"The Discovery of the Atom" Atomic theory began as an ancient philosophy dating back to at least the fifth and sixth centuries BCE in both Greece and
India. In fact, the word atom is taken from the Greek word "atomos," meaning indivisible. The term atom was used to define
the basic particle that made up a chemical element. Chemists during the time of the ancient Greeks believed that atoms were
the fundamental particles of matter. In other words, the atom was thought to be the smallest possible unit that matter could
be broken down into. This basic philosophy proposed that a solid object could potentially be divided again and again, until it
eventually reached the smallest indivisible unit-an atom. Followers of this ideology were called atomists. In the fifth century,
a Greek philosopher named Leucippus and his pupil Democritus proposed that all matter was made up of atoms.
Based on the prefix philo, what does the word philosophy mean?
A)
against learning
B)
a place of learning
devoted to learning
D)
a person who learns