"Hey, sulfuric acid can dissolve rust, why can't it dissolve iron?"
"It's really strange, why can't copper coins be dissolved? Copper is not harder than iron."
The seven lanes were divided into three groups to do experiments, throwing everything into the sulfuric acid tank, and talking about it. Wan Lei was busy with other things, and Wei'er was watching the laboratory. Nothing went wrong. Those guys strictly followed the instructions.
Use sulfuric acid according to the experimental procedures, and these are weak sulfuric acids. As long as they don't get into the eyes, they won't hurt anyone.
"Iron and copper elements cannot react with light sulfuric acid, and partial reaction will only occur when concentrated sulfuric acid is heated. Therefore, in order to dissolve iron and copper in sulfuric acid, the iron and copper must first be heated and calcined in the air.
They become iron oxide and copper oxide." Wei'er turned over the book and then explained.
"I told you earlier, we have been working in vain for so long." Zhao Xueer was impatient and set up a kerosene lamp and a crucible and started burning copper coins. As for iron sulfate, she has already seen it, and now she just wants to see what copper sulfate is.
color.
These little guys were messing around in Laboratory No. 2, but Wan Lei was doing high-risk operations in his own laboratory. There was a blazing fire under a large, airtight iron can, and what was in the can was coal instead of water.
, all he has to do is to make coke and recover ammonia from the coke oven gas. Don't underestimate this ammonia, it is a treasure, its molecular formula is nh3, and it is the main raw material for the production of nitric acid and fertilizers.
Not to mention that nitric acid is a raw material for the production of smokeless gunpowder, let’s say that ammonia gas dissolves in water and carbon dioxide solution to form ammonium carbonate, which is the raw material for producing alkali. Ammonium carbonate reacts with sodium chloride of salt to form ammonium chloride and sodium bicarbonate.
Heating sodium bicarbonate can produce sodium carbonate, that is, soda ash. This is the combined alkali production method.
Soda ash is not only a raw material for the production of glass, but also a raw material for the production of soap. Soda ash is mixed with animal fat or vegetable fat according to a certain process, and then various spices, additives and colorants are added to form a block, which is very decontaminating and has a fragrance.
of soap.
As a new product, due to the backward production process of ammonia, the productivity of soda ash must be very low. Therefore, Wan Lei has no plans to market soap. The hard-won ammonia on hand will be used to produce nitric acid.
Nitroglycerin can be produced by treating glycerol with nitric acid and sulfuric acid.
Nitroglycerine is an oily yellow transparent substance. This thing is a dangerous product. It explodes due to vibration. When mixed with ordinary gunpowder, it can be made into high explosives. Then mixed with other nitrocellulose according to a certain formula, it can be made into smokeless gunpowder.
, as explosives for guns and cannons.
Once smokeless gunpowder is available, bullets and shells can be produced, and guns can enter the post-loading era without using an open flame for ignition. They can be used in any weather. The bullets are made of copper and can be easily processed.
Forming, but the gun is not that easy.
The commonly used firearms in the Ming Dynasty were firecrackers, which were simply small cannons. Since they were ignited by an open flame, there were naturally no firing devices such as triggers. It was not so much a musket as a hollow fire stick. We wanted to produce a new type of gun.
Not only do you need blueprints, but you also need good steel. Because ordinary pig iron is too brittle to be used to cast guns, steelmaking is urgent.
The Peiping Army had just formed an army not long ago. It lacked field training and could only do well in defending the city. It would definitely not be able to charge into the field. But now that the imperial army has left, the defense task of Shuntian Mansion has fallen on the Peking Army itself. In the future, the enemy will never be able to do it.
Just abandon the perimeter and retreat to Peiping, right?
Therefore, Wan Lei has always been worried about improving the field capabilities of the Peiping Army. It is said that if infantry wants to deal with cavalry, the best way is to use guns, long-range, powerful and easy-to-load repeating guns, preferably machine guns. If there is
Hundreds of heavy machine guns are set up in front of the formation. No matter how many troops you have, they will only become a sieve.
Wan Lei has been busy for a long time. The purpose is actually to see the effect of smokeless gunpowder. If the effect is good, then he will overcome all difficulties and set up a steelmaking plant to make large-scale guns. If the effect is not good, then temporarily stop the production of weapons.
Put it aside and develop the tactics of mixing firearms and cavalry first.
However, ammonia does not react with oxygen under normal circumstances. It can only react with a catalyst. The common catalyst is platinum. Platinum, also known as platinum, is a precious metal that is rarer than gold. There are many so-called
The platinum was all fake, and Wan Lei got a small piece of genuine platinum in Jinan after buying it at a high price.
Fortunately, this thing is just a catalyst and can be reused. Otherwise, if you use this method to produce nitric acid, you will go bankrupt. First, make the platinum into a mesh, and then use high temperature to oxidize the ammonia. The ammonia and oxygen burn to form a
Nitric oxide and water, nitric oxide is then oxidized into nitrogen dioxide, and nitrogen dioxide is absorbed by water to generate nitric acid.
