Abstract
Philosophers in ancient Greece believed that everything in the universe could be reduced to one simple elementary substance. Thales (640–546 BC) concluded that this substance was water. Anaximenes (560–500 BC) believed it was air, Heraclitus (536–470 BC) thought that it was fire, and Xenophanes (570–480 BC) guessed that earth might be the fundamental element of the universe. Empedocles (490–430 BC) suggested that there were four basic elements: earth, water, air, and fire. To these Aristotle (384–322 BC) (Fig. 2.1.1) added a fifth, aether, the element of the heavens. For centuries these were accepted as the elements that made up the universe. In our day we recognize them as states of matter: solid, liquid, gas, and plasma.
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Almqvist, E. (2003). From Aristotle to the Birth of Modern Chemistry. In: History of Industrial Gases. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4615-0197-8_2
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