The 2,400-year search for the atom - Theresa Doud

View full lesson: ed.ted.com/lessons/the-2-400-y...
How do we know what matter is made of? The quest for the atom has been a long one, beginning 2,400 years ago with the work of a Greek philosopher and later continued by a Quaker and a few Nobel Prize-winning scientists. Theresa Doud details the history of atomic theory.
Lesson by Theresa Doud, animation by TED-Ed.

[@youanditsmorethanlike]

Time stamps of people that talk about atoms 0:28 Democritus 1:14 John Dalton 1:55 J.J. Thompson 2:28 Ernest Rutherford 3:29 Niels Bohr 4:12 Werner Heisenberg

[@justhitaclutch2578]

Tysm

[@Youthinkyoutheking__burgerking]

You just did my homework for me

[@sprinkles.and.sunshine]

OMG! OMG! TYSM this helped so much with my homework ❤❤❤

[@Mustardgamer7]

THANK YOUUU

[@raid3nsh0gun_ei43]

Thank you you literally saved me so much time

[@winnie7960]

hi if your teacher assigned you to watch this :) Good luck on your exams! edit: where did the likes come from 😃

[@anotherrandomkid108]

*_Casually raises hand_*

[@awesomplayz926]

Yep

[@sarahbyfernandez4584]

ME

[@Piraba10]

*yes*

[@idkanymoreno]

haii

[@yourmom-zs9ui]

WASSUP PEOPLE DOING THEIR HOMEWORK 😄😄😐

[@kaylenmb]

Hey mo I'm using my old phone bc I can't have my actual one rn so I signed into KZbin on this one and I can't text but I can talk through this comment

[@kaylenmb]

ANSWER ME SENPAIII

[@kaylenmb]

ITS ME KAYLEN YOU DIMWIT

[@kaylenmb]

JK YOUR NOT A DIMWIT LOL YOUR PROBABLY ALSEEP GOODNIGHT

[@ChaBoiLembro]

sup bruh

[@romblzaj5648]

My science teacher showed us this in class today :3 I'm proud of you, Ted Ed.

[@PancakeDoesGaming]

+Contrastiq AJ Mine showed this to us just yesterday!

[@romblzaj5648]

x3

[@Asa-ux8kp]

Romblz AJ my teacher also shown this video

[@idkanymoreno]

IKR

[@muallademir7297]

Wow you really wrote it 5 years ago,how are you,do you remember you write this comment 😂

[@Jaydarren]

Hey people doing schoolwork at home!!

[@DuckySOT]

Hi

[@awesomplayz926]

Yep

[@rosecrinion9528]

Hey

[@sophiascarpelli3652]

hey

[@idkanymoreno]

WASSUP DUDE

[@sloz474]

Who's here from science class?? Like it boiiiii

[@thejusticebanana9670]

Henazz Shut up you ass 😩😩😩😩😩

[@Nico-nb5mp]

Please no

[@suenercross4634]

Hate science

[@varian7987]

me...from hk

[@shojintam4206]

@@varian7987 Me too

[@chemistryenthusiast8091]

I am in 9th grade Chemistry, and this really elaborated on the lecture of my teacher. GOD BLESS TED-ED

[@gddanielk8491]

you'll visit it next year too. Im doing physics year 10 rn and it's in there

[@princezuko9430]

Fred Anduze duuuude my cousins in 9th grade too he too got this

[@notme3692]

I’m in freaking 8th

[@uwaruchan2738]

@@notme3692 same lelelelel

[@ahusgj2080]

I'm in year 8，and today we watching these

[@russellhowell4560]

Safe to say, I don't like these online classes.

