What is alchemy?
Q: What is alchemy?
A: Alchemy is the very old study and philosophy of how to change basic substances (such as metals) into other substances. It also studied how substances (and how they are changed into other substances) were related to magic and astrology.
Q: Who studied alchemy?
A: People who studied alchemy were called alchemists.
Q: What did alchemists try to do?
A: Alchemists tried to change lead or mercury into gold, make the philosopher's stone, and make the "elixir of life," which they thought could cure any disease and make someone young again.
Q: How did alchemists view different topics?
A: Alchemists believed that substances, mind, philosophies, religion, magic and astrology were related to each other. They tried to find connections between them in order to understand one by understanding the other.
Q: How was chemistry developed from alchemy?
A: In the 1600s and 1700s, people started to study only the properties of substances without trying to relate them to secret, old knowledge. They did experiments and wrote down what they discovered so other people could learn from them. One of the important people who did these experiments was Robert Boyle. People called this new study of substances chemistry.
Q: How can elements be changed into another element?
A: Scientists have since discovered how to change one kind of element (the simplest kind of chemical substance) into another using a nuclear reactor.
Q: Is it expensive or difficult for scientists today to create gold from bismuth? A: Yes, making gold this way is much more difficult and expensive than mining or recycling it.
