[Neraphym]

Alchemy has always been a subject of heated debate. Alchemy is te process of changing elements. Only recently have people actually proven this to be possible. The first successful preformance of alchemy was when a scientist changed oxigen into nitrogen (or the other way around, I forget). Either way, this was an incredible breakthrough.

Ancient alchemy is far different from its modern equivilant. Rather than the 109 some elements we know of, there where but 4: Air, Fire, Earth, and Water. Ancients believed what we believe, all matter is composed of elements. The only difference was what elements were. They believed there was a process of taking these elements, and using them to distort the percent composition of matter into that of gold. Basically, they turned led into gold.

I, for one, belived this to have been an actual science. If you look on the periodic table, led and gold are not far from eachother. There might have actually been a way to steal protons from led and turn it into gold. This process must have been very dificult, and was probably discovered by accident.

Most skeptics argue that it couldn't have been so because there was no recorded procedure of this being done. This is both true and false. Alchemy existed back when the church had a great deal of power. Alchemy was probably considered a sin (Lewis Black: Separation of church and idiot), so alchemists opted not to record there procedures in fear of being persecuted. Those that did, did so in a mannar that was very cryptic and also made countless references to god.

I hope that one day in the future, someone will successfully preform an alchemical transformation of led to gold either through modern science, or ancient texts. Then I can suck up to this guy and line my pockets with led, er, gold.

[skenasis]

intersting way of putting it, alpha. if you think about it that way, then i guess it is quite likely that it could happen.

[Neraphym]

Alchemy has, in fact, been performed. I believe the first recorded scientific alchemical process was converting nitrogen into oxygen (or something like that). I believe that alchemy, if perfected as a science, could be extreeeeeeeeemly profitable. It would also do us so much good. Think about it. We could conver whatever element we have into whatever element we as a society need to survive. All we'd have to worry about is running out of matter, and it doesn't look like that will happen anytime soon... actually, it will never happen.

[Ratty]

Wouldn't it be increadible expensive to do so?

What kind of machines would you need to convert protons into neutrons, or to completely destroy protons at all?

Say for instance changing lead into gold, you would need to somehow get rid of 3 protons.

it probably is possible, it would just be a very expensive process..

[Neraphym]

Machines are payed for in money. Money is backed by gold. Gold is made by those machines. The only problem is powering them. You'd need an incredible amount of energy. My guess is the only way this will be made a reality is by nuclear fussion.

[skenasis]

well, even if it is possible, i think it should stay unknown as to how to do it. why, you ask? one word explains it all: greed.

[Kaezion]

alchemy is neither needed nor wanted in today's world. why? consider these possibilities in today's world.
if somebody actually does come up with a way to transmute a common metal into gold, then this must be considered: will the process end up costing more than profit gained by producing gold? if so, then there is no reason to pursue this further. If the process happens to be extremely efficient and actually costs less, then the global economy will be wrecked. why? because gold is a global currency. as soon as you inflate its value by overproducing it, the world economy will become destabilized beyond control. as i am not a professional economist, i cannot tell you what will happen beyond that.
therefore, in either case, alchemy is either useless or harmful.
this is actually the current case with diamonds. the technology for manufacturing diamonds actually exists, but this techonology cant create a diamond that perfectly resembles a natural diamond (as of yet), so this is why the diamond industry is relatively safe for now. if this technology is ever perfected, however, De Beers is in for quite a headache.

[asyluman]

Alchemy has been performed, many, many times. Alchemy is the process of turning something into something more valuable or better. For one, bacteria in caves eat rock and excrete gold. (I wish I did.) I saw a thing online where someone took rosemary (the herb) and, through many processes, turned it into expensive ceremonial salts. Whee.

[Jake]

another cool way would be to individually fuse atoms together into molecules, then molecules into .... well.... a ps2 or fruit

[Hax the Cook]

another cool way would be to individually fuse atoms together into molecules, then molecules into .... well.... a ps2 or fruit

That made me laugh out loud.
In a good sense

[Neraphym]

I have considered the reprocussions of making gold. Yes, it would destroy the economy. The technique should be perfected, but transmuting stuff into gold should be made illegal. Other uses for alchemy could potentially benefit society. Think about all the waste we produce each year. If we burn the waste, take all the gasses they produce, and change them around into oxygen/hydrogen/nitrogen/carbon/etc. and other useful materials, we could solve all of our polution problems. The main problem would be the expense. It will most likely require a great deal of energy, preferably nuclear. It's all so complex at this stage...

[tekkblade]

i have a headache (lolz)

[Goto]

I can only assume the modern 'alchemy' you refer to is nuclear fission and fusion itself. I haven't heard of another way of shifting elements.

The energy cost would be absolutely prohibitive. Both Fusion and Fission require a vast amount of energy to initiate, and the laws of energy and matter conservation are generally going to screw us over and stop us getting everything our way anyway. I did read into a similar topic some time ago, but many of the facts elude me as it's too late/early right now.

Basically what I can remember boils down to this:
It'd cost a huge amount of energy to perform alchemy at will, certainly more than could ever be justified by the gain.
It's going to be fairly uncontrollable, and turning lead into ANYTHING else at all is going to be quite difficult, lead is pretty much the middle... It's what both fusion and fission are usually going to end up as. Furthermore the environmental and safety issues are quite worrying, accidentally destroying 3/4 of the Earth isn't something to do on a whim.
Oh, and Full Metal Alchemist is a cool show.

Uhh... I guess I'll try to post again when I'm actually awake and can actually make a coherent argument, sorry what I've said is so fuzzy.

[Jake]

its easy to do... draw a circle with some geometric figures, put lead in it, make gold or a orange. it would take too much energy to assemble atoms though

[Spikeout]

Very interesting. I've gotta read more about this