德谟克利特和留基伯声称,真空或虚空(void or empty space)将原子分散开来,使其能够自由运动。当原子运动时,它们可能会相互碰撞并形成新的排列方式,从而导致物质发生变化。两位思想家认为这些永恒的原子数量是无限的,但可以组合成不同结构的数量是有限的。[3]这解释了为什么不同物质存在固定的量。例如,在我们死后,构成身体的原子并不会腐烂消失,而是分散并重新组合。德谟克利特和留基伯提出了完整且机械论性质的宇宙观,并没有依赖于神或众神概念。他们还揭示了物质的基本属性,这对于物理科学的发展尤其重要,在17世纪至20世纪之间彻底改变了科学界对于原子理论。[4][5][6]
^The atomists, Leucippus and Democritus: fragments, a text and translation with a commentary by C.C.W. Taylor, University of Toronto Press Incorporated 1999, ISBN 0-8020-4390-9, pp. 157-158.
^Gangopadhyaya, Mrinalkanti. Indian Atomism: History and Sources. Atlantic Highlands, New Jersey: Humanities Press. 1981. ISBN 0-391-02177-X. OCLC 10916778.
^Thomas McEvilley, The Shape of Ancient Thought: Comparative Studies in Greek and Indian Philosophies ISBN 1-58115-203-5, Allwarth Press, 2002, p. 317-321.
Clericuzio, Antonio. Elements, Principles, and Corpuscles; a study of atomism and chemistry in the seventeenth century. Dordrecht; Boston: Kluwer Academic Publishers, 2000.
Marmara, Michael E. "Causation in Islamic Thought." Dictionary of the History of Ideas. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1973-74. online at the of Virginia Electronic Text Center(页面存档备份,存于互联网档案馆).
Redondi, Pietro. Galileo Heretic. Translated by Raymond Rosenthal. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1987. ISBN 0-691-02426-X
McEvilley, Thomas (2002). The Shape of Ancient Thought: Comparative Studies in Greek and Indian Philosophies. New York: Allworth Communications Inc. ISBN 1-58115-203-5.