What is alchemy?

Answer 1

Alchemy is a science/belief/philosophy from the Middle Ages that any metal can be turned into gold, illnesses cured and immortality achieved. And yes, there really was a guy named Nicolas Flamel who studied it.

Answer 2

Based on the Fullmetal Alchemist, a VERY basic description of alchemy is taking something, converting it from its original form and making something different.

So there are three steps: first is the analysis of the item (understanding it's properties and make-up). That's why Ed and Al do so much studying.

Next, the item is broken down to its most basic form, its rudimentary properties.

And the last step is when those rudimentary properties are rebuilt.

To make all of this happen energy needs to be drawn from the Gate, which is the source of alchemy power. Transmutation circles are used to draw the energy from the Gate. If a person looks into the Gate, then have the ability to perform alchemy without a transmutation circle, like Edward Elric.

Lastly, an important part of alchemy is the theory of equivalent exchange. "To obtain, something of equal value must be lost". An example of this is when Ed and Al tried to do a human transmutation with their mother. They suffered the consequences.....Ed lost an arm and a leg and Al lost his body.

Answer 3

Alchemy was the predecessor to chemistry. But it was not based on science. One of the main goals of alchemy was to transform base metals, like lead or tin, into precious metals, like gold. We now know that this is impossible through chemical or alchemical means. We are able to transmute elements by nuclear fission or fusion (using atom smashers) , but the electrical energy used to do this is far more expensive than the gold or whatever other element that is made.

Alchemists also thought they could make a universal solvent—something that would eat through anything. (What would you KEEP it in…?) There have been interesting horror tales about a man who makes such a universal solvent, only to have it eat through the container, drip onto the floor, eat through the floor, through the foundation, and he realizes that it will eventually dissolve the whole world.

Alchemists also believed there was something called the “philosopher’s stone”, which had the power to raise the dead or prolong life, oslt. In the original novel Frankenstein, Victor used the principles of alchemy and electricity, not modern medicine, to bring his patchwork man to life, so that sort of relates to the philosopher’s stone.

From what I understand, alchemy was just a bit removed from witchcraft, and its practitioners were probably punished in the same ways.

There is an anime these days, called Full Metal Alchemist about several brothers who try to restore their deceased brother to life by alchemical means. They do something wrong, and his soul is trapped in a suit of metal armor (hence the “Full Metal”, which may also hark back to the movie “Full Metal Jacket”.) Their adventures concern their efforts to restore their brother to a human body.

Just remember, if anybody offers to teach you alchemy these days, don’t bother. It doesn’t work.

12 JAN 07, 0028 hrs, GMT.

Answer 4

Alchemy

Humankind cannot gain anything, without first giving something in exchange. To obtain, something of equal value must be lost. That is alchemy's first law of equivalent exchange.

The basic principal of alchemy is the breaking down of one thing and using it to do something else.

To learn more about alchemy, watch 'Fullmetal Alchemist'.

Answer 5

We should start by defining the Alchemy that we are agreeing to talk about. We agree that we're not going to talk here about the alchemy in "Full Metal Alchemist." Let's agree to talk here about REAL Alchemy, that is to say, the real laboratory discipline that has continued for thousands of years.

To fully describe what Alchemy is about would take hundreds and hundreds of pages. I've added a list of some good introductions to the subject of Alchemy below.

The simplest description of Alchemy is that it has to do with transformation -- the transforming of one thing into another. In a broad sense, this transformation implies a "purification" of the thing transformed. In that sense, the transformation to a purer and higher state is called an "evolution." Within the Alchemical discipline, it is accepted that Alchemical transformation is from a lower level to a higher one -- from a gross level to a finer, more subtle one.

Generally, when we talk about Alchemical transformation, we're referring to the transformation of one form of matter into another. The best illustration of this is starting with an herb in an alchemical glass retort. Through various alchemical processes, this herb is transformed into something higher, like a tincture or an elixir. The tincture is the herb transformed to a purer state.

In this sense, then, it is indeed possible to transform matter from one state to another. This transformation happens all around us, all of the time. Nature is in a constant state of transformation. Water evaporates from your boiling tea kettle and becomes a gas. The gas makes contact with the inside of a cold window and droplets form and run down onto the windowsill. Water evaporates from a lake and becomes clouds. The clouds condense with colder temperatures and rain falls back into the lake.

Rainwater is absorbed into the soil and taken into a plant through its roots. Leaves are formed and as the season progresses the leaves turn brown and fall to the ground. The leaves disintegrate and form new soil. These kinds of transformations are happening all the time, but on a very slow timescale. The mountain you see was once a molten metal.

The goal of Alchemy is to speed up these natural transformations, by using time-tested processes or operations. These processes come down to us through the Alchemical tradition. This tradition began in the oldest depths of history. East Indian Alchemists were practicing sophisticated laboratory Alchemy 3,000 years ago. (The oldest distillation condensers have been found in the Indus Valley.) The ancient Chinese had a sophisticated Alchemical discipline, as did the ancient Egyptians.

There are many Alchemical operations and the operations used and the order in which they are performed depend on the particular experiment the Alchemist is doing.

