounter:
Leucippus and Democritus were two
of the most important theorists about
the natural and physical world. They
were called physicists in Ancient
Greece. They considered the idea of
atomism, or the idea that things are
made up of much smaller things that
cannot be changed nor divided.
Among the features of their theory
were the following:
 Atoms make up most of the things

in the universe; where there are no

atoms, there is void
 Atoms are incredibly small and

cannot be divided, hence atomos

(uncuttable)
 Atoms themselves are solid,

homogeneous and cannot change

 Atoms moving about and colliding
in the void cause the changes we
see in our universe.
 The shape,sizes and weights of

individual atoms influence the

characteristic of the thing they make
up; e.g. sharp atoms cause our
tongue to tear and make bitter or
sour tastes, and atoms that
compose clay are joined by flexible
 joints which harder when the clay is
baked.

Atomism, although more of a

philosophical idea than a scientific
one was closest to our current
thinking about matter. Despite
having advocates, atomism was set
aside because more prominent
philosopher opposed it. Religious
later declared it as heretical or
blasphemous because they deemed
atomistic thinking denied the
existence of God.
Some of the ideas that served as
arguments against atomism and how
The Greeks thought about the matter
and the world.
 The philosopher Anaxagoras

argued that there was an infinite

number of elementary natural
subtances in the form of
infinitesimally small particles that
combined to comprise
 the different things in the universe
 Another theory by a philospher

named Empedocles stated that

everything is made up of four
eternal and unchanging kind of
matter, fire, air (all gases), water (all
liquids and metals) and earth (all
solids).
 The well known philosopher Plato

further expanded Empedocle’s

 theory by saying each of the four
kinds of matter is composed of
geometric solids (the “Platonic
solids”) further divisible into
triangles. When rearrange, these
triangle could cause the apparent
transformations between the four
basic kinds of matter.
 Aristotle, on the other hand,

believed that the four elements

could be balance in substances in
an infinite number of ways, and that
when combined gave proportions of
“essential qualities”, hot, dry, cold
and wet. Transformations between
the four elements (or changes in
their balance in a substance) caused
changes in the universe.
It was an obsession with Aristotle’s
Ideas (and his arguments against
atomist) that prevented atomism
from gaining ground
While the concept of matter did not
advance, the practical aspect of
dealing with substances, matter and
materials flourished in different
civilizations before and after the
Greeks:
 The Mesopotamians has techniques

to utilize metals like gold and

copper. They even assigned certain
symbols to match metals with the
 heavenly bodies such as the Sun
and Moon. They also made use of
other materials such as dyes, glass,
paints and perfumes.
 The Egyptians adopted techniques

from the Mesopotamians and

perfected the use of bronze, dye
and glass that the Greeks later
copied.
 The Chinese also had their own
processes for metalwork and
ceramic materials, but they
especially focused on finding
minerals, plants and substances that
could prolong life. Some of the
substances discovered in Chinese
medicine have been found to have
actual positive effects while others
were found useless or even harmful,
like mercury.
 The Indians, like the Chinese, had a
kind of alchemy (rasayana) that
looked at different substances and
practices for Vedic medicine. This is
tied closely to Hindu and Buddhist
beliefs. They also perfected the use
of iron and steel and were well-
known manufacturers of dyes, glass,
cement, solutions for textiles and
soap.
 The Arabs and Muslims enriched not
only the practice but also the
literature of chemistry. In particular,
the scholar Jabir Ibn-Hayyan, also
known as Geber, translated the
practices and Aristotelian thinking
of the Greeks and wrote extensively
on how metals can be purified. He
came up with the preparation of
acids, such as nitric, hydrochloric,
and sulfuric acids, as well as agua
regia (nitro-hydrochloric acid).
Much of these progress were
shrouded in mysticism or cultural
beliefs, and was often a result of trial
and error. These advances in
materials, metallurgy and medicines
would often be collectively referred
to in history as alchemy, from the
Arabic/Greek alkimiya or “the art of
Transmutting.”
 The field of alchemy became
Popular in the Western world because
of Aristotle’s ideas on the elements
and techniques developed by other
civilizations. Alchemists tried to play
with the balance of the four elements
(fire, water, air, earth) and three
principles (salt, sulfur and mercury)
to transform or transmute
substances. Among their aims was to
The T-Chart below distinguish how
alchemy contributed to and hampered
scientific thought.
In the pre-modern era, the
understanding of chemistry was
distinct from the practice chemistry.
While alchemist had the wrong
understanding of matter, much of what
they did set the stage for much of
modern chemistry. For this reason,
alchemy is considered a protoscience, a
precursor that allowed the field of
Chemistry to be what is today.

Protosience – An unscientific field of

study which later developed into real
Science (e.g. astronomy towards
astrology and alchemy towards
chemistry).
Seatwork: ¼ sheet
Assignment: ½ crosswise, copy &
answer
Answer each of the following questions: