Description of the Discovery

Democritus was a very simple man like all of the other people in ancient Greece. Life was hard for everyone, unlike today, where it is like we all live inn paradise compared to them. However, in many ways, the Greeks were more advanced that we are today. They revolutionized society by making advances in philosophy, language, literature, mathematics, and of course, science. They produced some of the brightest minds known to man, including Democritus.

Democritus made many very important discoveries in the span of his lifetime but the greatest was that of the atom. If it weren't for Democritus, there would be no modern atomic theory and there would still be questions left to answer that were answered hundreds of years ago. If it weren't for Democritus's atom, that he called "atoms" we would be nowhere near where we are today.

"Atoms" in Greek means "indivisible." Democritus called his discovery this because he believed that the atom was unbreakable into smaller parts. To initially find the atom, Democritus conducted a simple experiment that can still be done today. What he did was take a simple seashell and break it in half. He then took that half and broke it in half over and over and over and over again until he was finally left with a fine powder. He then took the smallest piece from the powder and tried to break that but could not. So thus Democritus had discovered what he was the indivisible building block of life the atom.

As Democritus still pondered on what he had discovered, he theorized that these tiny particles some how had hooks attached to them so they could stick together. He thought that like Velcro, the atoms could fit together but only break apart at the seams.