These kinds of transformations occur within three different kingdoms -- the Vegetable, Animal and Mineral. The descriptions of possible transformations vary with each kingdom, but have similar forms.

Transformations in the Vegetable or Herbal Kingdom might consist of making a medicinal tincture as a remedy for an affliction. In the Animal Kingdom, you might choose to make a medicinal oil from a chicken egg. In the Mineral Kingdom, you might choose to refine a metal from an ore. The operations used in the different kingdoms are similar, yet the degree of care and effort vary. It's much harder to refine an ore than it is to make a medicinal tea, but in a very broad sense, the operation to do them both is similar. They only differ in their degree of effort.

In addition to the practical laboratory work of Alchemy, the spiritual development of the Alchemist is a crucial aspect of the work. As the matter is being transformed, the Alchemist's spiritual state has to be made pure as well. In other words, for an Alchemical operation to be successful, the attitude of the Alchemist must also be proper.

This notion has led to the description of Alchemy as a process of Spiritual Transformation. But this Spiritual development can not be separated from the practical laboratory work. The two must go hand in hand.

Let us now address the issue of transforming base metal into gold. This imagry is immediately pounced upon by the modern-day Chemist to debunk and discredit the assertions of the Alchemist. The naive modern Chemist says that it is not possible at all. One with a bit more sophistication will admit that you CAN do it, but that the expenditure of energy involved makes it impractical and prohibitive. Immediately, we see the two modern Chemists contradicting themselves. One says it can't be done. One says that it can be. What is the difference between the two? One has been TAUGHT that it can't be done, and so he believes it. The other has been exposed to more advanced ideas that prove the dogmatic denial of the first to be false.

Why is it that modern Chemists should be so hostile to the modern Alchemist? Perhaps it is because they feel threatened. Modern Science aspires to authoritatively answer all of the questions. More sophisticated Natural Philosophers recognize the fact that all of the questions can NOT be answered. In the end, there are always unanswered questions, and it is there that the Alchemist finds himself on the superior ground.

Alchemy is not Chemistry, so the rules of Chemistry don't apply to it. Alchemy is not a science, nor does it claim to be. Alchemy is an art. In fact, it has been called the Royal Art. I referred above to the "discipline" of Alchemy. It is indeed a severe discipline, and shares many things with Chemistry (like the necessity for robust record-keeping), but Alchemy accepts the reality that there are unknown variables that can positively or adversely affect an operation.

This is the primary difference between Chemistry and Alchemy. Chemistry must always behave the same way, with everyone. Alchemy need not.

Answer 6

Alchemy is a study of turning base metals int o something precious.

Answer 7

Alchemy is a scam used in the middle ages where the perpetrator is alleged to have the ability to turn items such as coal into gold.

Answer 8

In the history of science, alchemy refers to both an early form of the investigation of nature and an early philosophical and spiritual discipline, both combining elements of chemistry, metallurgy, physics, medicine, astrology, semiotics, mysticism, spiritualism, and art. Alchemy has been practiced in Mesopotamia, Ancient Egypt, Persia, India, and China, in Classical Greece and Rome, in Muslim civilization, and then in Europe up to the 19th century—in a complex network of schools and philosophical systems spanning at least 2500 years.

Western alchemy has always been closely connected with Hermeticism, a philosophical and spiritual system that traces its roots to Hermes Trismegistus, a syncretic Egyptian-Greek deity and legendary alchemist. These two disciplines influenced the birth of Rosicrucianism, an important esoteric movement of the seventeenth century. In the course of the early modern period, mainstream alchemy evolved into modern chemistry.

Today, alchemy refers to a basic three step process: Analysis, [understanding the structure and properties of the thing that is about to be transmutated], Deconstruction/Decomposion [breaking down the substance into it rudimentery properties], and Reconstruction/Recomposion [rebuilding it in a different form, or with different properties]. The discipline is of interest mainly to historians of science and philosophy, and for its mystic, esoteric, and artistic aspects. Nevertheless, alchemy was one of the main precursors of modern sciences, and many substances and processes of ancient alchemy continue to be the mainstay of modern chemical and metallurgical industries.

Although alchemy takes on many forms, in pop culture it is most often cited in stories, films, shows, and games as the process used to change lead (or other elements) into gold.

Answer 9

al·che·my (ăl'kə-mē)
n.
A medieval chemical philosophy having as its asserted aims the transmutation of base metals into gold, the discovery of the panacea, and the preparation of the elixir of longevity.

A seemingly magical power or process of transmuting: “He wondered by what alchemy it was changed, so that what sickened him one hour, maddened him with hunger the next” (Marjorie K. Rawlings).

[Middle English alkamie, from Old French alquemie, from Medieval Latin alchymia, from Arabic al-kÄ«miyā’ : al-, the + kÄ«miyā’, chemistry (from Late Greek khēmeia, khumeia, perhaps from Greek Khēmia, Egypt).]

Answer 10

al·che·my
Pronunciation[al-kuh-mee] –noun, plural -mies for 2.
1. a form of chemistry and speculative philosophy practiced in the Middle Ages and the Renaissance and concerned principally with discovering methods for transmuting baser metals into gold and with finding a universal solvent and an elixir of life.
2. any magical power or process of transmuting a common substance, usually of little value, into a substance of great value.