Since the Accounting: A Chronicle of the Roman Khanate

Chapter 155 Preempting the Periodic Table of Elements

"I don't know much about Seris' situation. Can't they make this kind of thing?" Dmitri asked: "I always feel that they are as developed as the countries in mythology..."

"This is mainly a problem of raw materials." Guo Kang explained: "You have to say that compared with ceramics, the temperature required for firing glass is indeed lower, and it stands to reason that there is no technical difficulty. But the glass technology in the Serris area not only appeared late, And it is very different from the glass here. Because the materials used for these two kinds of glass are different.”

"The Mediterranean world produces soda-calcium glass that is fired with alkali. Since ancient Egypt, people have extracted raw materials from saline-alkali lakes for glass production; but Serris lacked alkali mines for a long time and could not To meet the demand, their 'glass' is fired with compounds containing lead and barium."

"This kind of glass is bright in color, but it is opaque, not resistant to high temperature, and is also very fragile, and its use value is not high. Because porcelain is very premature, glass with poor performance cannot be used as a vessel, so it develops in other directions. Finally, All kinds of glassware were formed instead of the light-transmitting glass on our side."

"The problem of lack of resources is much more serious than the lack of technology. It cannot be made up by manpower." He shook his head and said, "Serris has been importing glass a long time ago, even Li Xuanying and the others talked about it every day. Tang. The large transparent glass vessels of the Tang Dynasty discovered by later generations are almost all imported from Eastern Rome and Sasanian Persia. Someone occasionally dug up the hoard at that time, and there were Roman coins in it.”

"Is that so... then how long will our advantage last?" Tuo Huan asked.

"It can last until chemistry comes up, I guess it will last longer than porcelain." Guo Kang said.

Tuo Huan frowned, not quite believing it.

But in this matter, Guo Kang did not coax him.

Until the end of the Qing Dynasty, the Central Plains region was still very short of alkali, and even had to buy a large amount from Inner Mongolia.Because it was transported through Zhangjiakou, it became the famous "Koujian" at that time.

Even though missionaries have brought mature glass technology and spread it among the people, glassware still cannot be widely used.It was not until the modern soda-making process appeared that there were conditions for mass production.it's too late...

"Not only in life, but also in research." Guo Kang said: "The lack of glassware will directly affect the research of natural philosophy."

"Do you think, if there is no such transparent vessel, we will not be able to do many demonstrations here?" He reminded: "As for chemistry... I mean alchemy, it is even more indispensable."

"Without a transparent, strong, and high-temperature-resistant container, many changes cannot be observed. In that case, wouldn't it be like the Taishang Laojun refining Sun Wukong in a folktale when doing experiments?"

"Before turning on the alchemy furnace, Sun Wukong is logically in a superposition state of life and death. It must be observed to confirm. But when the furnace is turned on to observe, Monkey King may run away." He compared: "In this way, It becomes a blind practice, and then a gamble. This is definitely not conducive to research."

"This story is so weird..." Dmitri was confused.

"Uh, actually the story was originally very profound. I made a random change to give you an example." Guo Kang said: "This story originally came from a Mr. Xue. Sun Wukong is a monkey monster, so this story is It's called the 'Taishang Laojun's monkey' experiment."

"That's it..." Tuo Huan also nodded: "But you just said, what is in the glass? I didn't understand, is that some kind of technical term?"

"That means natural elements." Guo Kang explained: "There are many types of substances in the world. Over the years, everyone has discovered that there are more than the four that were classified by the ancestors. We can classify them in another way. Try to make it more comprehensive. But this is too esoteric, and we don’t need it for the time being.”

"Oh……"

Tuo Huan was used to him talking about all kinds of nouns, so he didn't ask.

On the contrary, Guo Kang, who was reminded by him, thought of the problem of elements.I don't know what to name these elements in this world.He is used to many words, but it is not clear what other people prefer.

Moreover, Zhu Wenkui's generation has already reached the "soil", and his next generation should be next to the gold character.It's just that in this way, in the future, will I rush to register the periodic table of elements with the old Zhu's family...

He thought for a while, but had no idea.Fortunately, this situation is still far away, so there is no need to worry about it for the time being.

While thinking wildly, he led everyone away from the glass workshop.

"At present, we have only one laboratory left." He said, "It's more dangerous there, it's still the same, let's take a look from afar."

After listening to him several times, everyone nodded their heads to express their understanding.

They came to a separate wooden house.It seemed to be a temporary structure, more like a shed with curtains than a house.A monk was waiting for them at the door.

After entering, Guo Kang told him to demonstrate the experiment to everyone.

The monk nodded and told everyone to stay away.He drew back the curtain, then put on the same robe and beak mask as the previous group.However, the robe and mask here are painted with white patterns, and the glasses are also transparent.

The monk put on his gloves, walked into the compartment, and brought out two equally dressed assistants.They were all in the same attire, and they brought over a large basin of quicksilver.

"In this mask, there are metal sheets and ice cubes." Guo Kang said: "Mercury is used here, and there is also a thermal processing step. But the gas evaporated from mercury is poisonous, so this mask was made."

"Does this work?" Tuo Huan asked.

"If you can condense a part of the mercury and reduce the inhalation, it is considered a success." Guo Kang shook his head and said, "Otherwise, we can only ventilate more, take more turns, and minimize toxicity."

The monks didn't seem to care too much.The leader waved his hand and made a sign of the cross, expressing that he didn't care.

They went to the compartment again and brought out a long glass tube.Several people carefully filled the tube with mercury, put it mouth down into the basin, and then stood it up.

Everyone watched the mercury flow out of the tube, slowly descending, and then stopped.

"Hey? Why didn't you move?" A monk asked.

"Oh, this is the alchemy here." Dmitri was used to the "alchemy miracle" here, and began to guess here.

"Strictly speaking, this is not alchemy. Aristotle wrote a "Physics". According to his classification, this demonstration should belong to the category of physics." Guo Kang said.

(End of this chapter)