"I don't know much about Seris's situation. Can't they make this kind of thing?" Dmitri asked: "I have always felt that they are just like the countries in mythology, they are very developed in everything..."
"This is mainly a matter of raw materials." Guo Kang explained: "You have to say that compared to ceramics, the temperature required to burn glass is indeed lower. It stands to reason that there is no technical difficulty. But the glass technology in the Seris area not only appeared late, And it’s very different from the glass here. Because the materials used for these two kinds of glass are different.”
"What is produced in the Mediterranean world is soda-lime glass that is fired with alkali. Since ancient Egypt, everyone has been extracting raw materials from salt-alkali lakes for glass production; but Seris has long been short of alkali ores and cannot To meet demand, their 'glass' is fired with compounds containing lead and barium."
"This kind of glass has a bright color, but it is opaque, not resistant to high temperatures, is fragile, and has low use value. Since porcelain matures very early, glass with poor performance cannot be used as a vessel, so it developed in other directions. Finally, Various kinds of glazed ware were formed, instead of the light-transmitting glass we have here.”
"The problem of lack of resources is much more serious than the lack of technology. This cannot be made up for by manpower." He shook his head and said: "Serris has been importing glass a long time ago, and even Li Xuanying and others talked about it every day. Tang Dynasty. Almost all large pieces of transparent glassware from the Tang Dynasty discovered in later generations were imported from Eastern Rome and Sasanian Persia. Someone occasionally dug out the hoards at that time, and there were even Roman coins in them."
"That's it...then how long can our advantage last?" Tuo Huan asked.
"It can last until the chemicals come in. I guess it lasts longer than porcelain." Guo Kang said.
Tuohuan frowned, feeling unconvinced.
But Guo Kang really didn't coax him about this.
Until the end of the Qing Dynasty, the Central Plains region was still very short of alkali, and it even needed to be purchased in large quantities from Inner Mongolia. Because it was transported through Zhangjiakou, it became the famous "mouth alkali" at that time.
Even though missionaries have brought mature glass technology and spread it among the people, glassware is still not widely used. It was not until the emergence of modern alkali production technology that the conditions for mass production were available. It's too late...
"Glass is not only needed in life, but also in research." Guo Kang said: "The lack of glassware will directly affect the research of natural philosophy."
"Do you think, without this kind of transparent utensil, many demonstrations here would be impossible to do?" He reminded: "As for chemistry...I mean alchemy, it is indispensable."
"Without a transparent, strong, high-temperature-resistant container, many changes cannot be observed. In that case, wouldn't conducting experiments become like the folk story about the Supreme Master refining Sun Wukong?"
"Before opening the alchemy furnace, Sun Wukong is logically in a state of superposition of life and death. Observation is required to confirm. But when the furnace is opened for observation, Sun Wukong may run away." He said metaphorically: "In this way, It just becomes a blind practice and then a gamble. This is definitely not conducive to research."
"This story is so strange..." Dmitri was confused.
"Well, actually the story was originally very profound. I just changed it a bit to give you an example." Guo Kang said: "This story originally came from a gentleman named Xue. Sun Wukong is a monkey monster, so this story is It’s called the ‘Tai Shang Laojun’s Monkey’ experiment.”
"That's it..." Tuo Huan also nodded: "But what did you say just now, what is contained in the glass? I didn't understand. Is that also a technical term?"
"That represents 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 just the four categories classified by our ancestors. We can classify them in another way, Try to make it more comprehensive. But this is too profound and is not needed for the time being."
"oh……"
Tuo Huan was used to him using all kinds of nouns, so she didn't ask any further questions.
However, Guo Kang, after being reminded like this, thought of the issue of elements. I don’t know what names to give these elements in this world. He was used to using many words, but he couldn't tell which others liked them more.
Moreover, Zhu Wenkui's generation has already reached "earth", and his next generation should be next to Jinzi. But in this way, will we have to rush to register the periodic table of elements with Lao Zhu’s family in the future...
He thought for a while and had no idea. Fortunately, we are still far away from this situation, so there is no need to worry for the time being.
While thinking wildly, he led everyone out of the glass workshop.
"Currently we only have one laboratory left." He said: "It's more dangerous there. It's still the same. Let's look at it from a distance."
Everyone had heard him say it several times, and they all nodded to express their understanding.
They came to a single wooden house. It seemed to be a temporary building, more like a shed with a curtain than a house. There was a monk 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 pulled back the curtain and put on the same robe and beak mask as the previous group. However, the robes and masks here are painted with white patterns, and the glasses are also transparent.
The monk put on his gloves, walked into the cubicle, and brought out two assistants dressed similarly. They were all dressed in the same attire and brought over a large basin of mercury.
"In this mask, there are metal sheets and ice cubes." Guo Kang said: "Mercury is needed here, and there are thermal processing steps. But the gas evaporated by mercury is poisonous, so this kind of mask was made."
"Is this useful?" Tuo Huan asked.
"If you can condense part of the mercury and reduce inhalation, it will be considered a success." Guo Kang shook his head and said: "Otherwise, we can only ventilate more and rotate more to reduce toxicity as much as possible."
The monks didn't seem to care much. The leader also waved his hands and made the sign of the cross, indicating that he didn't care.
They went to the cubicle again and took out a long glass tube. Several people carefully filled the tube with mercury, put it mouth down into the basin, and then stood up.
Everyone watched the mercury in the tube flow out, slowly drop, and then stop.
"Huh? Why don't you move?" asked a monk.
"Oh, this is the alchemy here." Dmitri was already used to the "alchemy miracle" here and began to take the initiative to guess here.
"Strictly speaking, this is not alchemy. Aristotle wrote a book called Physics. According to his classification, this demonstration should belong to the category of physics." Guo Kang said.
(End of chapter)
