History of Chemistry: What Brought About Modern Chemistry Essay

Alchemy (Early Chemistry) was another science closely related to medicine. Alchemy was the name given to this science in Latin Europe in the 12th century. It was a belief that the human body was closely related to the stars and the heavens. Over hundreds of years, the main goals of alchemists were to turn any metal into gold and discover an elixir which could cure all ills or lead to immortality. This magical elixir was called the philosopher’s stone. Alchemy was based on the belief that there are four basic elements – fire, earth, air and water – and three essentials – salt, sulfur and mercury. The metals gold, silver, copper, lead, iron, and tin were all known before the rise of alchemy. The liquid metal, mercury, and the burning rock, sulfur, were also known. Many processes with these elements were known to alchemists. The art of alchemy was heavily spiritual. Alchemists were the first to try out different ideas and experiment with different elements, but because of their intense metaphysical and spiritual beliefs, they didn’t develop modern day scientific methods.

Prior to the scientific revolution, there was a branch of science called alchemy. Alchemists believed that it was possible to change substances into other substances. Many alchemists tried to no avail to turn ordinary metals into gold. During the Scientific Revolution, advances were made in chemistry that disproved many beliefs of alchemy, causing it to stop being practiced. However, some practices, including the manipulation of metals and acids evolved to become part of modern chemistry.

  Then in 1661, Irish chemist Robert Boyle supported the philosophers’ theory of how chemical elements are made up of the simplest matter, backing the theory of how matter makes up all life and is the smallest living thing (Doc. 1). But a bombshell happened in 1803 when John Dalton backed up all three theories by discovering that atoms make up all matter, and chemical compounds are made of atoms (OI).

Chemistry is the science that goes back into the ancient ages. The early stages of chemistry include the brewing of the wine, glass making, and cheese making. Early european chemists, who were called alchemist, were obsessed with researching. Transportation underwent significant transformation during the industrial revolution in the early 1800s. American Robert Fulton built the first commercially successful steamboat and by the mid 19th century, steamships were carrying goods across the Atlantic.

Around 2,500 years ago, Democritus and his partner Leucippus were the first ones to develop the atomic theory in written history. Their theory proposed that every kind of matter was made up of tiny particles, which were named atomos, which means that it is indivisible. This meant that Democritus and Leucippus thought there were little particles of everything, but, the next breakthrough in atomic theory wasn’t made until the early 1800s with a french chemist by the name of Antoine Lavoisier, he was the one who came up with the idea of the law of the conservation of mass, which states that matter stays the same even when it changes shape or form. Then, James Dalton said that all matter was made up of atoms, which were indivisible, and unbreakable.

Around 1803 John Dalton, an English chemist developed the first useful atomic theory of matter. Amedeo Avogadro, the Italian chemist in 1811 published an article drawing the distinction between the atom and the molecule, which now is known as “Avogadro’s

Over the course of the last 5000 years, mankind’s knowledge has been constantly advancing. Chemistry, a branch of science, has experienced a tremendous leap and expansions since ancient Greek civilization. One of the major breakthroughs in the advancement in Chemistry was the creation of the Atomic theory, which laid a foundation for the modern-day Chemistry and future of science. The Atomic theory introduced the idea of atoms, which are defined as the discrete units of matter. There are five key scientists that significantly contributed to the Atomic model over a span of thousands of years. They are: Democritus, John Dalton, J.J. Thompson, Ernest Rutherford, and Niels Bohr.

The studies of chemistry and physics have shaped understanding of the world today. In fact, they have altered the mindset and reasoning of society, leading to an age in which discoveries are consistently being sought after and achieved. However, it must be noted that the origin for the basis of understanding used today in fields such as chemistry derived almost entirely from the scientists of the 1800’s. In this thorough and precise essay, the incubator for some of the world’s most innovative researchers and pioneers in chemistry and physics will be discussed – the Cavendish Laboratory.

However, it was more than the conversion of one metal into another. Alchemy was the science of man's quest to obtain the ultimate spiritual enlightenment. Alchemists believed that if they could make the philosopher's stone, it would bring them to a higher state of being. Alchemists were the forefathers of modern chemistry. They believed that many things impacted upon their formulas. For example, they used astronomy and astrology. They also developed symbolic notation to represent the various elements, metals, and planets and their interactions.

Stanislao Cannizzaro was born on July 13, 1826. When he was younger, he showed great skills in mathematics. He later became an assistant to Rafaelle Piria. Cannizzaro saw his dedication to his work that Piria influenced him to transform his study to chemistry. Cannizzaro later determined the different atomic weights. Dmitri Ivanovich Mendeleev always had a love for history, math, and physics. He attended the University of St. Petersburg where he formed the ideas of chemical compounds. Mendeleev found out that you could simplify the periodic table by separating them into different groups. He arranged them by the atomic weights and then later realized they had similar chemical properties. He had also given predictions of future elements and their properties.

According to the Greeks, everything in the physical world could be explained using these four elements (fire, air, water and earth). For countless years this ideology was believed to be true and never challenged. This occurred until a group of people known as alchemists began to impugn this theory. This skepticism led to the determination of the falsehood of this philosophy and gave rise to the development of what we now know as the periodic table. Without this conjecture, our knowledge would have remained limited and our understanding of the world around us would be substantially inferior to what it is

Diana's research of seventeenth-century alchemy, Harkness elaborates on the widespread fallacy of alchemy to explaining the reasoning behind why certain individuals cannot understand the interweaving relationship between magic and science. After Matthew expresses his admiration toward Diana's work, Diana struggles to understand his admiration since to her, “it seemed highly unlikely” that Matthew, a professor of biochemistry, would be interested in seventeenth-century alchemy (Harkness 20). Modern science, such as chemistry, will often be considered contradicting toward alchemy since chemistry represents modern experimental science while alchemy represents that of the supernatural and unrealistic. History and chemistry professors, William R. Newman and Lawrence M. Príncipe, explain that the distinction between alchemy and chemistry today originates from a “historiographic mistake” that occurred as a result of the presumption that the distinction between the two disciplines stems back all the way to the seventeenth century. Furthermore, modern secondary literature further endorses the “historiographic mistake” by claiming that the words chemistry and alchemy “were commonly used at that time” to reference the distinction between the

Chemistry has had a large impact on medicine as we know it today. In fact medicine would have never gotten as advanced as it has today without chemistry to help it out. Everything that medicine does is based on chemistry at its core. A long time ago when there was not nearly as much knowledge of chemistry and the medicine was much more basic as well. All of medicine is made of different elements in one way or another. Chemistry will probably also have impacts on the discoveries in medicine yet to come.

Although organic reactions have been conducted by man since the discovery of fire, the science of Organic chemistry did not develop until the turn of the eighteenth century, mainly in France at first, then in Germany, later on in England. By far the largest variety of materials that bombard us are made up of organic elements. The beginning of the Ninetieth century was also the dawn of chemistry, all organic substances were understood

Alchemy is considered the precursor to modern chemistry. When you think of chemistry, usually you think of an exact science; something very meticulous. Truthfully, it is. To be accurate and to obtain precise and desired results, it must be accurate. Alchemy, however, was not an exact science, it was a primitive approach to the elements and usually they looked to a deity to actually initiate chemical reactions. Thus we separated them, but for good reason. In today's time we us instruments to give us exactness and precision that mankind had formerly ignored. Throughout time you will see that mankind has used chemistry to solve its most complex of problems and build a world that 7 billion people have come to know as home.