Early thinking about materials

The first explanation of the atom
In Ancient Greece there were people who spent time thinking about the world they lived in. Democritus was one of these thinkers and he believed all matter was made up of very small particles called atoms. These ‘atoms’ could not be divided into smaller particles. This idea probably came from his teacher Leucippus of Melitus. The word 'atom' comes from the Greek word ‘atomos’, which means indivisible.
Aristotle and the elements
About the same time Aristotle, another great Greek thinker and scientist, said that all matter was made of a combination of four elements, which were earth, air, fire and water. Each of Aristotle's elements had two properties. The properties were shared with another element, for example Fire could be hot and dry, and dry was shared with Earth. Aristotle attacked the idea of Democritus and his four elements were accepted and believed for centuries in Europe
Zou Yan and the elements
In China around 250 BC Zou Yan, a Chinese thinker, believed that all material was made up of five elements – earth, fire, water, wood and metal. His ideas did not reach Europe where people there still followed the ideas of Aristotle.
Using the best material
For centuries people used materials and they knew what to use and where to use them. For example, they used rocks and bricks for building houses, wood for furniture, metal for swords, fabrics for clothing and leather for harnesses and saddles. They knew each material was the best one to use, but they did not know why it was so good. Some of the first tools were made out of thin pieces of very hard rock called flint.
Alchemy
One group of people believed the ideas of Aristotle and they used them to study and experiment with materials. These people were called alchemists and what they did was known as alchemy. One of the things alchemists tried to do was to make precious metals such as gold out of more common materials. At that time only seven metals were known and they were likened to seven heavenly bodies. The alchemist also used symbols to describe each metal. Quicksilver was the name of the metal we now know as mercury.
We know now that alchemy could not create gold out of sulphur and mercury, but the alchemists did examine and test just about every substance known at that time. They gave names to all the substances they studied.