The Greeks believed that fire was a state of matter. How did atomists describe fire? Fire is the result of combustion; it consists primarily of CO2, water vapor, O, and N. What was Aristotle's theory of matter?

Who were the atomists and what did they believe about matter?

Atomists believed that everything was made up of a combination of atoms and the void, which was empty space. Beginning in the 5th century BC, Greek atomists, such as Democritus and Epicurus, hypothesized that matter was composed of tiny, uncuttable bits called “atoms” packed into a space called a “void”.

What are the five main ideas of Dalton's theory?

Terms in this set (5)

Compounds are composed of atoms of more than 1 element. The relative number of atoms of each element in a given compound is always the same. Chemical reactions only involve the rearrangement of atoms. Atoms are not created or destroyed during chemical reactions.