Primary elements of matter :1
Introduction to the description of the structure
and of how this world is functioning at different scales
from very big scales like stars, galaxies and the whole Universe, and down to the very, very
little scales like atoms, and the atomic nucleus, and elementary
particles.
We are starting the first module from, and I think it is
quite natural,
starting from discussing how the world looks like at the scale, which we can see with our
eyes, which we can feel at our own scale.
And then gradually we will go deeper and deeper to atoms and elementary particles. But first let’s start from our own scale.
And then gradually we will go deeper and deeper to atoms and elementary particles. But first let’s start from our own scale.
I think it’s quite evident that, for each of us, that we are
surrounded by different kinds of media.
We are surrounded by air, something very light, something very soft, which we can breathe with. And this kind of media has no shape. This kind of media has no volume, because it will occupy all the volume, which you will allow for it to occupy.
Put a little bit of gas into a very big can. And it will occupy the entire can, all the vessel. There are more dense media. Also soft liquids for example. Water, which we drink, which also has no particular shape, but it has volume.
If you put it from one vessel into another one, it will occupy only a part of it, so that the volume of the liquid in both vessels will be the same. Finally we know, that there are solid and rigid bodies. Like computer for example. It definitely has a shape.
It definitely has volume. And it is not so easy to change. Especially it is difficult to change the volume. I can change the shape. But how to change the volume? I will crush. It’s simply. Different kinds of media are surrounding us. This was understood by thinking people, I think, thousands and thousands years ago.
Probably the first civilization or one of the earliest civilizations, that tried analytically to understand how the world is constructed, was the civilization which was created by Greeks – ancient Greeks. And then from the very beginning the first analytical attempt to understand how this world is designed was based on the concept of primary elements of matter.
The idea was the following. The trend from the very beginning was the following – to try to reduce all the enormous variety of objects that surround us to some little group, which will in different combinations produce this tremendous variety.
And as this little group… Greeks have extracted four elementary, primary elements. Thick – cold and dry – they called it earth or soil. Wet and cold – they called it water. Wet and hot – they called it air. Finally hot and dry which they had called fire. When they said “earth”, “water”, “fire”, “air” they didn’t actually mean exactly the water which we drink or the air we breathe.
They meant some ideal primary elements, which are existing in any object, any medium but in different proportions. For example if you take too much fire and only a little bit of anything else you will have something that you see as a real fire. If you will take very much air and a little bit of anything else, you will see something looking like a real air, which we breathe with.
But in order to produce some complicated objects, you will need these primary elements to be combined in different proportions comparable in size to each other. This is analytical and absolutely theoretical model. Actually Greeks were very interesting people. They were not interested in those people who was thinking about how the world is designed, actually at the same time.
We’re not strongly interested in how to use their knowledge. They were interested in knowledge itself. So the fact is that from this theory they cannot extract anything useful. There are no ways how to use this theory in order to produce for example new objects, in order to produce new kinds of media- How do we call now – chemical elements, new chemicals? No chance.
But it gives you some feeling that you understand how it works. And this was the value of those thinking Greeks. I think, that the final shape this theory of four primary elements had found in natural philosophy by famous Greek philosopher, whose name was Aristotle, who lived nearly 2.5 thousand years ago.
Actually to these four primary elements Aristotle added one more –the fifth element.
We are surrounded by air, something very light, something very soft, which we can breathe with. And this kind of media has no shape. This kind of media has no volume, because it will occupy all the volume, which you will allow for it to occupy.
Put a little bit of gas into a very big can. And it will occupy the entire can, all the vessel. There are more dense media. Also soft liquids for example. Water, which we drink, which also has no particular shape, but it has volume.
If you put it from one vessel into another one, it will occupy only a part of it, so that the volume of the liquid in both vessels will be the same. Finally we know, that there are solid and rigid bodies. Like computer for example. It definitely has a shape.
It definitely has volume. And it is not so easy to change. Especially it is difficult to change the volume. I can change the shape. But how to change the volume? I will crush. It’s simply. Different kinds of media are surrounding us. This was understood by thinking people, I think, thousands and thousands years ago.
Probably the first civilization or one of the earliest civilizations, that tried analytically to understand how the world is constructed, was the civilization which was created by Greeks – ancient Greeks. And then from the very beginning the first analytical attempt to understand how this world is designed was based on the concept of primary elements of matter.
The idea was the following. The trend from the very beginning was the following – to try to reduce all the enormous variety of objects that surround us to some little group, which will in different combinations produce this tremendous variety.
And as this little group… Greeks have extracted four elementary, primary elements. Thick – cold and dry – they called it earth or soil. Wet and cold – they called it water. Wet and hot – they called it air. Finally hot and dry which they had called fire. When they said “earth”, “water”, “fire”, “air” they didn’t actually mean exactly the water which we drink or the air we breathe.
They meant some ideal primary elements, which are existing in any object, any medium but in different proportions. For example if you take too much fire and only a little bit of anything else you will have something that you see as a real fire. If you will take very much air and a little bit of anything else, you will see something looking like a real air, which we breathe with.
But in order to produce some complicated objects, you will need these primary elements to be combined in different proportions comparable in size to each other. This is analytical and absolutely theoretical model. Actually Greeks were very interesting people. They were not interested in those people who was thinking about how the world is designed, actually at the same time.
We’re not strongly interested in how to use their knowledge. They were interested in knowledge itself. So the fact is that from this theory they cannot extract anything useful. There are no ways how to use this theory in order to produce for example new objects, in order to produce new kinds of media- How do we call now – chemical elements, new chemicals? No chance.
But it gives you some feeling that you understand how it works. And this was the value of those thinking Greeks. I think, that the final shape this theory of four primary elements had found in natural philosophy by famous Greek philosopher, whose name was Aristotle, who lived nearly 2.5 thousand years ago.
Actually to these four primary elements Aristotle added one more –the fifth element.
He called it “aether”. And he understood it as a primary reason, which makes things moving. Again very theoretical and very abstract concept with
practically no practical use.
But however, the natural philosophy of Aristotle was the basis for the system of the education in Europe, and in the Middle East, in Arabic, Islamic countries, and in Christian European countries up to 18th century – for two thousand years.
But however, the natural philosophy of Aristotle was the basis for the system of the education in Europe, and in the Middle East, in Arabic, Islamic countries, and in Christian European countries up to 18th century – for two thousand years.
This was exactly what students were learning at
universities. To be fair we should say that Greeks had produced the
alternative model,
which for many, many years, for hundreds years was somehow
not completely forgotten, but which was not so popular as
the Aristotle’s one, which was not taught in universities in such the scale.
This second alternative model we call now “atomic model”.
This second alternative model we call now “atomic model”.
But it needs time to describe it in more details and I will need time to describe it in more details. So I
propose, we will make a break and do it soon.
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