The Chemistry Of Alchemy

Author : Cathy Cobb
Publisher : Prometheus Books
ISBN 13 : 1616149167
Total Pages : 374 pages
Book Rating : 4.61/5 ( download)

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Download or read book The Chemistry of Alchemy written by Cathy Cobb and published by Prometheus Books. This book was released on 2014-07-01 with total page 374 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A unique approach to the history of science using do-it-yourself experiments along with brief historical profiles to demonstrate how the ancient alchemists stumbled upon the science of chemistry. Be the alchemist! Explore the legend of alchemy with the science of chemistry. Enjoy over twenty hands-on demonstrations of alchemical reactions. In this exploration of the ancient art of alchemy, three veteran chemists show that the alchemists' quest involved real science and they recount fascinating stories of the sages who performed these strange experiments. Why waste more words on this weird deviation in the evolution of chemistry? As the authors show, the writings of medieval alchemists may seem like the ravings of brain-addled fools, but there is more to the story than that. Recent scholarship has shown that some seemingly nonsensical mysticism is, in fact, decipherable code, and Western European alchemists functioned from a firmer theoretical foundation than previously thought. They had a guiding principle, based on experience: separate and purify materials by fire and reconstitute them into products, including, of course, gold and the universal elixir, the Philosophers' stone. Their efforts were not in vain: by trial, by error, by design, and by persistence, the alchemists discovered acids, alkalis, alcohols, salts, and exquisite, powerful, and vibrant reactions--which can be reproduced using common products, minerals, metals, and salts. So gather your vats and stoke your fires! Get ready to make burning waters, peacocks' tails, Philosophers' stone, and, of course, gold!

Author : John Read
Publisher : London : G. Bell
ISBN 13 :
Total Pages : 248 pages
Book Rating : 4.39/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Through Alchemy to Chemistry written by John Read and published by London : G. Bell. This book was released on 1957 with total page 248 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Author : Arthur Greenberg
Publisher : John Wiley & Sons
ISBN 13 : 0471354082
Total Pages : 344 pages
Book Rating : 4.86/5 ( download)

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Download or read book A Chemical History Tour written by Arthur Greenberg and published by John Wiley & Sons. This book was released on 2000-03-07 with total page 344 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Von der Alchimie zur modernen Chemie, von der Kunst des Goldmachens zur Moleküldynamik und chemischen Großproduktion: Verfolgen Sie die Entwicklung einer geheimnisvollen Kunst zur Naturwissenschaft! Der Autor trug Dokumente und Illustrationen aus über 400 Jahren zusammen; die Abbildungen sind ganzseitig und von hervorragender Qualität. Lebendig, interessant, informativ! (05/00)

Author : Trevor H. Levere
Publisher : JHU Press
ISBN 13 : 0801873630
Total Pages : 344 pages
Book Rating : 4.38/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Transforming Matter written by Trevor H. Levere and published by JHU Press. This book was released on 2003-04-30 with total page 344 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Chemistry explores the way atoms interact, the constitution of the stars, and the human genome. Knowledge of chemistry makes it possible for us to manufacture dyes and antibiotics, metallic alloys, and other materials that contribute to the necessities and luxuries of human life. In Transforming Matter, noted historian Trevor H. Levere emphasizes that understanding the history of these developments helps us to appreciate the achievements of generations of chemists. Levere examines the dynamic rise of chemistry from the study of alchemy in the seventeenth century to the development of organic and inorganic chemistry in the age of government-funded research and corporate giants. In the past two centuries, he points out, the number of known elements has quadrupled. And because of synthesis, chemistry has increasingly become a science that creates much of what it studies. Throughout the book, Levere follows a number of recurring themes: theories about the elements, the need for classification, the status of chemical science, and the relationship between practice and theory. He illustrates these themes by concentrating on some of chemistry's most influential and innovative practitioners. Transforming Matter provides an accessible and clearly written introduction to the history of chemistry, telling the story of how the discipline has developed over the years.

