CEM 141 Chapter Notes - Chapter 15-24: Alessandro Volta, Cathode Ray, Hennig Brand
Document Summary
Modern intellectuals get most of their methods from ancient greece. Miletus (died 546 bce) were focused on what we"re made of and where we came from. This began the idea that the world was controlled by natural forces (scientific forces) instead of gods and supernatural entities. Some of the greeks outdated theories were accepted for a long time and lead to experiments meant to prove these ideas instead of actually finding the truth. Thankfully, now we have moved past these ideas and onto more modern ones. They believed everything was composed of earth, fire, water, and air, or possibly a fifth element known as the quintessence or aethe. They believed these elements were made of small particles they called atoms (which is where we got the name for our modern understanding of atoms). By watching dust moats move through the air unprompted, they determined that atoms must move, a theory later proved by einstein (brownian motion).