The beginnings of chemistry may be traced to the ancient Greeks, who considered the elements of the universe to be air, water, fire, and earth. They also thought the metals consisted of seven substances, each associated with a heavenly body – gold (the sun), silver (the moon), copper (Venus), iron (Mars), tin (Jupiter), lead (Saturn), and mercury (Mercury).
Thinking that metals might be “transformed” from one to the other, the alchemists pursued the dream of creating gold from lead, iron, or copper. Although the alchemists failed in their dream, their labors founded the basic techniques of the chemical laboratory while discovering many new substances. Their art would eventually evolve into the modern science of chemistry.
Explore the elements by decade:
- BCE: copper, lead, silver, gold, iron, carbon, tin, sulfur, mercury, zinc
- CE to 1734: arsenic, antimony, phosphorus, bismuth
Read more about the "The Ancients and the Alchemists" in the Chem 13 News article by James Marshall.
Copper, 29
Cambridge, Ontario, Canada
Teacher: Yvonne Clifford
Artist: Madeleine Williams
The blue background symbolizes the blue copper(II) sulphate. All the jewellery and head crowns are made of copper with all hieroglyphs spelling out descriptions of copper and/or the periodic table, such as metal, chem, Dmitri, shiny etc. The middle vase shows art of people using copper weapons with the bowl on right shows art of the timeline and uses of copper (art, farming, weapon, architecture, tech). The items in their hands are varying stages of copper oxidation. The bordering designs are copper items and the entire title showcases the varying colours of copper (red, yellow, blue, green, etc.).
Lead, 82
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Teacher: Laila Hassam
Artist: Haohan Zhang
Lead (Pb) is a chemical element with atomic number 82. The tile was drawn in pencil to represent the element’s dull grey colour. The image depicts miners mining lead and lead pipes. On the miner’s cart, there is the atomic number 82 and there are four miners surrounding the cart representing one of its oxidation states of +4. The water pipes drawn as they used to be made out of lead which was later discovered to be toxic to humans.
Silver, 47
Puebla, Puebla, Mexico
Teacher: Priscilla Calva Ariza
Artists: David Albert Sarda Keen and Arantxa Marin Limon
When creating the piece of artwork that represents the chemical element silver, we decided that it should highly emphasize the history and discovery of the element. We chose to represent the history of the element by molding an Athenian owl out of clay and covering it in aluminum foil. Making the Athenian owl was done to represent the history of silver, which was supposedly discovered in Greece and used commonly as Drachma, the form of currency in Ancient Greece.
Gold, 79
Spearfish, South Dakota, U.S.A.
Teacher: Jessica Zwaschka
Artist: Taya Lucas
Our multiple media artwork depicts a mountainous landscape that shows what it was like for settlers who traveled to the Black Hills of South Dakota in search of gold. Gold is a big part of our history and economy. Until it closed in 2001, the Homestake Mine in Lead, South Dakota was the deepest gold mine in North America. The man by the creek is panning for gold, a popular method used to prospect for gold. The symbol is presented in brownish-black to fit the landscape. The atomic number is written in glitter to show the shiny metallic-yellow colour of gold.
Iron, 26
Rotterdam, Zuid-Holland, The Netherlands
Teacher: Menno Vaas
Artists: LoïsA & Arindadt
Lots of iron is available on earth. Iron has been around for a long time and is widely used. A lot of different iron parts drawings have been made. But what to use? If chemistry can be fun, the creative element tile should be fun. And irony seems to fit iron; it has given hope and despair in many forms. How ironic!
Carbon, 6
Abilene, Texas, USA
Teacher: Julee Isenhower
Artist: Layla Ingram-Alger
My carbon artwork is based on the 18th century. Carbon is everywhere on earth and has been around since the beginning of time. The far left section contains art supplies since most art mediums are made from carbon. Next to the art supplies is an oil pump to represent the Oil Boom of Texas. The middle section has plants in it because plants have carbon. To the right, there is a pop-art styled alien and lady; the alien is yelling “Carbon-based lifeform!” to represent the term “carbon-based life”. The far right section has dinosaurs and ancient plants.
Tin, 50
Cedarburg, Wisconsin, U.S.A.
Teacher: Kathy Pollock
Artist: Giovanna Truong
This project was created using tinfoil relief over a cardboard-glue base, meant to evoke solder. This piece aims to highlight the influence of tin on the development of human cultures. Tin originally was popular because of its use in bronze. However, tin is much rarer than its alloy counterpart, copper, so the trade from tin-rich to tin-poor areas carved out routes around the world, now known as the Silk Roads, hence the inclusion of the Eurasian map. The figures are depicted in Bronze Age garb, with the man on the left carrying a bronze sword as they traded using bronze coins.