[@Aryan-ck9lv]

Same😫

[@jazpechar6988]

same D:

[@rachelbaranquil2508]

Same

[@craloslius8631]

yeah me neither

[@altamashchandio7093]

Mood

[@arandomguy6179]

Does anyone have this as coronavirus homework

[@craftycraft1808]

A random guy yesss meeee 😣

[@excaliber2845]

Me

[@Sm-zj5vy]

Me

[@froggiter4185]

Yep

[@nogooda]

A random guy yes

[@dadams966]

Aristotle-Earth Wind Fire water. John-combinations of particles. Democritus-shape and size vary. Full of empty space. Thompson- discovered electron Ernest-largely of empty space, concentrated center. Niels Bohr- electrons have fixed distances and patterns of moving around nucleus’s r. Heisenberg-impossible to pinpoint electrons and their speed.

[@aubree5177]

Thanks!

[@edisonjavier4519]

thank u madam

[@tarekazuzu1809]

Democritus has the honor of biggest "I told you so!" in history

[@anotherrandomkid108]

lmfao

[@Jack-ff8ri]

Ikr

[@theodysseyowl]

And yet he refused to and insisted that he hadn't done any better than anyone else This man deserves an award

[@ZY2009lol]

Even though I'm only a second language science learner from primary. This video is really nice, and easy to understand. It make my teacher's explanation work much easier! Nice job, love your videos.

[@DuckySOT]

Is anyone else from online school doing science

[@awesomplayz926]

Yep

[@miguelcorsiga7353]

Hahaha

[@DuckySOT]

Hi

[@stephaniepierre11]

yep fml

[@agnesrojas2174]

hey

[@michatarnowski580]

It's a pity that Avogadro wasn't mentioned; he seems to be overlooked and underrated in general. Dalton's atomic model was in many ways mistaken and is heavily outdated.

[@darkpinkgirl6684]

hmmmmm, you're right!! Dalton's atomic model IS heavily outdated!! It's not like we ALREADY know that fact and therefore do not even use it anymore! Craaaazyyy!

[@akirasmidnightsociety1692]

I think Avogadro was more focused on quantifying atoms (in moles) rather than atomic structure itself.

[@drini9087]

@@akirasmidnightsociety1692Exactly

[@patriksl6599]

TedEd. Please never change anything, your doing service to humanity.

[@patrickstar236]

*you’re

[@amalabdirisak3215]

@@patrickstar236 💀

[@alexandery8508]

Thanks! That would help me on tomorrow's chemistry test on Greek philosopher and international scientists that made huge effort and lived for not so long time ago.

[@francotejerina4524]

Short, understandable and incredibly fun! Great work.

[@ahusgj2080]

but i dont like scince

[@AbdullahSardar_Slay_YT]

Nerd££££££

[@user-ym1ci1zw6o]

fr!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[@NewLERoyUser]

I love how the animations are presented here. It is so cool! I have been shown this video in Physics and Chemistry.

[@ziadwael5139]

Aristotle had watched a lot of The Avatar

[@thealiker7777]

That's just the reverse. Greek philosophies shaped Chinese, which in turn are the basis of avatar!!

[@Master_Bater69]

@@thealiker7777 wooosh

[@brainstorms2217]

@@Master_Bater69 r/wooooshwith4os

[@Master_Bater69]

@@brainstorms2217 r/ihavereddit

[@brainstorms2217]

@@Master_Bater69 r/ok

[@thestarlight6168]

I'm from Brazil and our teacher gave this to us as explanation material. Had fun 10/10 would watch again

[@abdulwalikhan779]

u like neymar

[@abdulwalikhan779]

if u like him it means u are po0p

[@ulti_mato6038]

Now I have to do homework based off of this video, but amazing presentation!!

[@sweetseremine]

same

[@mysterywoman8158]

Same here

[@xxcookie_womanxx3689]

PinkyPie25800 me tio

[@kaylenmb]

Same I've been avoiding it all week 😖now I only have today and tomorrow.

[@yourmom-zs9ui]

Same bro

[@AnstonMusic]

Absolutely brilliant presentation!

[@imp9805]

My teacher used this video to learn about the atomic theory!!! I was so happy because I love your channel :)

[@BestFitSquareChannel]

another gem… linking contributors brilliant… demonstrates time, rigor required to refine theory to mutable knowledge… how one construct often leads to more discovery… evolution… cosmological inherent… bravo!

