Secret Recipe: The Great Work of Transmuting Mars to Venus

Click here for the "Gold Penny"
(and some Alchemy Basix)

Amateur: a beginning alchemist
Athanor: a furnace used in alchemical work (in lab37; a bunsen burner)
Cancer: a solution
Coction: cooking
Dews of May: Ordinary dew (water) that is gathered in the spring
Egg: A glass vessel containing the substance for the final coction (a beaker)
Generous Alchemist: an alchemist who gives true information & observations
Grudging Alchemist: an alchemist who gives false information & observations
Great Work: the final goal of an experiment
Mars: iron
Matrass: a flask (in lab37, this is a test tube)
Puffer: a phony alchemist who wants to make gold to become wealthy
Solve et Coagula: when the solid dissolves into the liquid
Transmutation: when one metal is "changed into another"
Venus: copper
Water: in alchemy, water was any kind of liquid

Thou must translate parts 1 and 2 before proceeding!!!!!!!!

1. Materials needed:

2. Procedure:

  1. Gather ye materials and ye goggles for protection of ye eyes
  2. In a matrass, create a mixture of 2 g blue stone and 35 mL of the dews of May
  3. Place matrass in matrass rack
  4. Prepare the athanor for coction using the sparker
  5. In order to solve et coagula, heat the mixture of the blue stone and water, but be sure not to cause vapors!!!!! (Follow the instructions of the MASTER ALCHEMIST)
  6. When you have created your cancer, turn off the athanor
  7. Cool down the cancer by holding the test tube under running water
  8. When the temperature of the solution has reached 50° C, transfer contents of matrass to the 400 mL egg.
  9. Submerge half of the wool of Mars into the cancer and observe the formation of Venus!!!
  10. If time permits, submerge the wool of Mars into an egg containing only the dews of May in order to compare what happens.

Information about this lab:
  1. Many alchemists were seeking a way to make gold, but many also were involved in experimentation, medicine, and philosophy.
  2. While trying to make gold, the alchemists made many interesting discoveries, which they were not able to fully explain, or explain in the same way that we are now able to and these discoveries and explanations are part of chemistry today.
  3. Just look at the words they used and how they match up with words used today:

 

    Alchemy Word Chemistry Word
    Nitre Potassium Nitrate
    Coction  Concoction
    Regia Reagant
    Virgo Distillation
    Vapour        Gas
    Earth         Solid

                                           

  1. Every time in history (including now) has its puzzles. For example, we are still trying to figure out if time travel is impossible or if it is not. We are trying to find out if we can duplicate the atomic fusion that goes on in the sun. The list can keep going….What may look simple to us puzzled the alchemists.
  2. Think about this: Some day, in the future, our explanations for the things we observe may be considered silly, just like many people now consider the explanations used by the alchemists to be silly.
  3. Many alchemists were accused and killed for performing "witchcraft".

 

EXTRA CREDIT ASSIGNMENT

You will write a letter to Her Royal Majesty, Queen Arachnia Accusata. Your letter will be a defense of your experiment as pure science, and not witchcraft. Quite often, persons were accused of witchcraft because the people accusing them were ignorant of the truth behind what was observed. You must show her the science of what you were doing.

Tell the queen the procedure you used, and while doing so you must explain the science behind a few things that were observed as you did this experiment:

 

SCORING SYSTEM: 2 points per bullet below, totaling 8 extra percentage points on the next quiz grade. You will only get 1 point per bullet below if the presentation of the letter is not deserving that of a queen, but the ideas are correct.