Chemistry Reference
In-Depth Information
Many Arabian writings already include instructions for artificial gold production
with the help of the ferment of ferments, the elixir of elixirs. The correct mixture of
the four elements is essential, the “spirit” (mercury vapor) has to enter the “body”
(lead or copper). The mysterious elixir can only be created with the right combina-
tion of the four elements, the body (metal) and the spirit (mercury), the masculine
and the feminine. It assimilates the bodies and colors them (therefore it is called
“tincture”) by turning them into an up to thousand fold amount of gold. Even the
scientist Albertus Magnus believed that artificial gold can be produced, but he did
not find an alchemist who succeeded in transforming any substance into gold [
3
].
Alchemy did not lack in practical and apparent proves up to the eighteenth
century. Coins were shown that were supposed to be of alchemical gold or nails that
consisted of iron in one half and gold made from iron in the other half. Even court
decisions were handed down that benefited alchemical operations: clever swindlers
made sure that the belief in the possibility of metal transformation was revived
again and again through their successful transmutations [
1
].
In 1923 the scientific world was excited once again, “when a professor from
Berlin conveyed that he had turned mercury into gold by treating it with electric
current. The correctness of this discovery was not only confirmed by several sides,
but different scientists (even from Japan) also reported that they found the same
earlier. Through a thorough experimental retesting 2 years later, it came to light that
the small traces of gold originated from the electrodes. The gold dream that cast a
spell over so many bright minds for more than a 1,000 years is finally over” [
3
].
The Phlogiston Theory
. People have always observed the disappearance of fuel
during a combustion process, for example through burning of coal, alcohol, or
sulfur. The German Georg Ernst Stahl published his interpretation of these
observations in 1697 and introduced the term “Phlogiston” (Greek: phlox, the
flame): “He started with the combustion of sulfur and believed that sulfurous
acid, which was produced following the combustion process, was in fact sulfur
robbed of its combustible character, i.e., robbed of Phlogiston” [
4
].
Stahl assumed that every combustible and lime forming substance contained
phlogiston, therefore combustion was a process during which phlogiston left the
body. Air was required to absorb the phlogiston, from the air it could get into leaves
and wood and could be given back by burning wood. Also by heating metal lime
(today: metal oxide) on a piece of charcoal Stahl observed the reduction to metals.
Subsequently, reactions of metals in air and reductions of metal lime to metals were
recognized as mutually dependent processes [
1
]. The supporters of the Phlogiston
theory formulated similar equations:
metal
!
metal lime
þ
Phlogiston
metal lime
þ
coal(Phlogiston)
!
metal
Stahl had to consider the pure metal as a compound of metal and phlogiston, and
metal lime as an element which will not decompose. Furthermore experiments
