Alchemy Kachung Hui Dept of Chemistry Rm 246, S.C. (North) [email protected] 鍊金術 :...
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Transcript of Alchemy Kachung Hui Dept of Chemistry Rm 246, S.C. (North) [email protected] 鍊金術 :...
31/3/07 Alchemy 2
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
31/3/07 Alchemy 3
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).
31/3/07 Alchemy 4
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 ).
31/3/07 Alchemy 5
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.
31/3/07 Alchemy 6
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).
31/3/07 Alchemy 7
Western AlchemistsWestern Alchemists• All matters are made of these 4 elements.
• 7 documented “experimental techniques”: calcination, sublimation, dissolution, mortification, distillation, coagulation and tincturing.
31/3/07 Alchemy 8
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.
31/3/07 Alchemy 9
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.
31/3/07 Alchemy 10
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
31/3/07 Alchemy 11
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
31/3/07 Alchemy 12
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.
31/3/07 Alchemy 13
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.
31/3/07 Alchemy 14
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
31/3/07 Alchemy 15
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.”
31/3/07 Alchemy 16
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
31/3/07 Alchemy 17
“White Gold” from Sand “White Gold” from Sand
23 HHSiClHCl3Si
22 COSiCSiO
4C11503 SiClHCl2SiHSiCl2 o
31/3/07 Alchemy 18
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)
31/3/07 Alchemy 19
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
31/3/07 Alchemy 20
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
31/3/07 Alchemy 21
Looking PerfectLooking Perfect
• Preserving physical appearance: nip-tuck, botox® etc.
• Injection of anti-aging hormone.
31/3/07 Alchemy 22
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
31/3/07 Alchemy 23
Feeling PerfectFeeling Perfect
with a Heart of Goldwith a Heart of Gold