[@klickxy8418]

POV: you came here from missing work in school

[@froshite]

You didn’t have to call me out like that😔

[@lolsflint7598]

e

[@idkanymoreno]

OK NO ITS NOT MISSING WORK ITS CLASS WORK FOR MEHH

[@idkanymoreno]

qwq

[@ninjadragon809]

Who else has a test tomorrow

[@user-vm7nb3qd6n]

شكرا لمحمود مجدي علشان بيوسع ثقافتنا

[@kittyprincessmeowmeow]

Hey y'all i'm here from science class during covid :))

[@swat67ify]

Can't wait for the next awesome theory that all our scientists are going to call crazy :D

[@PelegTsadok]

Scientology. Haha, just kidding.

[@ankurrai8677]

It's here Any newly discovered element has to give an exam in order to prove itself to older and wiser elements. I call this phenomenon eleminterview.

[@movizen7]

i found aout the atom is an atom

[@alexlannie__7814]

CORONA

[@gaudiumlex9929]

Maybe a theory to explain the Arrow of Time Problem

[@anhaihanane7804]

this is incredibly amazing thank you so much

[@williamjayaraj2244]

Thank you for this well documented theory of Atoms evolved over a long period of time .

[@Alvriginal]

Really clear and helpful, thank you

[@systempatcher]

Very good explanation of the history of physics and rise of quantum theory.

[@aristheticasteroid1376]

The ending is so inspirational 🤩

[@strangegrape]

notes that i need for essay: 1) over 2400 years, the theory of atoms has changed 2) in 440 BCE democritus proposed that everything was made of small particles with space around them 2) he thought that the size varied depending on what they make 3) the word “atom” comes from the greek word “atomos” which meant indivisible 4) in 1808 some guy called john dalton showed that stuff broke down into different elements and proportions 5) he theorised that the compounds of elements were made of atoms that couldn’t be created or destroyed 6) in 1897 jj thompson discovered electrons using cathode rays 7) he then went on to create a “plum pudding model” for how the atom looked 8) by shooting alpha particles at a sheet of gold foil ernest rutherford discovered protons as some of the alpha particles were deflected from the gold 9) he concluded that atoms were mainly filled with empty space with a few electrons on the outside and a dense “nucleus” of protons 10) later james chadwick in 1932 discovered neutrons were in the nucleus 11) niels bohr thought that electrons went around the nucleus at fixed distances, but they could jump between the fixed distances 12) werner heisenberg concluded that you couldn’t determine the exact position and speed of an electron

[@strangegrape]

@_Amelia Victoria _ yo this actually helped someone?

[@ewankobastataoko7218]

THANK YOU

[@kcjdramaedits]

This video is preach. I hv test about this tomorrow and how visualization is your best buddy rather than reading? I'm impressed.

[@admaxadvertising953]

maharishi kanad's name should be mentioned at first, because he was the first to say ' if we divide a matter continuously, ultimately a time will come where further division of that matter will not be possible' and he called them 'parmanu', then it was democritus who named the indivisible particles atomos.

[@sanskartiwari2996]

physicist j exactly

[@anishajain6403]

Yeah, I found it disturbing that they didn't even mention him

[@rishabhgoyal1044]

They only mention the European history

[@hemamalinisriraman8902]

Hey this is 9th NCERT chemistry

[@manumalhotra5144]

doesn't matter. How do we know for sure that these people even existed or not? For all we know, they may be fables

[@JaKyra365]

Giving a thumbs up for the relevant information.

[@squadron29]

do u mean ur leaving a like? no one says thumbs up

[@biranfalk-dotan2448]

Pretty awesome. I have only one little criticism - it was Plato who suggested 4 elements. Aristotle added Aether, making 5 elements (still equally wrong, of course).

