Atom And Qi

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qi and the atom were both conceived by ancient philosophers, the notion of the atom was better developed by scientists than the idea of qi. Therefore, by looking back at the historical progression towards a belief in atoms and the deduction of their structure, we know how scientists built up the atomic theory. Consequently, the concept of historical progression will help us understand why the notion of qi is hard to define by physicists, and how it could be developed into a scientific theory.
HISTORICAL PROGRESSION TOWARDS A BELIEF IN ATOMS
The concept of the atom originated in Greek philosophy around six hundred B.C. with the question: ¡§What is the world made of ?¡¨ (Sachs, 9). Thales first suggested that ¡§water [is] the basic building block of the world¡¨, and air, sand, and stone could be different forms of one fundamental substance (web page). Yet, Anoimenes believed ¡§mist or air was the cornerstone of matter¡¨ (Clagett, 49). These ancient thinkers made simple and ...

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atoms, ¡¥rationality¡¦ was considered, the key to scientific validity by Renaissance scientists. To rationalize Democritus¡¦ idea of the continuum of matter, Descartes noted that everything around us has an extension so there is no void because ¡§void [by definition is nothing, and] cannot have extension (Boorse, 6). Later on, the theory of universal gravitation reveals Newton¡¦s ¡¥atomic¡¦ natural philosophy that ¡§observable matter is fundamentally an assemblage of bits, exchanging mutual forces at a distance, thereby causing each other to move in the way they do [like sets of stationary orbits]¡¨ which reveals atomic motion. (Saches, 31). Using this theory, Newton taught us to ...

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