AlchemyAlchemy

Kachung HuiDept of Chemistry

Rm 246, S.C. (North)kachunghui@cuhk.edu.hk

鍊金術 : 欺骗或奉獻

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Perfection is GoldPerfection is Gold

• The first goal is to transmute lesser base metals to gold.

• The second goal is the prolongation of life, & even immorality with the "elixir of life"... the most potent elixir would be the "drinkable gold".

Alchemy aims at the great human goods: wealth, longevity and immortality

Alchemy aims at the great human goods: wealth, longevity and immortality

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The Philosopher’s StoneThe Philosopher’s Stone• Also known as “Sorcerer's

Stone": a wish-fulfilling jewel that could transform into anything and everything.

• Could be symbolic of the ultimate expression of triumph over appearances.

• To the modern chemist, it’s most likely alcohol (solvent for some organic matter), or a mixture of sulfur & mercury (solvent for metals and their compounds).

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Internal Elixir (內丹 )Internal Elixir (內丹 )• Man has only a limited store of vital-force

(ch‘i, 氣 ), which constantly leaks away through day-to-day activities.

• When it's all gone, the person's dead.

• Through meditation, the ch'i is guided to go back inside, and then up the spine to the crown.

• Reaching the top of the head, the ch‘i then descends down the front of the body, down to the navel, and then around again, forming a so-called microcosmic orbit (小周天 ).

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External Elixir (外丹 )External Elixir (外丹 )• This school sought to gather or

produce a substance or drug which would confer immortality - thus the ‘pill of immortality’ (仙丹 ).

• Lower Dan Tien (abdomen): lust & intestinal distress.• Middle Dan Tien (heart): anxiety as well as heart and lung

diseases.• Upper Dan Tien (forehead), or the Third Eye: psychic

distress and attachment to worldly things.

Check this out: http://www.ancientway.com/Pages/ThreeWorms.html

• The 3 worms ruining the 3 Dan Tiens (丹田 ), & must be exterminated by herbs, exercises and diet of veggies & mushrooms.

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MacrobioticsMacrobiotics

• “Synthesis” of elixirs from botanical, zoological, and mineralogical sources, based on chemical knowledge.

• The Daoists’ Difference: liberal uses of mineral drugs, compounding all kinds of dangerous elixirs containing metallic and other elements (mercury, arsenic, lead, etc., as well as gold).

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Western AlchemistsWestern Alchemists• All matters are made of these 4 elements.

• 7 documented “experimental techniques”: calcination, sublimation, dissolution, mortification, distillation, coagulation and tincturing.

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Metaphorical InterpretationMetaphorical Interpretation• Calcination - heating to drive off all watery

emotions and false power are burned up.

• Dissolution - a swollen ego is dissolved by its own excesses.

• Sublimation - rising above our conditions and see them with no investment.

• Mortification - the experience of defeat or failure.

• Distillation - opposing thoughts separate off from each other, so the truth can be seen on each side.

• Tincturing - The ego and the soul marry. A state of wholeness.

• Coagulation - The soul is made into something solid to operate in this world.

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Aurifiction: Cheater’s GoldAurifiction: Cheater’s Gold• Conscious imitation of gold (silver or

other precious substances such as gems and pearls), often with specific intent to cheat using– Alloying– Surface-enrichment of such mixtures– Amalgamation– Plating by exposure of the metal to the

vapors of sulfur, mercury and arsenic, or volatile compounds containing these elements.

• The cheater knows his product would not pass Archimedes’ test (in the old days) or the modern test of cupellation.

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Lucky LadLucky Lad

Common Metal

Density (g/cm3)

M. P. (oC)

Iridium (Ir) 22.65 >2200Platinum (Pt) 21.45 1600

Gold (Au) 19.28 960

Mercury (Hg) 13.55 –39

Lead (Pb) 11.34 300

Silver (Ag) 10.50 865

Copper (Cu) 8.93 975

Iron (Fe) 7.88 1385

Antimony (Sb) 7.30 210

Tin (Sn) 5.75 232

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Aurifaction: Fool’s GoldAurifaction: Fool’s Gold

• The belief that it is possible to make gold (or 'a' gold, or an artificial 'gold') indistinguishable from, and as good as (if not better than), natural gold, from other quite different substances, notably the base metals.

• They would be contented if any one property of the yellow metal matched those of natural gold, e.g. heaviness, softness, ductility, malleability, or internal uniformity etc. But color was always by far the most important.

The glitter is the goldThe glitter is the gold

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Planting Gold (種金 )Planting Gold (種金 )• Pyramid scam:

exploitation of people’s greed & ignorance.

• In most cases, no actual products are involved.

• The last batch of people joining the scheme before it busts are the losers.

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Micro-AlchemistsMicro-Alchemists

• Australian metallurgists recently discover that coral surface are covered with gold.

• Microorganisms “chew” on the soil, and spit out the gold.

• Further development may yield an environmental-friendly & cost-effective way for mining gold.

• So after all, the pyramid scammers can “grow” gold.

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Full Metal AlchemistFull Metal Alchemist

• Any process is possible as long it obeys the law of conservation.

• It agrees with the spirit of modern chemistry (& physics).

• What are x and y? We’ll find out.

Copper + Tin + x Gold + yCopper + Tin + x Gold + y

等價交換等價交換

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The Apple GuyThe Apple Guy

• Fascinated by the corpuscular nature of light at a very tender age, long before he was hit by an apple.

“The changing of bodies into light, and light into bodies, is very comfortable to the course of Nature, which

seems delighted with transmutations.”

“The changing of bodies into light, and light into bodies, is very comfortable to the course of Nature, which

seems delighted with transmutations.”

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Vegetation of MetalVegetation of Metal• It became known in the 1930s that Newton believed

metals, including gold, can grow in a suitable medium.

• His secret practice of the alchemical art explains why it took him some 20 years to figure out the gravitation law after being hit by the apple.

Visit http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/newton/alch-newman.html

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“White Gold” from Sand “White Gold” from Sand

23 HHSiClHCl3Si

22 COSiCSiO

4C11503 SiClHCl2SiHSiCl2 o

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Atom: Planetary ModelAtom: Planetary Model

• Newton came very close (see the notebook) to realizing the modern atomic structure.

• He would have stopped his alchemical work if he had the correct concept of the atom.

Bohr (1915)

Newton (1600’s)

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Nuclear TransmutationNuclear Transmutation• Breaking or fusing of nuclei to get what we want.

• The missing mass has transformed into energy.

nHeHH 10

32

21

21 nHeHH 1

032

21

21

Aun?SnCu 19779

10

12050

6329 Aun?SnCu 197

7910

12050

6329

2.01355 2.01355 3.0160

Nuclear rxn:

Actual masses: 3.0160

• They don’t add up! 0.00254 g is missing.

1.00866

• Einstein to the rescue!

E = (m)c2E = (m)c2 where c = light speed = 2.997924x108ms1

• My naive fusion recipe: gold from copper and tin

62.92955989 119.9021991 196.966543

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Pay FirstPay First• The arithmetic is simple and attractive.

• But nuclei do not break or fuse easily. It requires enormous energy to get things going.

TOKAMAK SLAC

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Looking PerfectLooking Perfect

• Preserving physical appearance: nip-tuck, botox® etc.

• Injection of anti-aging hormone.

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Staying PerfectStaying Perfect• Genetic therapy.• E.g. overexpression of the klotho gene

may lead to a 30% longer life expectancy.

• A body good as new: cloning the whole thing or just organ parts for later repair service.

人体の鍊成人体の鍊成

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Feeling PerfectFeeling Perfect

with a Heart of Goldwith a Heart of Gold