So I have to do a project for chemistry relating Alchemy to Chemistry. I need to know if there are any reactions that take place. and what sorts of reactions take place and such. I already know that Alchemy was the foundation for chemistry, and that the tools the alchemists used chemists use the same (or modified). But if you can, one of the main things I'm looking for is the process and the reactions that took place of the lead to gold.
I have already search but i can't find much about the topic.
All websites and further knowledge of the subject would be greatly appreciated
Thanks in advance! :D
P.S. please don't give me wikia as a source.
yevaul2009-04-01T19:57:24Z
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Alchemy is quite different from modern chemistry. I say "is" because alchemy is still practiced, and it is unfortunately grossly misunderstood. As one modern alchemist explains, "From a material point of view, Alchemy is neither chemistry nor hyperchemistry but a biodynamic process more closely related to fermentation or putrefaction than to classical chemical reactions."
It would be too much to go into here all the different processes utilized in the alchemical lab. I will give you some places to look, though.
As far as what takes place in the lead turning into gold: for one thing, transmutation is real, and takes place via a kind of radioactive decay of the elements. So whoever dismisses alchemy, and bases their opinion solely on the fact that turning lead into gold is pure fantasy, is rather ignorant of science. The problem is that as far as modern science is concerned, manipulating this transmutation cannot be done by chemical means, but only within a particle accelerator. HOWEVER (and this is a big however), it is *theoretically* possible to perform via chemistry by virtue of what has been dubbed, intermediate vector bosons. This is not easy to explain, but I do have a pdf file on this discussing it in the context of alchemy.
Now, what took place in the alchemical lab for the actual transmutation to occur was called "projection" and was actually quite simple, if you had the right ingredient that is. The "right ingredient" being none other than the philosopher's stone, which has been described as being a kind of powder (some modern enthusiasts claim that this is the newly discovered "white powder gold" or monoatomic gold, but I don't fall into this camp). Now the powder was simply sprinkled over the lead or other base metal while it heated in a furnace at a certain degree, and the Stone was said to penetrate into the metal and transform it into gold.
Now, I also have a pdf file analyzing the "activity pattern" of eight transmutations reported between the 17th and 19th centuries. While the data is very slim, there is enough there to conclude, from the author's point of view, that "This activity pattern is similar to that generally shown by conventional catalysts. Some independent evidence has been found in the alchemical literature in support of this pattern. This behaviour is in agreement with the attribution by alchemical authors to the PS [philosophers stone] of the ability to accelerate the natural ‘‘ripening’’ of base metals that convert them into noble ones."
If you would like the 2 pdf files I mentioned, I can email them to you using the address on your profile page.
I saw a PBS special about Issac Newton and alchemy. It was very interesting. Turns out that some of the mythological stories of old were actually the first alchemy reactions, and some worked, but can be explained by chemistry. Try looking there.