Atom And Qi

Atom & Qi

The atom is the smallest portion of a substance that is not perceivable by human senses. The notion of atoms was conceived by ancient Greeks and was developed over thousands of years of scientific inquiry. The concept of qi as the most basic substance of which the world (everything) is comprised, was understood by the ancient Chinese. Both ¡¥atom¡¦ and ¡¥qi¡¦ are believed to exist by human beings and both are considered to be unseen objects (until we could see atoms recently). However, they lead to different interpretations of natural phenomena: the concept of the atom was developed in relation to ¡¥materiality¡¦, whereas qi is relavant to ¡¥spirituality¡¦. The historical progression towards a belief in atoms promoted the deduction of atoms throughout centuries. Nowadays, the atom is universally believed by people to exist as the result of scientific evidence. In contrast, ¡¥qi¡¦ is not believed to be a scientific phenomena and is considered a religious or superstitious belief. As a result, in order to demonstrate the existence of ¡¥qi¡¦ and make it conceivable by modern physicists, the use of the scientific method becomes the qi researchers¡¦ best tool. In addition, while qi and the atom were both conceived by ancient philosophers, the notion of the atom was better developed by scientists than the idea of qi. Therefore, by looking back at the historical progression towards a belief in atoms and the deduction of their structure, we know how scientists built up the atomic theory. Consequently, the concept of historical progression will help us understand why the notion of qi is hard to define by physicists, and how it could be developed into a scientific theory.

HISTORICAL PROGRESSION TOWARDS A BELIEF IN ATOMS

The concept of the atom originated in Greek philosophy around six hundred B.C. with the question: ¡§What is the world made of ?¡¨ (Sachs, 9). Thales first suggested that ¡§water [is] the basic building block of the world¡¨, and air, sand, and stone could be different forms of one fundamental substance (web page). Yet, Anoimenes believed ¡§mist or air was the cornerstone of matter¡¨ (Clagett, 49). These ancient thinkers made simple and direct assertions about matter. Later, the idea of the atom was conceived and developed by Leucippus and Democritus in the fifth century B.C. and concluded that there must be ¡§parts which are partless¡¨ such as sand, stone, water, or even a ¡¥void¡¦ which have the continuous and coherent appearance of a pure object though are not ¡¥true¡¦ structures (Young, 18).