http://www.levity.com/alchemy/
In the age of the New Age myths, I believe this website about alchemy is a real deal.

One of my first questions here was an inquiry into Ormus a.k.a.monoatomic-gold.The link to Steve Pavlina's forum you might find interesting .
and no I haven't tried it.
peace

The philosopher's stone (Latin: lapis philosophorum) is a legendary alchemical substance said to be capable of turning base metals (lead, for example) into gold (chrysopoeia) or silver. It was also sometimes believed to be an elixir of life, useful for rejuvenation and possibly for achieving immortality. For many centuries, it was the most sought-after goal in Western alchemy. The philosopher's stone was the central symbol of the mystical terminology of alchemy, symbolizing perfection, enlightenment, and heavenly bliss. Efforts to discover the philosopher's stone were known as the Great Work.[1]

so alchemy was not just changing metals. they where trying to get enlightenment.

The term Great Work (magnum opus) is a term used in Hermeticism and in certain occult traditions and religions such as Thelema.The Great Work is, before all things, the creation of man by himself, that is to say, the full and entire conquest of his faculties and his future; it is especially the perfect emancipation of his will.Within Thelema, the Great Work is generally defined as those spiritual practices leading to the mystical union of the Self and the All. Its founder, author and occultist Aleister Crowley, said of it in his book Magick Without Tears:

The Great Work is the uniting of opposites. It may mean the uniting of the soul with God, of the microcosm with the macrocosm, of the female with the male, of the ego with the non-ego."[3]

I have a book that says the Philosophers Stone of Alchemy was actually Salt.

This is because salt can make things in a plasma state to lose an electron.

I have the formulas but Jai who used to study chemistry said the heat would have to be tremendous! and it could explode even!

But the formulas say how to turn base metals into gold. At least mathematically it works with algebra formulas...