People in the Three Kingdoms: Starting from Preaching

Chapter 93 Phenomenon Conjecture
After hearing about Xu Chen's natural science methodology, Zhang Zhongjing found it quite ingenious. It's not that people don't know the importance of empirical evidence, but there are so many disciplines in the world, and most people don't know how to verify them.

The principles of the evolution of the universe, the rotation of the sun and the moon, and the changing of the four seasons are beyond the reach of human power, so how can they be proven? In order to seek an explanation, can we only use our imagination?

Even though Zhang Zhongjing was more familiar with things like birth, aging, sickness and death, he could not fully understand the current medical theories.

If one day he could find the means to verify medical theories, he would be ecstatic.

Wise men pursue truth, and who doesn’t want to get certain and realistic results?

At this moment, he felt that the so-called methodology was quite interesting, but if he really wanted to apply it, he couldn't help shaking his head, not knowing how to start.

"I am stupid and don't know how to use this method. Can Taoist priest help me solve this problem?" He looked at Xu Chen with some expectation.

Xu Chen was not surprised to hear this. This kind of thing is easy to say, but it is extremely difficult to put it into practice.

It is said to be observing phenomena, but humans have long been accustomed to all natural phenomena around them, and it is difficult to open their minds and think about the scientific principles behind them.

Not everyone who is hit by an apple can figure out why the object falls.

To accomplish this kind of thing, one needs to break out of their habitual thinking, and perhaps even need a momentary opportunity and inspiration to come up with some bold ideas, and then verify the results through logically rigorous experiments.

Xu Chen knew that this was really difficult and only the top geniuses in the human race could do it, so it was normal for Zhang Zhongjing to be confused now.

He pondered for a moment, then looked around, and finally his eyes fell on the small charcoal stove next to him. He could see that the charcoal fire inside was burning brightly, and some charcoal ash was floating in the air in the raging charcoal fire.

Xu Chen immediately had an idea, and pointed to the charcoal stove: "Zhongjing, please look here."

Zhang Zhongjing looked over, but this made him even more confused. Isn't it just a burning charcoal stove? What is there to see?

Seeing his expression, Xu Chen just smiled slightly, and then said: "Everything in this world goes from high to low, so why can this charcoal ash fly up in the fire? Isn't this strange?"

When Zhang Zhongjing heard this, he was stunned. Then he suddenly realized that it seemed to be true.

Starting a fire or furnace is a daily routine that is familiar to anyone in this era. There is no need to really observe it. With just Xu Chen's hint, he immediately confirmed the phenomenon.

Whenever there is a fire, how can there be flying ashes? It’s just that no one has really thought about the principle behind this phenomenon.

If Xu Chen had not mentioned it now, Zhang Zhongjing would not have had the awareness to explore it, because this was a phenomenon in his daily life that could not be more normal, just like water flowing to lower places, so it is natural that people instinctively ignore these phenomena.

He stared at the charcoal stove and was stunned. Yes, why were the ashes flying?
"Is it possible that Qi actually exists and has weight of its own? If something is lighter than Qi, it can float upwards?" Xu Chen leisurely picked up the teacup and took a sip. Seeing Zhang Zhongjing thinking for a long time, he smiled and expressed his opinion.

Air has weight. If you are lighter than air, you can fly?

When Zhang Zhongjing heard Xu Chen's statement, his eyes lit up at first. This statement was indeed novel, and he immediately felt that it made some sense.

But after thinking about it seriously, he shook his head and his eyes fell on the flying ashes in the charcoal stove again.

"No, according to what you said, the flying ash should be rising continuously, but in fact, it floats up and then slowly falls down. Can its weight fluctuate?"

Xu Chen didn't need to look to know that Zhang Zhongjing's counterexample was correct. It's just that the thing he said that was lighter than air was not referring to flying ash.

Xu Chen stretched out his finger, first pointed at the charcoal stove, then pointed at the sky, and smiled at Zhang Zhongjing.

"Then why does the flying ash rise in the fire and fall in the sky? It is obviously the same ash, but it has two different states in two areas. Isn't this even more strange? What external force is affecting its state?"

Xu Chen's question stumped Zhang Zhongjing again. As he thought about it, he felt that this matter was indeed strange.

This shouldn't happen. If the ashes are going to fall, they shouldn't be flying in the first place. But they have already been flying, so why are they falling again? This ups and downs is really a bit weird.

This time, Xu Chen did not say anything, but just watched Zhang Zhongjing thinking hard.

The room was extremely quiet. Zhang Zhongjing just stared at the flying ashes rising and falling for a long time without saying anything, only because he was mentally confused and could not find the solution.

This reminded him of cooking smoke and wolf smoke, which was actually the same: smoke rose into the sky and then ashes fell down.

This common phenomenon can really puzzle people if you really think about it, and it is not easy to understand it.

It was not until a long time later that he focused his thoughts on the differences between the fire and the sky, and from this he began to figure out some ideas.

He frowned and pondered for a long time before he looked up at Xu Chen and said uncertainly, "If there is any difference between the two areas, it is only hot and cold. The fire is hot and the sky is cool. Could it be that the hot and cold are affecting the rise and fall of the flying ash?"

As soon as he finished speaking, Xu Chen slammed the table and exclaimed: "Zhongjing is indeed extremely talented. His theory of cold and hot has opened my eyes. I think this is the case!"

Zhang Zhongjing had just been concentrating on his studies when he was suddenly startled by the loud noise.

He looked over and saw Xu Chen smiling, but he didn't look surprised at all.

Seeing such an expression, how could Zhang Zhongjing not understand that Xu Chen must have thought of this a long time ago, and the so-called sudden enlightenment was just to cheer himself up.

"Perhaps the thing that is lighter than air is not the ash, but the air itself. Perhaps hot air is lighter than cold air?"

Xu Chen looked quite confident, and continued with what he had just said: "I guess that the air becomes lighter and rises when heated, so it can lift the flying ashes into the air. However, when it gets cooler in the air, without the buoyancy of the hot air, the flying ashes will fall down."

Zhang Zhongjing was stunned for a moment. According to Xu Chen's explanation, it seemed that it could really be explained.

The more Zhang Zhongjing thought about it, the more it made sense to him. And it was at this moment that he realized that he was actually applying Xu Chen's natural science methodology!

The two of them were actually just observing the phenomenon and making guesses!

He understood what Xu Chen meant by this, but then he was a little disapproving: "Even if what the Taoist said just now is true, what use is it for humans to know this?"

"First of all, what we just said can only be regarded as a guess, because it has not been verified by experiments!" Xu Chen raised his eyebrows, with a half-smile on his face: "Secondly, Zhongjing said it is useless, but I don't agree. I will design an experiment to let Zhongjing see what such an ordinary and subtle principle can do!"

(End of this chapter)