At the heart of alchemy was the quest to turn ordinary metals into gold. Despite the hopelessness of that goal, alchemists still made a lot of discoveries that formed the foundation of modern chemistry and medicine.

Chinese alchemists searching for an elixir of eternal life discovered the world's first chemical explosive. Hank has the full story on gunpowder in this SciShow about a big idea of science.

The story of Hennig Brand and how he discovered the element phosphorus by boiling buckets of urine. Discover why his experiments paved the way for the discovery of the modern chemical elements. Chemistry - Periodic Table - Learning...