Alchemy

From the Simple English Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia that anyone can change

Alchemy is a study of elements. It was first studied to learn how to change lead into gold. It is similar to chemistry, but much older. People who studied alchemy were called alchemists.

Alchemists in the Middle Ages often tried to make gold using things that were not gold. They also tried to make the elixir of life. Many times alchemists would use stories and legends to try and figure out how to make gold. The psychologist Carl Gustav Jung was interested in this as well.

Alchemy is not a science any more. Some things that the alchemists learned about were important for other sciences, like chemistry.

In 1980, an American scientist named Glenn Seaborg actually changed a very tiny amount of lead into gold with a nuclear reactor. But it cost much more to transform the energy to do this than the tiny amount of gold was worth.

Alchemy was an important science because it helped create many other sciences that came after it, for example, Chemistry, Physics, Biology, and astrology. Alcemists not only tried to create gold but they also looked for self purification and enlightenment. They wanted to find the truth of all things physical and mentally scientific methods of the brain and etc.