Sulfur, 16
Liberty Township, Ohio, United States
Teacher: Elizabeth Gosky
Artist: Hailey Holtman
I painted the background of my artwork yellow because natural sulfur is distinctly yellow. I put black paint around all of the edges because sulfur is commonly used to make black gunpowder. I painted the portrait of Antoine Lavoisier because he is credited with classifying sulfur as an element in 1777. I painted the rose flower with leaves because another of sulfur's common uses is for plant fertilizers and insecticides. Lastly, I painted the matches and drew the fireworks because those are other common uses for sulfur.
Mercury, 80
Kitchener, Ontario, Canada
Teacher: Aaron Arkell
Artist: Doojean Park
This picture was done in pencil to represent the colour of mercury. In it, Freddie Mercury is dancing on top of a pool of liquid mercury. The planet Mercury is shining brightly the in background. The symbol for mercury comes from the Greek word for “liquid silver” because it is the only metal on the periodic table that is a liquid at room temperature. It was known to the ancient Chinese, Hindus and was found in Egyptian tombs. It has been used for paint pigments, toys, thermometers, street lights, and wound disinfect. It wasn't until early in the 19th century that mercury was discovered to be very toxic. Unfortunately, prior to this discovery, people also used mercury in cosmetics and as medicine to prolong life.
Zinc, 30
Chesterfield Inlet, Nunavut, Canada
Teacher: Rob Humby
Artists: Kayalaaq Leishman-Brocklebank and Taqtaq Issaluk
This is our Zinc “Timeline of Elements” artwork! Everything found inside the letter ‘Z’ are uses for or things made from zinc. In the letter ‘n’ are some places you can find zinc. The bottom two people are Andreas Sigismund Marggraf (who is given credit for discovering zinc) and Paracelsus (who probably named the element). The background colour is supposed to be the natural colour of zinc. The flags are the countries that discovered zinc before Marggeraf in ancient times. They are speaking their country’s language. Try to find out what they are saying!
CE to 1734: arsenic, antimony, phosphorus, bismuth
Arsenic, 33
Murdoch, Western Australia, Australia
Teacher: Caitlin Sweeney
Artists: Caitlin Sweeney, Jamie Fletcher, Alice Barber, Rhianna Jones
This artwork depicts Saint Albertus Magnus, the first person to isolate arsenic as a compound in 1255 and patron saint of natural science. Next to him is a Victorian lady. During Victorian times ladies used arsenic on their cheeks and face and ingested it to improve their complexion. There are two rats running along the wall behind them. A little known fact about arsenic is that trace elements of arsenic are essential in the diet of some animals including rats.
Antimony, 51
Kitchener, Ontario, Canada
Teacher: Susan Van Acker
Artist: Amanda Dumont
I chose the Egyptian eye as center focus in my antimony element design. I chose to do this because antimony is recognized as an ancient cosmetic black eyeliner, which dates back as early as about 3100 BC. I also have these features in my drawing: the standard chemical symbol for antimony (Sb) and the atomic number (51). The rest of the elements I used in my drawing mainly enhanced the main focal point.
Phosphorus, 15
Durban, KwaZulu Natal, South Africa
Teacher: Helen McCready
Artist: Julie Blevin
Phosphorus is referred to as “the devil’s element” — hence red horns. Snowflakes amongst flames show that the discoverer, Hennig Brand, called it cold fire because it is luminous. It was discovered through boiling of urine, hence the toilet with urine and flask. The “1669” shows the year of discovery. The German flag with ‘shhhh’ shows Brand’s nationality and secretiveness about his discovery. Plants and DNA are there as phosphorus is necessary for plants to thrive and it is in DNA. The sun with yellow and red around show that, with exposure to sunlight, white phosphorus turns red.
Bismuth, 83
Russia, Ohio, U.S.A.
Teacher: Eric M. Sullenberger
Artists: Hayley Supinger & Eric M. Sullenberger
Known since ancient times, bismuth’s discoverer is unknown; but being mistaken for lead, several chemists have been credited for recognizing it’s an element. From left-right they are: Scheele, Bergman, Geoffrey, Agricola, Paracelsus, Neumann, and Valentine. The question mark symbol ("?") was drawn in the pattern of hopper crystals to emphasize this uncertainty; then altered digitally for the remainder. Bismuth’s alchemical symbol was used for the “8” of the atomic number and edited to make the “3”. Also shown are a lump of bismuth and an Incan bismuth bronze knife. The medium is pencil and marker with digital post processing.