Chemistry

How did
Chemistry
Become a
Science?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_chemistry
 Alchemy vs. Chemistry

The Alchemist Fertilizers (5-15-10)

The Alchemist’s Dream Areas of Chemistry
Zinc Pennies
Stereotypes of Chemists
Alchemy vs. Chemistry
Pure Science A Career in Chemistry
Applied Science Forensic Scientist
Aluminum Mining The Scope of Chemistry
Corning Glass
Starting Salaries
 The
Alchemist
Frankly, I’d be satisfied
if I could turn gold
into lead!
 Alchemy
• The ancient Greeks were thinkers. They
talked the talk but didn’t walk the walk.

• The ancient Egyptians, on the other hand,

were a practical people and invented a lot
of things. They made the first glass, and
dyes and medicines, for example.
 Alchemy
• The Greeks called this “chemia,” after the
Egyptian word “Chem,” which also meant
black.

• Chem was the Egyptians’ name for their own

country.

• Some people thought that chemia meant

“black magic,” since some of the processes the
Egyptians were using seemed like magic.
 Alchemy
• When the Arabs later conquered Egypt, they
added the prefix “al” which means “the.”
• So it became “al chemia”

• And later in English, it was called alchemy.

And that was appropriate because for a
while, alchemy was as much phoney-
baloney magic as it was real science.
 The Alchemist’s Dream

COPPER “SILVER” “GOLD”

Zinc coated Brass = Copper + Zinc

Penny into Gold - Alchemist Dream

 Zinc Pennies
Copper was used to make Before 1982, all pennies were
bullet shells in WW II. By solid copper (except 1943).
1943, the supply of copper
metal was in short supply. The
US government did not want
to ‘waste’ copper on making
pennies.

A shortage of copper drove the

price of copper up in the early
1980s. If melted down, the copper
could be sold for more than one
cent.

Pennies were made with steel After 1982, pennies were made
metal. They looked silver. from zinc. A thin coating of
copper was pressed on the zinc.
 Democrat vs. Republican
Different Alike Different

politicians right
left

Topic Topic

liberal Democrat Republican conservative

un ethical

support support
'little man' ? big business
 Alchemy vs. Chemistry
Different Alike Different

Topic Topic

Alchemy Chemistry
“I think you’ve crossed that thin line
between transmuting and cooking.”
 Paracelsus
Man consisted of three elements
SALT represented the body
SULFUR the soul
MERCURY the spirit

He thought he could rearrange the amounts of the

elements to change man.
He desired immortality
and searched for a
mystical elixir of life.
 The Beginnings
early practical chemistry:
household goods, weapons,
soap, wine, basic medicine

The Greeks believed there

were four elements.
  ~

___ ___

earth air fire water

 Timeline
Greeks
(Democratus ~450 BC)
Discontinuous Issac Newton
theory of matter (1642 - 1727)
ALCHEMY

400 BC 300 AD 1000 2000

Greeks
(Aristotle ~350 BC))
Continuous
theory of matter

American
Independence
(1776)
 Alchemy

In Europe,
alchemy was
the quest for the Philosopher’s Stone
(the elixir, the Sorcerer’s Stone).
Allegedly, this substance would turn
cheap metals into gold.
 transmutation
changing one substance into another

Philosopher’s Stone
COPPER  GOLD

In ordinary chemical reactions, we cannot

transmute elements into different elements.
 Early Ideas on Elements
Robert Boyle stated...
– A substance was an
element unless it could be
broken down to two or
more simpler substances.

– Air therefore could not be

an element because it
could be broken down in
to many pure substances.

Robert Boyle
Alchemy

• After that 'chemistry' was

ruled by alchemy.
• They believed that that
could take any cheap
metals and turn them into
gold.
• Alchemists were almost
like magicians.
– elixirs, physical immortality

Alchemy Symbols
 Alchemy
Alchemical symbols for
substances…
...
.......
.....
GOLD SILVER COPPER IRON SAND

transmutation: changing one substance into

another

In ordinary chemistry, we cannot transmute elements.

 Alchemy (~500 – 1300
A.D.)
the quest for the
Philosopher’s Stone

It was supposed to change cheap metals into gold.

Alchemical symbols for The Alchemist, by David Teniers

substances…
...
.......
.....
GOLD SILVER COPPER IRON SAND

transmutation: changing one substance into another

In ordinary chemistry, we cannot transmute elements.

Contributions of alchemists: lab apparatus / procedures
how to make some alloys
properties of some elements
Alchemy was practiced in many regions of the
world, including China and the Middle East.

Alchemy arrived in western Europe

around the year 500 C.E.
Modern chemistry evolved from alchemy.
 Contributions
of alchemists:

Information about elements

- the elements mercury, sulfur, and antimony were discovered
- properties of some elements

Develop lab apparatus / procedures / experimental techniques

- alchemists learned how to prepare acids.
- developed several alloys
- new glassware