Author : P. G. Maxwell-Stuart
Publisher : A&C Black
ISBN 13 : 144113297X
Total Pages : 226 pages
Book Rating : 4.70/5 ( download)

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Download or read book The Chemical Choir written by P. G. Maxwell-Stuart and published by A&C Black. This book was released on 2012-03-01 with total page 226 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: >

Author : Bruce T. MORAN
Publisher : Harvard University Press
ISBN 13 : 0674041224
Total Pages : 221 pages
Book Rating : 4.26/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Distilling Knowledge written by Bruce T. MORAN and published by Harvard University Press. This book was released on 2009-06-30 with total page 221 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Reacting to the perception that the break, early on in the scientific revolution, between alchemy and chemistry was clean and abrupt, Moran literately and engagingly recaps what was actually a slow process. Far from being the superstitious amalgam it is now considered, alchemy was genuine science before and during the scientific revolution. The distinctive alchemical procedure--distillation--became the fundamental method of analytical chemistry, and the alchemical goal of transmuting "base metals" into gold and silver led to the understanding of compounds and elements. What alchemy very gradually but finally lost in giving way to chemistry was its spiritual or religious aspect, the linkages it discerned between purely physical and psychological properties. Drawing saliently from the most influential alchemical and scientific texts of the medieval to modern epoch (especially the turbulent and eventful seventeenth century), Moran fashions a model short history of science volume

Author : Lars Öhrström
Publisher : OUP Oxford
ISBN 13 : 0191637068
Total Pages : 272 pages
Book Rating : 4.63/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Curious Tales from Chemistry written by Lars Öhrström and published by OUP Oxford. This book was released on 2013-11-28 with total page 272 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This is a book about discovery and disaster, exploitation and invention, warfare and science - and the relationship between human beings and the chemical elements that make up our planet. Lars Ohrstrom introduces us to a variety of elements from S to Pb through tales of ordinary and extraordinary people from around the globe. We meet African dictators controlling vital supplies of uranium; eighteenth-century explorers searching out sources of precious metals; industrial spies stealing the secrets of steel-making. We find out why the Hindenburg airship was tragically filled with hydrogen, not helium; why nail-varnish remover played a key part in World War I; and the real story behind the legend of tin buttons and the downfall of Napoleon. In each chapter, we find out about the distinctive properties of each element and the concepts and principles that have enabled scientists to put it to practical use. These are the fascinating (and sometimes terrifying) stories of chemistry in action.

Author : Lawrence Principe
Publisher : University of Chicago Press
ISBN 13 : 0226682951
Total Pages : 296 pages
Book Rating : 4.52/5 ( download)

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Download or read book The Secrets of Alchemy written by Lawrence Principe and published by University of Chicago Press. This book was released on 2013 with total page 296 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Alchemy, the Noble Art, conjures up scenes of mysterious, dimly lit laboratories populated with bearded old men stirring cauldrons. Though the history of alchemy is intricately linked to the history of chemistry, alchemy has nonetheless often been dismissed as the realm of myth and magic, or fraud and pseudoscience. And while its themes and ideas persist in some expected and unexpected places, from the Philosopher's (or Sorcerer's) Stone of Harry Potter to the self-help mantra of transformation, there has not been a serious, accessible, and up-to-date look at the complete history and influence of alchemy until now.

Author : William R. Newman
Publisher : University of Chicago Press
ISBN 13 : 0226577031
Total Pages : 235 pages
Book Rating : 4.36/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Atoms and Alchemy written by William R. Newman and published by University of Chicago Press. This book was released on 2010-05-05 with total page 235 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Since the Enlightenment, alchemy has been viewed as a sort of antiscience, disparaged by many historians as a form of lunacy that impeded the development of rational chemistry. But in Atoms and Alchemy, William R. Newman—a historian widely credited for reviving recent interest in alchemy—exposes the speciousness of these views and challenges widely held beliefs about the origins of the Scientific Revolution. Tracing the alchemical roots of Robert Boyle’s famous mechanical philosophy, Newman shows that alchemy contributed to the mechanization of nature, a movement that lay at the very heart of scientific discovery. Boyle and his predecessors—figures like the mysterious medieval Geber or the Lutheran professor Daniel Sennert—provided convincing experimental proof that matter is made up of enduring particles at the microlevel. At the same time, Newman argues that alchemists created the operational criterion of an “atomic” element as the last point of analysis, thereby contributing a key feature to the development of later chemistry. Atomsand Alchemy thus provokes a refreshing debate about the origins of modern science and will be welcomed—and deliberated—by all who are interested in the development of scientific theory and practice.

Author : John Read
Publisher : Courier Corporation
ISBN 13 : 0486170845
Total Pages : 256 pages
Book Rating : 4.48/5 ( download)

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Download or read book From Alchemy to Chemistry written by John Read and published by Courier Corporation. This book was released on 2013-01-23 with total page 256 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Broad, humanistic treatment focuses on great figures of chemistry and ideas that revolutionized the science. Much on alchemy, also development of modern chemistry, atomic theory, elements, organic chemistry, more. 50 illustrations.