CH-1010 Chapter Notes - Chapter 1: Daniel Gabriel Fahrenheit, Dimensional Analysis, Scale Of Temperature

• School: Clemson University
• Department: Chemistry
• Course: CH-1010
• Professor: Mycia Cox

Document Summary

Greek philosophers of the late bronze age espoused atomism, a belief that all forms of matter are composed of extremely tiny, indestructible building blocks called atoms. Atomism is an example of a natural philosophy; it was not a scientific theory. Scientific theories are based on observations and experimental results, and they are testable. An important quality of a scientific theory is that it accurately predicts the results of future experiments and serves as a guide in designing experiments. All things that are physically real are forms of matter. Matter exists in three phases or physical states: solid, liquid, or gas. A gas, unlike a solid or liquid, is highly compressible, which means it can be squeezed into a smaller volume if its container is not rigid and pressure is applied to it. Today the philosophy of atomism has been refined into the atomic theory of matter. According to atomic theory, all forms of matter are composed of microscopic particles.