ALCHEMY

1. ALCHEMY Sara A. Torres Sara A. Torres Period 3 1/29/2013 1/29/2013

2. What is Alchemy ? • Alchemy is a power or process of transforming something common into something special with no obvious rational explanation.

3. Ancient Alchemy (2000 BCE) • The word alchemy is derived from the Greek for “The Egyptian Art”. • The first records of alchemy were experimented with the Egyptians and Babylonians, who applied their skills without considering the theory of the processes involved. • Even though they applied many new ideas, such as the refinement of metal ores and the applications of dyes, little science had been done. • Egyptian alchemists once attempted to make gold by painting the surface of lead with egg yolk, so that it appeared yellow.

4. Classical Alchemy 600BC-500AD The Greeks philosophers began to wonder about the rules that governed the world around them. In attempt they developed mathematical, geometric, and scientific concepts. These concepts would lay the foundation for later alchemists. 

5. Medieval Alchemy(500-1350 AD) • Alchemy in the Middle Ages was a mixture of science, philosophy, and mysticism. • Medieval alchemists believed that purity of mind, body and spirit was necessary to pursue the alchemical profession. • The idea that all matter was composed by the four elements: earth, air, water, and fire, gave rise to the theory that the right combination of elementscould form any substance on earth.

6. Medieval Alchemists • The Catholic church considered medieval alchemists to be suspicious and were condemned by the church; however, they made discoveries that would help improve chemistry as a scientific discipline. • They were able to produce hydrochloric acid, nitric acid, potash and sodium carbonate. • They were able to identify the elements: arsenic, antimony, and bismuth. • Medieval alchemists were able to invent and develop laboratory devices and procedures that are still used today (in modified form) through their experiments.

7. Alchemy Recipes The following medieval recipe is a translation from the book, The Book of Quintessenceor The Fifth Being. “Instilling the Virtues of Gold into Burning Water” “Take the calx of fine gold and put it in a silver spoon. Anneal it at the fire and then put the gold calx in the burning water or in wine one time as I taught you before with the florin. Your liquor should be 100 times better gilded than with the florin because fire works more strongly and better on small particles than it does on a whole plate. Also, burning water or wine draws out the properties of gold 1,000 times better from small annealed particles than it does from a thick plate. Understand that wine doesn't hold only the properties of gold but all meltable substances if they are quenched therein. This is an important secret because if you quench Saturn (lead) liquified in wine or in common water seven times and afterwards quench Mars (iron) many times in that wine or water then Mars shall take on the softness of Saturn and the same will happen to Venus (copper) and all other meltable substances. If you quench Mars in white wine or in common water many times and afterward add liquified Saturn, then without doubt you will find that the Saturn is made quite hard(19). Therefore, the properties of all meltable substances may be transferred to wine or water but much more effectively into good, precious burning water.”

8. The Philosopher Stone Fun Fact: Queen Elizabeth I of England and the Holy Roman Emperor Rudolph II, both participated as patrons for a project to discover the Elixir of Life. The Elixir of Life (sometimes associated with the philosopher stone) is a hypothetical substance believed to maintain immortality. The philosopher stone, also know as the “red stone”, was a desirable object to any alchemist. It is said that it was able to create an elixir of immortality and transmute common substances into valuable material, such as gold. Over the three hundred years of searching for the philosopher stone, the only place alchemists came near to finding it were in the pages of books.

9. Most Notable Alchemists

10. Modern Alchemy Fun Fact: Although, it is out of line to transmute lead into gold, it is possible to obtain gold from lead ores. The minerals galena (lead sulfide, PbS), cerussite (lead carbonate, PbCO3), and anglesite (lead sulfate, PbSO4) often contain zinc, gold, silver, and other metals. Certain chemical techniques are sufficient to separate the gold from the lead (almost alchemy). The “new-age” theories have led to research of alchemy once again; although, the search for the philosopher stone and the elixir of life have been abandoned completely. In life today alchemy is not fully considered a science, yet more like an art or philosophy. As 19th-century English spiritual alchemist Mary Anne Atwood claims ,“Alchemy is an universal art of vital chemistry which by fermenting the human spirit purifies and finally dissolves it. . . . Alchemy is philosophy; it is the philosophy, the finding of the Sophia in the mind.”

11. Bibliography http://historymedren.about.com/od/alchemy/p/alchemy.htm http://repository.upenn.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1011&context=ljsproceedings http://www.chm.bris.ac.uk/webprojects2002/tubb/history.htm http://kristo.com/alchemy.html http://wolf.mind.net/library/western/alchemy/quin_trans/quin_translation.txt http://www.crystalinks.com/alchemy.html http://chemistry.about.com/cs/generalchemistry/a/aa050601a.htm