Chemistry is a science that studies the nature of matter and its changes and encourages the sharing and dissemination of information. Alchemy is a pseudo-science, whereas chemistry is a science.
Alchemy
is a so-called protoscience, meaning that it isn't actually science in
the modern sense of the word, but it was an ancient tradition that
established many important thoughts and conventions, like the use of
procedures, equipment and terminology, that would ultimately form the
paradigm of modern chemistry, which is the proper science that deals
with matter and its transformations.
The origins of alchemy spans thousands of years and multiple continents, and it was practiced by many cultures in their own form. Alchemy was similiar to chemistry in the sense that it was related to the study of the composition of matter and the transformations it undergoes, but its roots were firmly in the realms of the spiritual, the philosophical and the magical. Alchemists aimed to do things like creating elixirs of eternal life, and transforming base metals into precious gold and silver, which we today know is (practically speaking) impossible. Despite many of these futile pursuits, the early alchemists also attempted to establish a system for the identification and organization of different substances, which, while not always correct, ended up being a framework for the creation of the modern periodic table.
So to sum up, alchemy was chemistry in its adolescence. Today, most alchemical concepts have been disregarded as untrue or pseodoscientific, but nonetheless its developments were crucial in establishing the science of chemistry.
The origins of alchemy spans thousands of years and multiple continents, and it was practiced by many cultures in their own form. Alchemy was similiar to chemistry in the sense that it was related to the study of the composition of matter and the transformations it undergoes, but its roots were firmly in the realms of the spiritual, the philosophical and the magical. Alchemists aimed to do things like creating elixirs of eternal life, and transforming base metals into precious gold and silver, which we today know is (practically speaking) impossible. Despite many of these futile pursuits, the early alchemists also attempted to establish a system for the identification and organization of different substances, which, while not always correct, ended up being a framework for the creation of the modern periodic table.
So to sum up, alchemy was chemistry in its adolescence. Today, most alchemical concepts have been disregarded as untrue or pseodoscientific, but nonetheless its developments were crucial in establishing the science of chemistry.
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