Lord of Industrialization

Hunting is a free activity starting from the second day. Everyone is no longer a family unit, but forms a team with relatives and friends.

There were no outsiders around at this time, which was very suitable for confidential conversations. I don’t know how many exchanges of interests and intrigues were formed in the forest with all its leaves.

Frederick wanted to go hunting with Maria, but he didn't expect that the little girl became a boss lady and started a hot-air balloon ride business.

It takes 5 minutes to take off, and the fee is 10 florins. The queue lasts for several days after the hunting. Liebherr and others were so busy that they couldn't even touch the ground.

Frederick thought it didn't matter, as long as Maria was happy.

On the third day, an unexpected man invited him to go hunting with him.

Hunting was a holiday. The two found a grassy area next to a stream, let people grill some meat, and lay leisurely on folding chairs while talking about business.

"You have ended an era." Becher sighed deeply, his face a little sad, his eyes were no worse than dead fish, and he could not see the pride and confidence that a Dharma God should have.

"I did an experiment." He said calmly, "I filled a sealed and insulated jar with water with a partition inside, and then activated the vortex technique inside, and later used the tornado technique."

"The water rubs against the jars and partitions. Without phlogiston or the element of fire, the temperature of the water increases."

"The phlogiston theory is over, and hundreds of years of research by countless people have come to nothing."

"I gave the paper to Magic magazine and asked them to publish it in December this year. Let the old era end this year."

There was no change in Frederick's expression. This matter can be traced back to when he wrote the book "The Three Properties of Force and the Energy of the Movement of Objects and the Conjecture of Why We Stand on the Earth".

He was not exposed to the academic frontier at that time, and he did not know that phlogiston theory was still used at that time. In "Energy of Movement of Objects", he naturally included a bunch of energy conversion experiments in textbooks, including experiments on the conversion of mechanical energy into internal energy.

These experiments are interesting to ordinary people, but in the eyes of Becher and other scholars who study the phlogiston theory, they are like lightning striking from a dark cloud.

The phlogiston theory originally originated from the theory of all elements. Scholars believe that everything in the world is composed of magical elements, and the essence of combustion is the release of the fire element.

In the development of alchemy, it was first discovered that there are no traces of magic elements in some combination reactions and decomposition reactions, and objects without magic elements can also burn. At this time, the phlogiston present in the object replaced the fire element.

Becher and others believe that complex objects turn into simple ashes after burning, indicating that phlogiston acts like nails and glue to bind simple substances into complex substances. When burning, the phlogiston detaches and the complex substances fall apart. The weight reduced by the ash relative to the substance before burning is the weight of the phlogiston.

So why objects are ignited and burned? Their explanation is that the phlogiston contained in an object has an upper limit. When the phlogiston exceeds the critical value, it will cause a chain reaction of phlogiston detachment.

Using an object to ignite another object is proof that a large amount of phlogiston detached from one object enters the object next to it. The excessive phlogiston in the object next to it exceeds the critical value and causes combustion.

Sometimes the flames of some objects when burning cannot ignite certain objects, but can only heat them. Their explanation is that the temperature is a reflection of the amount of phlogiston. The more phlogiston, the higher the temperature. The temperature at which an object can carry the most phlogiston without burning is the ignition point of the object.

If the amount of phlogiston used as a binder for an object is reduced to a certain extent, it will compress the object into a ball and form a solid. If it is reduced to a certain extent, the object will be damaged, such as tin ashing at low temperatures and steel becoming brittle.

Some substances have a special combination with phlogiston. When accumulated to a certain level, they will loosen to form steam rather than break away and burn. This explains the changes between water, ice and water vapor.

It is precisely because water and phlogiston have such characteristics that it can inhibit the chain reaction of phlogiston detachment, which means it can extinguish fires.

Becher seemed a little unwilling to do so and popularized the phlogiston theory to Frederick from beginning to end. Frederick did not expect that this theory seemed to be complete and could explain many things.

"I didn't expect it." Becher said again. "Frictional heat generation has always been regarded as a dark cloud in the sky of phlogiston theory. In the end, its lightning shattered everything."

After saying that, he picked up the cup and drank the happy water in it as if it were wine.

Frederick refilled Becher's plate and said: "My teacher often said that eating ten slices of bread to make you full does not mean that you are full after eating the tenth slice. You don't need to eat the first nine slices."

"The same is true on the way to explore the truth. We can see further by standing on the shoulders of those who have gone before us."

He did not expect that these words would later be added by Becher to the paper acknowledging the failure of the phlogiston theory, and continued: "There is an alchemical experiment that I just imagined but haven't done yet. If there really is no phlogiston, then its results will be echo the expectations.”

