Authier 1

Noah Authier

English 4

Ms. Mantlo

February 23, 2017

Research Question: Is alchemy real?

Working Thesis: Alchemy is not real.

Refined Thesis: Alchemy is not real but it would become what is known as modern day

chemistry.

Annotated Bibliography

Coyne, Glynis. Lead to Gold, Sorcery to Science: Alchemy and the Foundations of Modern

Chemistry. Pit Journal 2012. http://pitjournal.unc.edu/article/lead-gold-sorcery-science-

alchemy-and-foundations-modern-chemistry.

This article talks about the history of alchemy. It goes on to talk about if alchemy and chemistry

were actually the same thing or not. Coyne talks talks about how alchemy influenced chemistry

through the works of Robert Boyle. He also says that alchemy influenced the creation on the

theory of gravity. I plan to use this source to talk about how alchemy influenced a lot of modern

day society. I choose this source because it has a lot of information about the history of alchemy

and how it influenced science today.

Radford, Benjamin. What is Alchemy? LiveScience.

 Authier 2

March 24, 2016. http://www.livescience.com/39314-alchemy.html

Radford talks about what alchemy is and how it works. He then goes on to talk about the history

of alchemy and where it was practiced and who practiced it. At the end of the article he goes on

to say alchemy is not real and that it was doomed to fail because alchemist thought that

everything in the world are composed of four basic elements (air, earth, fire and water), along

with three that were called "essential" substances: salt, mercury and sulfur. I plan to use this

article to explain what alchemy is and what people thought it could do. I choose this article

because I felt that it would help me explain how alchemy has influenced chemistry.

Shuttleworth, Martyn. Alchemy and the Philosophers Stone. Explorable.

Jun 17, 2010. https://explorable.com/alchemy

The article is about how the world used to believe in alchemy. She goes on to explain how the

world had alchemy in different forms. She goes into great detail about the history of alchemy and

how it was used in the different parts of the world in the past. I plan to use this to show the

history of alchemy and how it was used in different parts of the world. I choose this article

because it has a great deal about the history of alchemy and that it was used in different parts of

the world.
Authier 2
Authier 2