Thread: just what is alchemy?

And the gold is radioactive I beleive.IT costs a huge amount of energy and is radioactive.So who would buy it when its worth less then the cost of making it?

Most of what they said is true. Chemistry came from alchemy. If I remember correctly, alchemy had 2 main goals, to turn lead into gold and to find their so-called fountain of youth.

Gold isn't actually radioactive, it's an inert metal. It doesn't react readily with other elements and it has a certain degree of stability. And yeah, we still can't turn lead into gold. We can only make lead-gold alloys although that still isn't common practice. Lead will never turn into gold actually, seeing as they are different elements altogether. I'm a real chem buff so I know too much about these stuff. Anyway, during those times, gold was thought to be the most valuable metal so they devised ways to produce it. And having gold meant that you were really high-class. So I guess that's why they created alchemy.

yeah, i always wondered how you could turn on pure element to another pure element when the atomic structure is different. i always wondered how in fma you could turn grass into bread and lead into gold.

they did that in FMA ? i remember they turned coal into gold. it's possible to change one element into another if it's re-arranging their atomic structures (theoretically, this would take enormous amounts of energy though).

If we can't turn lead into gold then what is this article trying to say?
http://chemistry.about.com/cs/genera.../aa050601a.htm

Transmutation of lead into gold isn't just theoretically possible - it has been achieved

There are reports that Glenn Seaborg, 1951 Nobel Laureate in Chemistry, succeeded in transmuting a minute quantity of lead (possibly en route from bismuth, in 1980) into gold. There is an earlier report (1972) in which Soviet physicists at a nuclear research facility near Lake Baikal in Siberia accidentally discovered a reaction for turning lead into gold when they found the lead shielding of an experimental reactor had changed to gold.

Originally Posted by echoblaze

they did that in FMA ? i remember they turned coal into gold. it's possible to change one element into another if it's re-arranging their atomic structures (theoretically, this would take enormous amounts of energy though).

they didn't actually do but they said it once in a while.

Are those lead -> gold reports actually true? I can think of someone taking some lead, gold leafing it and then scamming some suckers out of their money... It just doesn't seem possible even with modern chemistry... Otherwise, wouldn't every single government be hard at work improving their currency?

read Hanul's link Krytha. it's right on the money.
The reason why goverment's aren't routinely turning lead into gold is because it costs a lot ( I have no idea about the scale but really, a lot ) and you can only make a minute amount of it. Certainely less than you can actually see. Also I guess this process falls under modern physics, more than chemistry.

i thought they didn't do it because it was against the law. i think they said it was a high crime to do something like change anything into gold.

In the manga sure because they can do it and in large amounts, but for now, if you can do it I say go for it.