Technically speaking "alchemy" does, or did, at one point exist. If you go to wikipedia and search for alchemy or homonculus of even FMA, it will bring you many different referances. In fact, there did exist a man during the 1500's I believe who was often referred to as Hohenheim of Light. And there was also a Hungarian man, I believe, who was reported to have created the Philosopher's Stone, but he then disappeared. it has also been reported by several European kinds during the middle ages that they hired alchemists and created homonculus. I would say more, but I do not remember much else.

But lastly, the creators of FMA did take in a lot of the history that actually occured with the alchemist movement that occured within our world. And it wasn't until the late 1900's to early 20th century that the alchemist movement died out. Although even then I highly doubt that it is gone.

-A wanderer-

Technically speaking "alchemy" does, or did, at one point exist. If you go to wikipedia and search for alchemy or homonculus of even FMA, it will bring you many different referances. In fact, there did exist a man during the 1500's I believe who was often referred to as Hohenheim of Light. And there was also a Hungarian man, I believe, who was reported to have created the Philosopher's Stone, but he then disappeared. it has also been reported by several European kinds during the middle ages that they hired alchemists and created homonculus. I would say more, but I do not remember much else.

But lastly, the creators of FMA did take in a lot of the history that actually occured with the alchemist movement that occured within our world. And it wasn't until the late 1900's to early 20th century that the alchemist movement died out. Although even then I highly doubt that it is gone.

even if it wont happen for a while we can still live our little fantasies right? i hope we can actually be able to use it soon though............

.......umm....the reason we dont use alchemy is becuase it died...chemestry killed it.... Boyle was the one that created a new way of studying science.. alchemy was not only science but it had mystecism...thats why no one uses alchemy any more and no its not advance...its ancient and useless.. thats why we have modern science. plus the only way of "transmuting" is by nuclear fusion or anything that is use with particle accelerater

The Alchemy Website

*walks away whistling, hands in pockets*

Unfortunately, all that glitters is not gold. You probably tossed in a bit of zinc at some point in that reaction. Within a solution of sodium hydroxide, the zinc forms Zn(OH)4, or the tetrahydroxozincate(II) ion, with a -2 charge. When the penny is dipped into the solution, the copper surface of the penny reduces the tetrahydroxozincate(II) ions to regular metallic zinc, causing them to 'stick' to the penny.

If the process is stopped at that part, the penny actually looks as if it has been 'transmuted' to silver. If it is continued by heating the penny (usually on a hot plate), the zinc combines with the copper of the penny to form an alloy of the two, commonly known as 'brass.' When shiny and new, like in this case, brass resembles gold very closely. Unfortunately, the process usually produces a very thin coating of brass that either tarnishes quickly or rubs off entirely.

So, to the dismay of many readers of this thread, this is not an alchemic reaction in the common sense of the word. But maybe we can find comfort in the fact that, if alchemy were to exist in our world or our plane of existence, it would probably involve reactions very similar to this one.

As an engineer, I consider myself a man of science, or at least one who adheres to the principles of science and empiricism. But I have to admit that I felt a certain longing for the alchemy shown in FMA after watching the series. There's something far more romantic about drawing an array and conjuring the elements through will and esoteric forces alone than our real-world chemistry and physics and their inevitably mundane rules.

You see chemistry is just a fancy name for Alchemy except for all the witchcraft.

True, but witchcraft sound degrading , try calling it sorcery or magic. Please.

Witchcraft also sounds better and more apporiate.

Whatever, I still think sorcery or magic sound better.

How about someone else comment on what they think.

Sorcery, Magic, and Witchcraft all sound equally fantastical. They are also all equally accurate. We have no culturally accepted language for the functional mysterious.

"Alchemy" works for me. But then, I'm not real particular.

in my friends chemistry class they made salt blow up by touching it. and in my science class they made fire come out of a pumkins mouth but i forgot how.

am i the only one here who has tryed clapping his hands and trying to do alchemy after watching an episode ..



lol
....o and if u were wonderiung nothing happened except i felt really ridiculous

Just FYI, i think i might just explain something because i haven't seen it anywhere in this thread.

The reason Scientists have not been able to do what alchemists have been trying to do for around 1000 years(transmuting iron into gold and such) has been for the reason that each element has a unique number of neutrons?(may be electrons or protons, i cant remember, its late, drown me). If someone was to try to change this number, a nuclear reaction would follow, thus we have nuclear bombs instead of state alchemists. . .everyone here should remember this from your high school chemistry class.
~Cudailike, Cudadomini, Dominus- The man of many names

Have you ever heard of particles accelerators? Turning lead into gold is possible, but the energy cost is too high to make it worthable (does that word exists?).

yes i know ive read up a lil on partical acceleration (i got bored)and i dont think its a word

The Particle Accelerator would not work. There are 79 protons in Gold, and only 26 in iron. To turn Iron into Gold, you would have to place 53 protons in the iron, which would completly screw up the atom itself... I cant remember how, but my teacher accually used Iron to gold as an example.

