Next Step

You've found some really great information about Laviosier, phlogiston and done a great job of keeping a log of websites. Next, you need to print a copy of the paper that you chose for this assignment and read it. I suspect that you will have questions as you read, will need to have a way to figure out what it all actually says. So, I would like for you to keep a record of your questions and post that to the blog. If you can only read a portion of the paper, that's fine...just try to get through the whole thing before next week. I'll be curious to read what you've discovered.

Great job!

You've done a terrific job so far - just so you will know - you are right - the title of this paper is concerning philosophy. However it's not the kind of philosophy you might be recognize today. Early in its existence, the field of science was considered a kind of "natural philosophy", which meant people were trying to find explanations for things they saw by reasoning (not the way we think of trying to find explanations today, through scientific investigations).

As an example, I would like for you to look at the phlogiston theory. This was the theory about why things burned. Alchemists and early chemists believed that phlogiston was similar to flammability and/or oxidation. Post what you find about phlogiston.

Also, I may not have been clear about keeping track of your sources. You need to be sure that you keep a record of the internet sources you've used so far and all of those that will be used during this project. If you keep a record of them here, it will keep things all in one place!

Further Questions

OK - good job on the first assignment. Your comments are posted below. Beneath your comments are some further topics I'd like for you to investigate.


Chemistry Research Project—Megan Watson

1. The Coelum Philosophorum, I am not really sure at all what this means except that it is some sort of philosophy.

2. The translated version of the Coelum Philosophorum was published in 1894. Paracelsus was born in 1493 and died in 1541. I am not sure exactly when the Coelum was published. During that time was the Middle Ages. The year he died Hernando De Soto became the first European to see the Mississippi river. In 1510 Ferdinand Magellan began circumnavigating the world. Also Peter Henlein built the first pocketwatch.

3. Paracelsus was an alchemist, physician, astrologer, and occultist. He was very arrogant and most physicians didn’t like him. He was probably chosen to right this article because he was very interested in alchemy. One article referred to him as the “Alchemical Genius of the Middle Ages.” He is noted with the introduction opium and mercury into the arsenal of medicine.

January 29, 2008 12:26 PM

Frankly, I would like for you to concentrate at this time on this question - "How did alchemy become chemistry? Or did chemistry replace alchemy?" (I guess that's actually 2 questions.)

Post what you find in the answer box using the same log-in information as the other blog required.