Wan Lei, who had been busy from morning to afternoon, was sweating profusely and finally stopped what he was doing. A bottle of liquid weighing several kilograms was gently swaying in his hand, and a pungent breath came out. He immediately
Take out the bottle cork, put it in a locked cabinet, and pour only half a cup for the next experiment.
The first step is to make nitroglycerin, the second step is to make nitrocellulose, and finally the two things are mixed in a certain proportion. In fact, whether it is nitroglycerin or nitrocellulose, nitric acid and sulfuric acid are used, and they are also very dangerous.
Because this is an exothermic reaction, cool it with cold water.
Nitroglycerine is okay, as long as the temperature during nitration is controlled, there will be no explosion without a big shock. Nitrocellulose is different. The so-called fiber is actually cotton. Put a handful of cotton into the heated nitrification liquid.
, it may burn or even explode if you are not careful, so be very, very careful.
Wan Lei is a very careful person, especially when conducting such high-risk experiments, every nerve in his body is tense. After all, nitric acid is different from sulfuric acid. It is hard-won, but it is all paid for with nothing.
Especially when everything is difficult at the beginning and you don’t have much to ask for, and you can only make enough food and clothing by yourself, this thing is even more expensive than silver.
The cotton was put into the nitrification liquid, and the nitrification liquid began to heat up. Wan Lei's heart suddenly rose to his throat. After a while, the boiling stopped, and the cotton turned into light yellow. Wan Lei carefully put them
Clip it out, dry it, chop it carefully, then mix it with the small half bottle of nitroglycerin you just made, gently press it into powder, then mix in some black powder to make a few ounces of stuff, pour it into a small bamboo
Guan Li, he finally let out a long breath.
Of course, explosion experiments cannot be done in the laboratory. Wan Lei found a long hemp rope and dipped it in gunpowder to use as a fuse. He also found an open space and buried the small bamboo tube in the ground. There was no one around.
, he lit the fire. The fire spread rapidly along the fuse. He quickly ducked behind a broken wall and covered his ears with his hands.
"boom!"
There was a loud noise, and the violent explosion wave carried countless sand and stones, flying more than ten meters horizontally, and landed on Wan Lei's head. When the dust settled, he looked over and saw, good guy, a radius of more than 100 meters was exploded on the ground.
With a one-meter pit, this effect is several times stronger than the same dose of black powder.
"Hey, what are you doing? Do you want to scare people to death?" Zhao Xueer's voice came from not far away, with several people following behind her, who were obviously very scared.
"Not bad, not bad, powerful enough." Wan Lei showed a satisfied smile on his face, his white teeth shining in the sun.
"What's so powerful, what are you playing at?" Zhao Xueer came over and saw a large pit one meter wide and nearly three meters deep. Her eyes widened, fearful and curious at the same time.
"I'm researching new gunpowder, not just for fun." Wan Lei rubbed his hands and asked, "How about it, have you figured out the redox reaction?"
"Do you understand what you are doing? You still have the nerve to ask. Your sour things can't even melt iron and copper, so we have to burn the iron and copper again, half of the time. I was so frightened by you that I almost lost my temper.
The bottle was shaken and fell to the ground." Zhao Xueer complained with a look on her face.
"Oh, then keep working hard. When you understand basic chemistry, I will teach you more advanced stuff." Wan Lei said this, took out a piece of white paper, waved it in front of everyone, and said:
"Do you believe that I can turn this piece of paper into a flower?"
"Just blow it, can paper turn into flowers? Then a deer can turn into a horse." Zhao Xueer naturally didn't believe it. Wan Lei smiled slightly, spread out his hands, and then snapped his fingers, and the paper was ignited with a flash of fire.
After that, the paper disappeared without a trace, and a small yellow flower appeared on Wan Lei's hand.
"How about it, I didn't lie to you." Wan Lei smiled proudly again, casually inserted the yellow flowers into Wei'er's hair, and then walked away quickly, leaving the dumbfounded Xiao Dao where he was.
"Hey, Brother Wan, wait for me." Zhao Xueer was the first to come to her senses and immediately caught up with her, saying, "Brother Wan, how did you do this? Can you teach me this trick?"
"This is not a fake trick, but a real skill. You can't learn it. If you understand all chemistry, you can become a great mage like me." Wan Lei raised the corner of his mouth and ignored Zhao Xueer's soft touch.
Hard foam.
In fact, the little magic trick just now is called fire paper turning into flowers. Many people can do it. The difficulty lies in making fire paper. Just now Wan Lei was doing a nitrification experiment and also made a piece of fire paper. This kind of fire paper is also
It can be called nitrocellulose. It burns quickly and has no ash. It is often used in magic performances to deceive people.
Seeing that Wan Lei didn't teach, Zhao Xueer started pouting, but her eyes were still rolling around with evil intent. Several of her junior brothers and sisters also started talking about it, trying to figure out what was going on. That Bai Bai
How could paper suddenly catch fire, and how could it suddenly turn into little flowers?
Only Wei'er was still standing there stupidly, and the little yellow flower on her head was fluttering gently in the wind...
ps: The weather suddenly changed, I caught a cold, woohoo...
Fortunately, I have saved the manuscript, and I will try to update it twice a day these days.