Is lead into gold... I remember reading about it in an Asimov essay.

i was told about that by my 5th grade science teacher, and alchemy is a science and if ne 1 disagrees u can just bite my white @** hahaha

If you are a girl, I would be glad. If not, forget it

What Neverfate says is true, there IS alchemy, but it's not something you can do just paiting an array on the ground. You need powerfull, very very expensive machines to do it, and you need LUCK to do it right, that is why it's so dificult. The example I remember now is to turn graffitte in diamond, it's possible, but so expensive it's not worth the work... The atomic bomb as well is a kind of transmutation if you think of it, because it's one element changing into two others.

As of making salt cach fire... You made me remember one experiment there is... But it's difficult and expensive as well. It consists in taking Cl out of the salt (NaCl), turning it in metalic Na and right after that you put the sodium stone in water. If the stone is big enought, it will catch fire, maybe even explode, because of the heat and the hydrogen that is product of the reaction. It's not really what you asked, but it is one of the ways to do it. XD But, please, Never do it at home, it's dangeours. And it is difficult and expensive to make metalic sodium as well. So... =P

No. No, I haven't.

omg, im always walking around the house clapping my hands and banging stuff but nothing happens...

dude, i once didthat to my cupboard....i went....

CLAP!

and then...

BANG on the door

and then....

BOOM....

they opened....

it was like...whoa....

and i was like...WEEEEEEEE I USED ALCHEMY TO PUSH MY DOOR OPEN!!

......end of stroy

.

Y'know, i've been lookin in my libuary for books on alchemy. i used their computer with all the books they have, and i found about 8 books. I did find one book, and got all exited. When i opened it, it was fiction ._.;. But i will continue to look for a book. it sounds exiting. and those thingys used to use alchemy, i doubt they'd be expencive. Not at this time.

AH-HA! YET ANOTHER ALCHEMIC DISCOVERY!...

I have now used alchemy to PUSH my SISTER down the STAIRS!

WHOO! It was soooo awsome! I just went like *clap* and then *touch* and then *bang* to the bottom of the staircase! WOW! Thank you, thank you, yes I know, I AM amazing...

As of now the closest I can come to Alchemy is my AP Chem class.

But with much more math and less bang boom phest pow whoosh involved.

If you look, you can find some interesting books on the ideas of ancient alchemists in most libraries. Theseshould of course be taken with a grain of salt, but often people were able to make useful things while trying to make the Philosopher's Stone. Many claimed to have made it, but this can generally be regarded as mere bravado. As a scientist I actually recommend the study of Alchemy to aspiring scientists to learn some of the history of science and a lot of what not to do.

PS. With better technology, something similar to the FMA Alchemy is theoretically possible, though not for probably many centuries and some insane technological breakthroughs. If a computer could be created complex enough to manipulate the atoms near it using an energy field, we could change the form and structure of things, almost like the Replicators in Star Trek. They have actually done experiments where they can do this with single atoms using quantum properties of light. CAUTION: COMPLEX SCIENCE INVOLVED HERE. A pair of entangled photons are emitted at a particle, overcoming the Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle by getting both the exact velocity and postion at once, then replicazting this particle's exact motion in other places after being transferred via computer. This is a theoretical development towards teleportation technology, but has interesting promlems such as, if you fire that much energy at a person, you burn them basically to a crisp and then recreate the body somewhere else, which has interesting Philosophical dillemas involved. but this could also be theoretically used for Alchemy purposes as well, but it will probably be too expensive.

alchemy has been around since the early civilizations in egypt..

it is highly unlikely that it is the same kind. with transmutation circles and such. and hand slapping, rofl.

but it was alchemy none the less.

Recently I went to my great grandmother funeral and in hope of reviving her I quickly stripped down to my boxers, bit my thumb and make blood arrays on my body, arms and legs. I then clapped my hand together then slammed them on the body knocking over the casket and the body of my 92 year old great mother rolled out. My awestruck family just watched in silence trying to find some possible excuse for my behavior…

Alchemy does exist.
However, shows like FMA and other things take everything so literally.
In real life, everything in alchemy is actually a metaphor.
(Alchemy is actually an internal transmutation, not an external one: Transmuting the lead of our degenerate psyche into gold)

Now, I won't get into it deeper and I wont tell the way to do it (because I doubt anyone here wants to hear any spiritual stuff), but alchemy is real, and it is "magical" in a metaphoric sense of the word.

And actually, a few people in the world do practice it, but not many.