Becher turned his head and waited seriously for the next step.

Frederick asked him: "Have you ever heard of the soul weight experiment?"

Becher nodded. This is a famous experiment in history. Most people can't do it, but the result is very important.

Many years ago, when there was still a debate about whether the soul had weight, a tyrant made ten huge scales, stuffed living people and charcoal and lime to prevent corpses from decaying into a large box, sealed it with lead, and hung it on one end. One end is a counterweight.

Some of these people were treacherous and evil, and some were priests with noble moral character. According to the theory at the time, their soul weights were different.

As a result, the balance did not change after two months. The tyrant asked people to open the small hole in the box to let the soul out, but the balance still did not change.

Friedrich mentions this, of course, not to conduct an experiment on living people, but also to talk about an experiment done by a confused scientist from his hometown.

"Prepare a glass cover and a saucer." He drew a diagram in the air using light elements. "Put phosphorus inside, use a magnifying glass to focus the sunlight to ignite it, and measure its weight change before and after burning."

"Such an experiment can be replaced with other substances, such as something that burns easily."

"About combustion, I have done several experiments before."

"Put a wooden board in the water basin. There is a burning candle on the wooden board, and use a transparent glass cover to flip it upside down in the water. After a while, the candle goes out before it burns out, and the water surface in the glass cover is smaller than the water in the water basin outside. It’s so high, I guess it’s caused by some component in the air being consumed during combustion.”

"There is also charcoal, which consumes air when burned inside. When charcoal and candles burn, they also produce a gas that can make the limestone cloudy."

"If the mouse is also locked in a sealed glass cover, it will eventually suffocate to death, and at the same time, this gas that makes the lime water turbid will appear in the air."

"These white turbid substances can decompose into the same gas when heated. The decomposed substances will heat up when exposed to water, and when they encounter this gas, they will produce this white substance. What did you think of?"

Becher responded immediately: "Limestone, the same as limestone."

Frederick nodded and said: "Yes, I speculate that the transformation between the main components of limestone and quicklime and hydrated lime is related to heating, heat release and this gas."

"In alchemy, the vacancy of phlogiston can be filled by 'temperature'. Why some reactions require heating and some release heat? This is a new research direction."

Becher listened to him quietly, and then just nodded politely. He did not accept the so-called new theory regardless of it like an empty-headed person, but thought about how to repeat these experiments.

Frederick saw that his originally dull eyes were gradually getting brighter, and he began to think again.

"I have an idea." The corner of Frederick's mouth curled up slightly, "I want Weisenberg University to take the lead and I will pay for it to invite famous experts and scholars in a certain field to Weisenburg Castle every two to three years. Hold a seminar to conduct face-to-face exchanges on cutting-edge exploration and academic debates in this field.”

"For example, this time, after the end of the phlogiston theory, you need a new direction of development. Instead of scratching your heads at home, why not sit down and study it carefully, maybe there will be new gains."

Becher turned his head to look at him and replied: "If this is the case, at least four Dharma gods will be present."

A bright smile appeared on Frederick's face. This was the effect he wanted.

However, Becher continued: "Just because you and I are on good terms with each other, it doesn't mean that other people are on good terms with you. Have you ever thought that if you mess with everyone and they want to beat you up, what should you do?"

The corner of Frederick's mouth twitched. If there were so many top people who wanted to beat him up, the master would probably have to give in. Psyche would at most help with the quarrel, and Maria might sell tickets.

"Well..." Frederick paused, "Let's all agree on whether we want to fight with words or not with force."

Becher did not answer the call, but thought about it. After drinking a glass of happy water, he said: "This is indeed a bit attractive. I will write to everyone first and let you know if there is feedback."

Frederick nodded and said: "Actually, I have another idea, to set up a jury to regularly select people in several major fields who have made great contributions to all mankind, regardless of country, region, or belief. , it is mainly theoretical work that reveals the principles, and the prize for each award is only 5 kilograms of gold."

"How much?" Becher clicked his ear, "Can you tell me again how much the bonus is?"

Frederick replied seriously: "5 kilograms of gold, of which 1 kilogram is a medal and 4 kilograms of gold coins."

Becher was silent. His annual salary from the royal family was only 250 grams more gold than this bonus.

He suddenly turned serious and said: "If you don't want this to turn into a farce, you need to have strict standards and judges."

Frederick nodded and said: "Yes, so I want to use various seminars as an opportunity to have a good exchange with scholars on this matter."

Becher thought about it for a long time and finally thought it was feasible.