MAQ Magazine n. 14 / September 2019
ultimately Transformation in the content areas of STEM.
The Platonic elements had a natural tendency to separate in space; fire moved outwards, away from the earth, and earth moved inwards, with air and water being intermediate. Thus, each of these five elements occupied a unique place in the heavens (earth elements were heavy and, therefore, low; fire elements were light and located up high). Thus, Plato's system also became one of the first cosmological models and resembled the diagram above.
Like any good scientific model, this one offers explanations and various predictions. For example, hot air rises to reach the sphere of Fire, so heated balloons go up. Note that this model also predicts some incorrect things, such as all the planets revolve around the Earth, called the geocentric theory. The geocentric cosmology becomes the first of many anthropocentric universes, ones where humankind's special nature in the animal world leads to the idea that the Universe is designed for us, or by us.