[@ananya.a04]

Okay, knowledge aside, the animation for this video is really nice and interesting! I love this format and wish to see more videos like this! ❤️🇮🇳

[@abhiAbhi-sc1km]

Atoms were explained by KANAADA MAHRSHI around 6th century BC He coined the term "Anu" ,the Sanskrit word for atom which is now used in over 10 indian languages Another astonishing thing he said was " Don't try to look inside the atom" which actually means that we should not study them but we did it and that led to the invention of atomic bomb. its not baseless truth it is recorded in manuscript but the exact date is not known it was maybe written before 6th century BC or after but it can't be less than 2000 years old

[@TED_AD]

👌👌

[@sukhadakamat5163]

Europeans don't want to give credit to us.

[@Catsvodcave]

No-one : Everyone else : WHOS HERE FOR HOMEWORK

[@iwillgetayorkie3262]

96% of comments: who's here for homework ✨✨ 3% of comments: congratulating ted ed 1% of comments: being helpful and giving notes on the vid 👏

[@theodysseyowl]

No one: Me: WHERE ARE ALL MY FELLOW HOMESCHOOLERS?

[@finnyboi1437]

4:10 jesse we need to determine the exact speed of electrons as they move around the nucleus

[@metaphysicswithariyana2794]

Thank you, sir. This is very helpful to know. 👍

[@hoangtriet3725]

Did you guys forget that Maharshi Kanada existed? Allow me to explain who he was, Maharshi Kanada was an Indian scientist, philosopher, and also a sage. One day, he was walking with food on his hand, as he ate the food, after chewing for a while, it occured to him that he couldn’t divide the food into further parts, and thus, the idea of a matter which cannot be divided further came into existence. He called that invisible matter “Anu”, a sanskrit word which now we use for atoms. Don’t try and say “Oh, he probably was a person from after the 18th century or some time in the modern age.”, well to that, I shall say NOPE! Kanada was born somewhere around the 6-4th century BCE. I can’t tell if he discovered it first or not, because if Kanada was born on the 6th century BCE, it would make him the person who theorized the idea first, but if he was born around the 4th century BCE, that would make me more confused since Democritus lived from c. 460-370 BC. Also, fun fact, the reason why Democritus was given the credit more than Kanada did was because he made the concept more popular, because some people embraced the idea of atomism in the ancient Greeks, and unpopular, because some philosophers, like Plato and Aristotle, disagreed with the idea. I forgot to mention that Leucippus (the teacher of Democritus), Dharmakirti, Parmenides, and many more atomists existed in the ancient times, middle ages, and the 17th century, so really, atomism was not “lost until the 18th century.” Great, history is now making my head hurt.

[@FRESHNITRO]

aint no one reading allat

[@eshladdim7666]

Yooooo all my bro's from science!!!😎😎😃😃😃Have a good dayzzzzz!!!

[@DefNxtSxcrlling]

Even though I was summoned here to do my assignment still I am enjoying this :DDD

[@dylanoconnor3617]

Thanks, TED-Ed!

[@rusty9156]

I’m here from a science lesson

[@letterstovera]

Who isn’t?

[@idkanymoreno]

sameee

[@ny6351]

1:59 we called "raisin cake " in our chemistry lessons

[@Sm-zj5vy]

We call it "Plum Pudding". No idea what that even is.

[@W-I463]

@@Sm-zj5vy it's plum pudding is pudding.

[@randomcatgamer5562]

​@@Sm-zj5vyyep me too

[@feru2925]

I'm here from my Chemistry class :D thank you Ms. Grunin

[@virginiapasatiempo8255]

Thank you so much.. really amazing presentation. good luck and more educational videos to share of. it really help me a lot. God bless

[@parvezmakandar4269]

Atom was first discovered by an Indian named Kanaad. But he did not patent it.

[@ketchupnpie]

I was trying to find a video to show my students in class and wondering if suitable, but all the comments here scream OK! ... since so many teachers have made their students watch this. Thanks kids for the comments!! 😅

[@majinbam4330]

Thank you Ted-Ed very cool

[@justmathewd2921]

The book in my preu have this video has an example, good work

[@Afterscience742]

0.15 "Hello and welcome, to another episode of a brief history. Today's episode, atomic theory. Ready, set, GO!"

