![]() Each water molecule contains one atom of oxygen and two atoms of hydrogen. The result would be the production of a quantity of molecules of water. Part of a molecule of oxygen-one atom-would combine with part of two atoms of hydrogen-two atoms. But if heat, or some other adequate cause were made to act, chemical action would follow and the molecules, splitting up, would combine atom with atom. If a quantity of these two elements were mixed, the result would be a mechanical mixture of the molecules of the two. Its molecule contains three atoms, two atoms of hydrogen, and one atom of oxygen. ![]() Water is an example of a compound substance, or chemical compound. Elements combine to form compound substances of various numbers of atoms in the molecule. ![]() Each molecule of an element as a rule is composed of two atoms. A mass of an element is made up of a collection of molecules. The metals, iron, gold, silver and others, sulphur, and carbon are familiar example of elements. Chemistry teaches that the thousands of forms of matter upon the earth, almost infinite in variety, can be resolved into eighty substances, unalterable by chemical processes and possessing definite spectra. The modern atom is an entirely new conception. It corresponds pretty closely to the old Epicurean atom. The molecule is the smallest particle of matter which can exist without losing its distinctive properties. Atoms combine with each other to form molecules. It is the smallest particle of an element which can exist in a compound. This meaning is modified by recent work in the field of radioactivity, but the following will serve as a definition. Atom, as used in natural science, has a specific meaning based upon the theory of chemistry. There is a tendency to consider the molecule of modern science as identical with the atom of the old philosophers but the modern atomic theory has given the molecule a different status from that of the old-time atom. If a molecule of any substance were broken up, the substance would cease to exist and its constituent atoms would go to form or to enter into some other molecule or molecules. The atoms unite to form molecules and cannot exist except as constituents of molecules. Generally, probably always, a molecule consists of several atoms. It is composed of another division of matter called the atom. If this particle is broken up that particular form of matter will be destroyed. Modern science holds that matter is not infinitely divisible, that there is an ultimate particle of every substance. Leibniz upheld atomicity, and Boscovich went to the last extreme of the theory, and defined atoms as centres of force denying them the attribute of impenetrability. Among the moderns, Descartes and Spinoza adhered to continuity. The early atomists held that the atoms were not in contact, but that voids existed between them, claiming that otherwise motion would be impossible. This is the doctrine of atomacity, upheld by Epicurus, and enlarged on by Lucretius in his "De Rerum Natura". Democritus and others held that there were ultimate particles of matter which were indivisible, and these were called atoms. Infinite subdivision would not reach its limit of divisibility. According to it any substance, such as wood or water, can by no process of subdivision, however far it might be carried, be made to be anything but a mass of wood or water. Anaxagoras is given as the founder of this view of the constitution of things. This is the doctrine of continuity or homoeomery. One was that matter was infinitely divisible without losing its distinctive and individual properties. Two opposite doctrines of the constitution of matter were held by the ancient philosophers. Primarily, the smallest particle of matter which can exist the ultimate and smallest division of matter, in physics, sometimes the smallest particle to which a substance can theoretically be reduced in chemistry, the smallest particle of matter that can exist in combination with other atoms building up or constituting molecules. a privative, and temno, cut indivisible). Includes the Catholic Encyclopedia, Church Fathers, Summa, Bible and more all for only $19.99. Please help support the mission of New Advent and get the full contents of this website as an instant download.
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