What are the 5 elements?

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The 5 elements usually means the classical or traditional elements of ancient philosophy, not the 118 chemical elements of the periodic table. In ancient Greek thought they are earth, water, fire, air and aether (the fifth element, or quintessence). In Chinese philosophy the five elements, or Wu Xing, are wood, fire, earth, metal and water. In Hindu tradition the five great elements (pancha mahabhuta) are earth, water, fire, air and space, and some Buddhist schools use a similar list. These systems describe qualities and change in nature, and none of them are chemical elements: water is a compound of hydrogen and oxygen, air is a mixture of gases such as nitrogen and oxygen, and fire is a process (combustion) rather than a substance. Modern chemistry replaced them in the late 1700s, when Antoine Lavoisier and others defined an element as a substance that cannot be broken down chemically. By contrast, the five most abundant elements in the Earth's crust are oxygen, silicon, aluminium, iron and calcium. These classical systems shaped philosophy, medicine, art and daily life for thousands of years. In Greek thought, Empedocles proposed four roots (earth, air, fire and water), and Aristotle added aether as a fifth element that made up the heavens. In China, Wu Xing describes cycles of generation and overcoming among the five phases, and it appears in feng shui, martial arts and traditional Chinese medicine. In India, the five elements are linked to the senses in Ayurveda and yoga. Because they describe qualities, they are sometimes called the five classical elements, the five phases or the five great elements, depending on the tradition. The chemical elements are different: there are 118 of them, each defined by its atomic number, and none of them is earth, water, fire or air. The five-element idea still shapes culture, traditional medicine and feng shui, but it is symbolic and is not part of modern science.