Why is electricity not part of the classical alchemical elements? (Earth, Fire, Wind, Water)
It's a common elemental theme we see across stories, fantasies, etc. It seems like it is an element that should be part of that pantheon but maybe there is a scientific explanation of why it isn't? Or is it simply, they did not have enough understanding of it at the time those 4 were suggested.
You're viewing a single thread.
Mostly because the only real exposure to electricity the people who came up with the "classical" elements had was lightning. I'm sure they experienced static electricity from time to time, but they probably didn't associate it with lightning.
From their perspective, lightning is a very brief moment of extreme light, then maybe a fire if they can actually see the impact site. So it seems a lot more closely related to fire than we would suppose.
maybe there is a scientific explanation of why it isn’t
Nothing about the "classical elements" is rooted in what we would understand as science today. It was just people making guesses about how the world around them worked without the rigor of the scientific process. It was little more than wild speculation.
Exactly. I think the elements fire, air, water etc are from the presocratics and they did not have any concept of electricity yet.
Well, static electricity has been well known and well documented since ancient times... that is about the same time as people started talking about fundamental elements.
I guess they just didn't consider it important enough.
(And yeah, they didn't know lightning is the same thing.)