[@Afterscience742]

*** 0:15

[@BraydenDarrell]

I was hoping someone would say this. :)

[@mysterywoman8158]

Thank you sooooo much . This really helped me a lot with my homework:)

[@alaabelal5752]

me too in chemistry in high school

[@carolinamatheus9309]

Same

[@animequeen4984]

@@alaabelal5752 IT HELPED ME TOOOOO ALAA IN WHICH SCHOOL ARE YOU IN MADAR INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL? .....................................

[@drized257]

This is a very interesting video!

[@johnhopkins6260]

It's been 40 years since high school; is the "wobble" of electrons in orbit affected/caused by the variations in electrical charge/attraction of the spinning nucleus (momentarily attracted to protons, momentarily not by neutrons)? Similarly, do the orbital "dips" of the electron perpetuate nucleus spin? Understanding that like charges repel, What keeps the protons & neutrons "glued" together in the nucleus? (gravity?) With Protons ("pro"=positive), Neutrons (=neutral) and electrons, were it not more apropos to refer to electrons as "Negtrons"? Or, as understood as "transporters" of so-called electricity, "electron" should prevail? (to "cover" the initial misunderstanding that electrons were positively charged... as Newton's apple was "positively charged); "current flow" vs. "electron flow".

[@RetroSoap391]

4:11 Breaking bad reference

[@ZanderOdom]

Imagine all these guys in the same room

[@abthedragon4921]

I remember watching this last year in science class

[@f.n30]

wow thats amazing super helpful and fun to learn ted ed channel you are amazing

[@keylinmartinez950]

so we can all agree that we’re here bc of homework purposes

[@farhat5120]

Had to watch it for my homework 📄 cool? Isn’t it?

[@gonzalomaldonado337]

great for my atomic theory project :D thanks TED-Ed

[@danaesimms8388]

Great video!

[@sushamabaiputhanvalappil843]

No mention of maharshi kanad who in 500 BC said the same thing as democritus and pakudha katayama who said particles exist in combined form which gives us various forms of matter, Indians too were there in scientific discoveries but got hidden due to the rise of western imperial powers in the 19th century while in the 19 th century our development was strangled by colonialism

[@LiranBarsisa]

About 4:05 , is this really the path that electrons go by ? in a star shape? If so, why does the sign of atoms have the shape of an ellipses (for the electrons) ?

[@LiranBarsisa]

+hammam hraisha well, why not put the shape of ellipses there too, then ?

[@konsentratgaming]

very useful to increase knowledge

[@quak1037]

chills literal chills

[@bri-kw4nn]

I have to watch this for my science class and i think i yawned abt 10 times and im only in the middle of the video lmao

[@jacobcarter9071]

I'm just sitting here in e-learning remembering 2014, the old days.

[@radezybtw]

thanks this helped alot!!!

[@Shreya-ju3yc]

Rectification --- It is Enrico Fermi who is referred to as the Father of the Nuclear Age, whereas Ernest Rutherford is known to be called as Father of Nuclear Physics.

[@OmriSama]

No mention for Schrodinger's atomic model? :(

[@mob8484]

OmriSama dry

[@sotypme4813]

Nor his cat.

[@bobbyandy482]

Maharishi Kanada invented atomic theory at least 2500 years before John Dalton, before 600 BC. He stated that the smallest indivisible form of matter is parmanu. He even explained the dimension, motions and even the chemical reaction of parmanu and its compound forms..

[@krishnan338]

Really Helpful!

[@marj9828]

Absolutely amazing

[@FRESHNITRO]

glazing

[@asheikh2753]

Who else’s teacher told them to watch this

[@Renegade7654]

1:05 and only the avatar could master all 4 elements

[@AaronMk91]

I'm kind of put down that the Mu'tazilites were overlooked in this presentation. Their idea of atomism, proposed by Dirar ibn 'Amr and Abu al-Hudhayl of the Basra school proposed the idea that every thing was made up of an enormous amount mathematical points. It was also postulated in response by the same school than atoms were less mathematical points but more the concept that a physical body can be divided up infinitely, if perhaps into its parts and the parts of its parts and so on.

