Answer is: because they were using simple chemical reactions to transform elements, but that is possible only with nuclear reactions, which in that time were not possible to conduct.
Nuclear reactions can produce new elements, because number of protons and neutrons is changed, lead and gold have different atomic and mass numbers.
The electrons of an atom participates in a chemical reaction, chemical reactions involve the rearrangement of electrons, because there is transfer, loss, gain and sharing of electrons in chemical reactions, new elements are not formed.
The answer is baking a cake.
The bones of the same animal found out continents far away from each other
Explanation:
Sodium metal reacts rapidly with water to form a colourless basic solution of sodium hydroxide (NaOH) and hydrogen gas (H2). The reaction continues even when the solution becomes basic. The resulting solution is basic because of the dissolved hydroxide.