Question

The first scientist who made a clear distinction between Alchemy and Chemistry was……………

Answer 1

• At the beginning of the seventeenth century, chemistry remained in its infancy.
• Scientists still had not agreed upon language to describe chemicals and had no way of classifying them.
• The field that had the most direct impact on the birth of modern chemistry was alchemy.
• Alchemy was a combination of philosophy, religion, and primitive science whose chief goal was the perfection of matter.
• This goal included the conversion of metals into gold and the discovery of a potion that would cure all diseases.
• Many scientists of the time viewed chemistry as a pseudo-science much like astrology and palm reading are viewed today.
• The distinction began to emerge when a clear differentiation was made between chemistry and alchemy by Robert Boyle in his work ‘The sceptical chymist'.
• A central argument that the alchemists presented for this theory were the case of burning wood.
• The wood gave off the fire as it burned.
• The smoke represented air, and the liquid that boiled off the ends of the wood represented water.
• The ashes left behind were considered earth.
• In other words, the wood broke down into the four elements of fire, air, water, and earth.
• Boyle, however, argued that some substances, such as gold and silver, could not be reduced to these elements by burning.
• He also observed that some substances seemed to break down into more than four elements.
• Alchemy and chemistry are concerned with matter and its transformation.

Hence, the first scientist who made a clear distinction between Alchemy and Chemistry was Robert Boyle.