Alchemy element discoveries

Isaac Asimov here relates the story of the long quest to identify the stuff of which the universe is made. From Thales of Miletus to Seaborg of California, from alchemy to the cyclotron, from the search for the secret of turning lead into gold to the making of artificial elements, it has been a tale of follies, fakery, brilliant discoveries, and steadily building excitement... 

Morris, Richard. The last sorcerers the path from alchemy to the periodic table. Washington (DC) Joseph Henry P, 2003. xii, 282 p. ISBN 0-309-08905-0 Contents Preface — 1. The four elements — 2. Prelude to the birth of chemistry — 3. The sceptical chymist — 4. The discovery of the elements — 5. A nail for the coffin — 6. "Only an instant to cut off that head" — 7. The atom — 8. Problems with atoms — 9. The periodic law — 10. Deciphering the atom — Epilogue the continuing search — appendix. A catalog of the elements — Further reading — Index... 

The transition of empirical alchemy in 18th century Europe to scientific chemistry allowed the discovery of more and more new elements through the thirst for knowledge, intuition, patience, and even luck. Known materials such as gold, silver, copper, iron, and lead were "suspected" to be elements relatively early. Despite all the best efforts, these materials could not be broken down into further components, and hence their being elements was consistent with the then generally recognized definition of John Dalton, which was also staunchly supported by Antoine de Lavoisier. 

The first sections of this reference book set the stage for the presentation of the elements. First is the section How to Use This Book followed by a short introduction. Next is A Short History of Chemistry, the narrative of which progresses from prehistoric times to the Age of Alchemy and then to the Age of Modern Chemistry. Next is the section titled Atomic Structure, which traces the history of our knowledge of the structure of the atom some theoretical models, including quantum mechanics the discovery of subatomic (nuclear) particles... 

The next 2000 years of chemical history were dominated by a pseudoscience called alchemy. Alchemists were often mystics and fakes who were obsessed with the idea of turning cheap metals into gold. However this period also saw important discoveries Elements such as mercury, sulfur, and antimony were discovered, and alchemists learned how to prepare the mineral acids. 

The concept of the elements depended on two different but ultimately complementary ideas about matter. The first idea was ancient that the elements were the fundamental building blocks of nature. Whether there were 1, 2, 3, 4, or 92 elements was in a sense less important than the power of the concept to explain nature and direct research. The second idea came with the discovery of the structure of the atom and the physics that made that discovery possible that an element represented a specific combination of subatomic particles determined by physical laws. The creation of controlled nuclear fission and the invention of accelerators and cyclotrons made a kind of modem alchemy possible, allowing the creation of new elements that were not found in nature but that still met the new conditions to be considered elements. 

Specific interest in the periodic table and the elements has produced a number of recent books. One of the first serious examinations of the history of the elements was done by May Elvira Weeks. Discovery of the Elements (1968), an updated version with material from Henry M. Leicester, can still be found in libraries. Richard Morris s The Last Sorcerers The Path from Alchemy to the Periodic Table (2003) is an excellent book, while Paul Strathern s Mendeleyev s Dream (2000) is a nontechnical look at the hunt for order among the elements that reads almost like a novel. More technical material on matter theory can be found in Antio Clericuzio, Elements, Principles, and Corpuscles A Study of Atomism and Chemistry in the Seventeenth Century (2000) David M. Knight, Atoms and Elements. A Study of Theories of Matter in England in the Nineteenth Century (1967) and Mary Jo Nye, From Chemical Philosophy to Theoretical Chemistry Dynamics of Matter and Dynamics of Disciplines 1800-1950 (1993). 

The iatro-chemists rendered a great service to chemistry by keeping alive its practical tradition in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. In this respect they took over the task which had fallen in the medieval period to the metal workers and other kinds of craftsmen and artificers (p. 89). Their enthusiasm for chemical preparations led to advances in practical technique and to a number of discoveries of new substances while their intelligible text-books, free for the most part from the mysticism and obscure expression of alchemy, gave a wide publicity to the nature and importance of chemistry. On the other hand, the iatro-chemists had little interest tn chemical theory, and were quite content, in the words of Lemery, to follow the common road of others, which amounted to the continued acceptance of the four elements and the tria prima. 

Chemistry is an ancient science dating back to at least 1000 b.c., when early "chemists" discovered how to isolate metals from ores and how to preserve bodies by using embalming fluids. The Greeks were the first to try to figure out why chemical changes occur. By 400 b.c., they had proposed a system of four elements fire, earth, water, and air. The next 2000 years of chemical history were dominated by a pseudoscience called alchemy. Although many alchemists were fakes and mystics, some were serious scientists who made important discoveries. 

Ancient Greeks believed that air is a single substance and therefore an element. That belief dominated alchemy for centuries. Fire was also believed to be an element a true understanding of the nature of fire eluded people until the end of the 18th century. Questions to be answered included the following Why do some objects burn and others do not What is the nature of combustion The answers to these questions required the discovery of oxygen, which ultimately would prove to be one of the most important discoveries in the entire history of chemistry and indeed would mark the transition from alchemy to the era of modern chemistry. 

For nearly three centuries, a new element has been discovered every two-and-one-half years, on average. Undoubtedly, more will be found. Although their names and their discoveries will fikely involve controversies, their place at the table is already set. see also Alchemy Avogadro, Amedeo Bec-QUEREL, Antoine-Henri Bohr, Niels Cannizzaro, Stanislao Dalton, John Lavoisier, TVntoine Mendeleev, Dimitri Meyer, Lothar Pauli, Wolfgang Ramsay, William Rontgen, Wilhelm Rutherford, Ernest Seaborg, Glenn Theodore Thomson, Joseph John. 

During the eighteenth century various reports of what we would call transmutations appeared in the literature. But, in the absence of the theory of chemical elements, there was no way to distinguish between what we would now call a chemical change and a transmutation. Although most educated people came to believe that most alchemists were charlatans, there was no scientific reason why transmutation was impossible and another master of the mint. Sir Isaac Newton, took it seriously. But, in the nineteenth century, alchemy disappeared from the scientific literature. The discovery of radioactive trcinsmutations revivified "alchemy" for a short period in the earlier 1900 s and the philosophers stone made its last appeareince in the form of a Pd/asbestos catalyst. 

Although not known as early as carbon, tin, and lead, the Group 5A elements were all discovered before the founding of the United States. Antimony was known to the ancients and was a protected secret of the alchemists. Similarly, arsenic is mentioned in the mystical literature of alchemy, but its discovery is often attributed to Albertus Magnus because of his definitive descriptions of the element. Phosphorus was isolated by Brandt from human urine for a century before it was discovered in bones and in phosphate rock. Bismuth was probably known well before GeoflFrey described it so thoroughly, but he is usually listed as its discoverer. Nitrogen was discovered by Rutherford. 

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