What is an element?

Certainly, each of us in the most general sense is good at what an element is. An element is an integral part of something that can not be decomposed into smaller particles.

The origin of the term "element"

The word "element" comes from the Latinelementum, which in Russian is translated as "element." And here we do not mean the natural element, but the element as a philosophical category. The fact is that the ancient Greeks believed that the whole world around us basically consists of four elements-elements - water, fire, earth and air.

Where the word "element"

All complex objects and phenomena can be decomposed into their constituent elements. Of the individual elements can consist, for example, a complex ornament.

Each of us is an elementhuman society. And in this sense they often talk about a person as a useful or harmful element. Particularly often "elements" were called people during the times of Soviet power. But today we can face petty-bourgeois or kulak elements only in historical films and books.

In the modern world, we often talk aboutchemical elements. A chemical element is a set of atoms with a definite positive charge of the nucleus and the number of protons. The form of existence of chemical elements in nature are simple (single-element) substances. It is important that they do not decompose by chemical means into smaller particles.

Read also the article What is a chemical element.