Alchemy is basically put the prelude to Chemistry, if you are a Chemist, in a sense you are in fact an advanced Alchemist, my professor says so any way. But performing the 'Alchemy' of Ed's world is impossible, the 'Alchemy' they perform is more magical oriented than true Alchemy. Well I hope that helps.







Im gonna kill your name!

i have preformed alchemy before.... i put a tray of water into the Freezer.... and it turned to ice... and then i took it out and it turned to water... o.o

I don't suppose you have proof of this? Given what I've learned about alchemy, in ancient times it was in fact a precurser to modern science. Although false (they believed that there were four elements--fire, water, earth, and air) it was an early attempt at understanding the world around us.



You make it sound like the "magic" wiccans and pagans keep trying to tell me exists. In other words, alchemy under your definiton is merely a person's innate ability to overcome obstacles and grow stronger mentally. It is not alchemy at all, but human strength. The desire to better yourself (turning our lead psyche to gold as you put it) would be a form of alchemy in your case.

As much as I agree with you, I would have to point out that taking definitions and making it into your own is highly confusing. As we're talking about the commonly accepted definition of the word, for now I believe that most of us are talking about the literal term, not your spiritual term. A google on the internet has not shown up your definition, which does not lend credence to your statement at all.

I am still interested in your unique view of what alchemy is however, so if you could provide sources that would be very helpful.


For those who wish to learn more about alchemy, wikipedia provides a great introduction:

Alchemy--Wikipedia

I am still questioning the validity of this particular website, but it too contains quite a bit of information. If you are willing to sort through less than credible claims, then this could also provide a bit of introduction:

The Alchemy Website


Another person has said that it is interesting how all cultures all wanted to transmute lead into gold. That is untrue. It is quite interesting how the Full Metal Alchemist manga shows this to us. The Xing are the equivalent to the Chinese, who like the Chinese, veered toward medicinal purposes. They tried to find the elixir that would cure all things and allow immortality.

It must also be noted that transmutation under alchemic definitions is quite different from scientific definitions. Strictly speaking, the idea of creating symbols and circles to transmute things over the table top utterly impossible. Scientific tramsutation is very costly, and incredibly dangerous.

Despite this however, I see no reason to despair. The world doesn't need magic or alchemy to make it awe inspiring and amazing. It already is.

Reminds me of the time my chemistry teacher made this substance (cant remenber what it was) that when it was wet it was stable, but when it dried, it became unstable and would explode with the slightest touch. lol he wacked it with a yard stick and it exploded with a cloud of iodine gas, the boom almost blew my ear drums

I've never done alchemy before, but I'd lov to get better at it! I wish someone could teach me how...

Alchemy doesnt excist...wat are you on about?

actually it does but its more of a science then magic *points up at previous posts*

I tried slapping my hands and/or drawing arrays ever since I watched the first episode, but it didn't work...

Why do we have to live on the other side of the Gate?!?!?!?!?!?!

Edit: Actually, in my science class, we created a thing which very,VERY resembles a snake's skin by firing up sand with Alcohol,Sugar and a few other liquid things on it...I guess you can call that a transmutation which dosen't listen to the Law of Equivalent Exchange/the Law of Conversation (two names for the same thing) ^__^

Well, uh... I baked muffins yesterday. Wasn't Alchemy born in the kitchen? ^^;

LOL! yes it was, kinda. cause by mixing ingredients you form a new substance. so by using just enough Salt, Flour, Sugar, etc. you can make delicious chocolate chip cookies

And there WERE circles on the oven. o.o; They weren't exactly transmutation circles, but they were circles. *nodnod*

I'm an ALCHEMIST. Kekeke.

*blinks* just because their are circles doesn't mean anything *prods his circulare alarm clock that doesn't use alchemy*

Shh. Let me have my little moment of blissful hallucination.

lol. put water in a tray and then in the freezer. that's alchmey

Haha. I can totally see myself doing that, oddly enough.

"I'M THE ICE ALCHEMIST. I MADE ICE. I WIN! I WIN!"

Alchemy was widley used before the middle ages. Alchemy is not real. The circles and fancy design dont do anything to the particles.

The alchemist back them where doing real science tho.
like pour 8 oz of water into a beaker
draw the basic alchemic symbol
add 100 grams of iron.
Pray to the gods
Iron will turn brown

what really happen was he added water to iron and caused it too rust.

Alchemy is a true science. It's not like the alchemy in the show though. We just haven't figured out how it works exactly. It isn't magic. We will all be able to use alchemy right after I am done solving the Unified Field Theory

I saw it in teh dictionary....it said "FICTIONAL"

well then why does the internet give me this one?

Definitions of alchemy on the Web:

* a pseudoscientific forerunner of chemistry in medieval times