Student Topic Guide, Topic 5 – Early Ideas About Matter

CLAR 102 - Inquiry in the Natural World

Spring 2005

Topic Objectives

1. Appreciate the kinds of knowledge about matter and its transformations that people have had for thousands of years.

2. Understand ancient Greek ideas of matter, elements, and atoms.

3. Know how the methods used by alchemists were similar to, and how they differed from, the methods used by scientists of today.

4. Know how alchemists began to subdivide the Greek element “Earth.”

5. Understand the meanings of the terms “atom,” “element,” “molecule,” and “chemical reaction” in the modern concept of matter.

Reading Assignment for 23 Feb. 2005:

Textbook, Chapter 11