Question

What is the contribution of Democritus in atomic structure?

Answer 1

Hint: Democritus was a Greek philosopher who closely observed and studied the properties of different states of matter. He gave an early definition of an atom being the most fundamental and basic unit of matter.

Complete answer:
There have been many discoveries and many theories have been given by the modern scientists regarding the structure of an atom, its definition and its properties. All these modern theories were based on a lot of experiments and spectroscopic analysis but Democritus was a Greek philosopher who gave his theory regarding the existence of atoms based on simple everyday observations.
He took the example of a stone and how cutting it into pieces does not change its fundamental properties and each half can be used to represent the properties of the bulk from which it is derived. Based on these observations, he gave his model of an indivisible particle and called it an atom. His theory explained that atoms of different materials have a unique set of properties distinct from other atoms and therefore called them indestructible and unchangeable.
According to him, each atom is homogenous and consists of a void. Properties like mass, shape, size and arrangement are unique for all atoms.

Note:
The theory of indivisible atoms being the building blocks of matter was not accepted at that time and another Greek philosopher claimed that all matter that exists in the physical world is made up of four important elements namely fire, air, water and earth.