Alchemy

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Alchemy
Based on an article by Janice Van Cleave
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Greek philosopher Aristotle taught that all
matter was made of four elements earth, air,
fire and water.

• Materials were different because they were
  made of different amounts of these four elements.
  So, changing the amount of the elements in one
  substance could CHANGE it into something else!

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• Kings respected and supported the alchemists.
  They hoped that the alchemists would make gold
  for them.
• Of course, none of the alchemists succeeded in
  making gold, and those who failed sometimes lost
  their lives.

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How to make gold

• Some alchemists started with yellow things like
  sulfur or egg yolks.

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• Some alchemists thought about other properties of
  gold. They tried using other metals such as iron.

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Alchemists make medicines.

• The alchemists were never able to successfully
  change other substances into gold. But some of
  their experiments became medicines to heal sick
  people.