[@dsab381]

But we can't divide things infinitely, so if that's what they said, then they're wrong.

[@carlostipdas3645]

very interesting video i learned a lot thank you :))))))))

[@abhishekkalarikkal8149]

Why haven't they mentioned about Maharshi Kannad?. He had proposed the same theory a very long time ago.

[@squadron29]

probabbly even before the greeks

[@aastha6268]

True . But they don't mention it 🙄. He is the real inventor of theory of atoms

[@kaylenmb]

So basically in this video we are learning about our own selves.

[@yourmom-zs9ui]

krazykaykat lol

[@kaylenmb]

Us trying to learn about atoms is just atoms learning about themselves.

[@saifsalwan480]

thank you the homework is done now

[@arwa2927]

So amazing♥️✨

[@princezuko9430]

democritus: atoms are balls aristotle: water. earth. fire. air long ago, the four nations lived together in harmony

[@infoshopshkodra4359]

Have been scrolling down all the comments' section to find something like this lmao....

[@UNKNOWN-ts1io]

Around 600 BCE before DEMOCRITUS Maharshi Kanad told us about anu (atom)

[@Infiniteemptiness]

I wish that you mentioned a little about 600bce sage Kanda atomic theory from India nonetheless nice video

[@nodia4633]

this video was so good

[@ParthDoshi97]

Awesome background music too. Narrator should have said nucleus instead if saying atom at 4:19.

[@idontexist506]

Parth Doshi he said electron

[@danielj8858]

If they move in nucleus, they surely move in atom too. Nucleus is in the atom. X that moves inside a part of a Y moves inside Y.

[@ana_hiita12]

It’s sad maharashi kanada isn’t mentioned here. Need more credits to india

[@Toasty-et6ve]

I had to watch this in class

[@agamer6785]

Thank for this video. It helps me to do the next thing

[@erictheaviator737]

Our teacher is making us watch this lol

[@depymak2]

"atomos" in greek does not mean invisible, but it means sth that cannot be broken to smaller parts.

[@B1SpkTKD]

The narrator said "Indivisible", not invisible.

[@sharkdavid]

He said "Indivisible" not "invisible"

[@nukedude2433]

He said "Indivisible" m8

[@youanditsmorethanlike]

0:29 Democritus 440 BCE He said everything in the world was made by particles surrounded by empty space, also he thought that they have different forms depending on the substance, He called that particles "atomos" 1:15 John Dalton 1808, he showed that the commons substances broke down into iqual elements. 1:56 J.J. Thompson 1897, he showed atoms as packed spheres of positive matter filled with negative charge ( Electrons) 2:26 Erenst Rutherford 1911Known as the father of the nuclear wanted tu envestigate atoms by shooting small positively charged particles at a sheet of gold, in hia experiment the results suggests thatthe sheet of gold was like a thick net with a lrge mesh, so he concluded that atoms consisted of empty space with a few electron whike the mass was concentarted in the center, and he called that the nucleus 3:28 Niels Bohr 1913, he stipulated that Electrons orbit the nucleus at a fixed energy and distance 4:11 Werner Heisenberg 1927, he say it was imposible to determine the position and speed of electrons as they mived around an atom

[@krishhstalkshow69]

Thank you so much. This helped me a lot for school work

[@tattvamashi]

0:01 One more , Rishi Kannada (600 BCE) also gave idea of Atomism.

[@tattvamashi]

he is known for developing the foundations of an atomistic approach to physics and philosophy in the Sanskrit text Vaiśeṣika Sūtra.[9][10] His text is also known as Kaṇāda Sutras, or "Aphorisms of Kaṇāda"

[@BR41NW4SH3D]

It’s the first day back and this was my hw 💀