People nearby have long been accustomed to laboratory explosions.
The explosion occurred in Cui Ruoyun's laboratory. Since this female Sima of the domineering house moved here, it can be said that there has been a small explosion every three days and a big explosion every two days.
Although the explosion was louder today, no one paid much attention.
Sure enough, after a while, a disgraced Cui Ruoyun ran out of the laboratory, shouting, "I succeeded! I succeeded!"
Cui Ruoyun opened the in-game chat, opened the special friends column to Jian Xia, and sent a message.
"Xia Xia, you said you were coming to Shazhou City for a meeting, are you here?"
Jian Xia quickly replied: "I'll be arriving in Shazhou soon. What's wrong?"
Cui Ruoyun said excitedly: "I made collodion!"
"Just wait for me and I'll be there!"
In less than half a day, the tired Jian Xia arrived outside Cui Ruoyun's laboratory.
She came to Shazhou from Guazhou Iron Works to report on her work.
Another purpose of Jian Xia's visit to Shazhou was to participate in the Western Regions Commodity Expo held by the Western Business Group.
The situation in the Western Region is now a bit unstable, and most of the players in the Westbound Business Group have chosen to return to Shazhou.
Only Sun Jianguo and a few other players insisted on continuing westward.
The business group brought back a large amount of specialties from the Western Regions, and Jian Xia wanted to go shopping for any ores and gems.
But after hearing that Cui Ruoyun had made collodion, Jian Xia immediately rushed over.
Cui Ruoyun pushed open the door to the experiment. The explosion just occurred in the reinforced experimental cabinet, but the shock wave still shattered many test tubes. The mixture of these chemical substances caused a small fire.
But now the fire has been extinguished, and the walls and roof of the laboratory are scorched black. It seems that this is not the first time that the laboratory has caught fire.
Cui Ruoyun said excitedly: "The saltpeter mine in Zhangye is indeed of high quality. Look, this is the high-concentration nitric acid I prepared."
Cui Ruoyun excitedly took Jian Xia to visit her laboratory. When she saw a tank of nitric acid, Jian Xia took two steps back.
Although she is not a chemistry dog, this kind of strong acid is also used in metallurgy.
This stuff is extremely corrosive, and Jian Xia doesn't want to be the first player to die in an experimental accident.
Cui Ruoyun continued: "The sulfur I purchased from the Western Regions has also arrived. This is the concentrated sulfuric acid I prepared."
Then Cui Ruoyun came to a test bench. She took out a ball of white cotton and said, "Look, this is nitrocellulose!"
Jian Xia carefully took the ball of white cotton. Metallurgy is also a branch of chemistry. Of course she knew that this was no ordinary cotton.
This was the second gunpowder invented in human history and is still widely used in guns.
This seemingly harmless white cotton has a higher explosive power than black gunpowder. If this small ball of cotton is ignited, it can blow off Jian Xia's arm!
After observing for a while, Jian Xia quickly put down the ball of cotton.
She looked at the excited Cui Ruoyun and said, "With propellant, can we produce muskets?"
Cui Ruoyun was not so optimistic. She said: "It's still early. Historically, from the invention of nitrocellulose to its application in firearms, scientists have spent decades making this material stable and safe."
"Although I have the experience of previous people, it will take some time to prepare safe products outside the laboratory."
After finishing speaking, Cui Ruoyun looked at Jian Xia and said: "The main reason is that your materials are not up to par. You haven't come up with a high-strength alloy until now."
Jian Xia said unconvinced: "I don't even have a precision analysis instrument, so I can only try and make mistakes. How about we switch?"
After the argument, Cui Ruoyun said: "As long as the safety of guncotton is increased, it can be used as a filler for artillery shells, and we can make explosive grenades."
Both cannonballs and bullets have gone through two stages of development.
At first, the shells and bullets were live ammunition, and iron balls and steel balls were fired. The main lethality was the propulsive force created by the propellant.
The black powder explodes in the barrel, and the expanding air pushes away the iron ball and hits the target with kinetic energy.
This is why Zhang Guangde's artillery is better at attacking cities and is not very powerful in field battles.
Live ammunition is not very lethal to personnel, and can only kill the enemy if it hits the vital point.
Obviously, the gunpowder at this time did not have the crushing power on the battlefield.
What truly turned firearms into modern weapons was the invention of fillers.
Gunpowder is filled into the shell and bullet. The propellant is only responsible for pushing the shell out of the barrel. The filling powder causes the shell to explode, causing large-scale destruction.
From this era, firearms began to dominate the battlefield.
Unexpectedly, Jian Xia shook her head first and said: "Our casting technology is not up to par, and we cannot cast hollow cannonballs."
With every other line separated, Cui Ruoyun asked: "Can't we make two hemispheres and then weld them together?"
Jian Xia smiled and said: "There are no welded cannonballs. The cannonballs are all formed in one piece. The welding is not reliable. The explosion will only break the cannonball into two halves, and it is impossible to cause damage by shrapnel."
"Then how are hollow cannonballs cast in one piece?"
Jian Xia said: "It is actually centrifugal casting. The molten iron is poured into a spherical mold, and then the mold is rotated. The molten iron is evenly distributed on the inner wall of the casting mold through centrifugal force. When the molten iron cools, a complete hollow cannonball can be obtained.
"
"Isn't this method very simple? Isn't it just to make a rotating mold?"
Every other line is like a mountain. Although metallurgy can be considered a branch of chemistry, Cui Ruoyun is also a complete layman.
Jian Xia smiled and said: "Centrifugal casting is not that simple. The rotation speed cannot be too fast or too slow. Too fast will affect the stability of the metal crystal. Such a shell may explode in the barrel, which is a suicide weapon.
Already."
"The speed cannot be too slow. If it is too slow, the shells will be uneven, and the impact point of the fired shells cannot be calculated, and it is useless if the shells are not accurate."
After saying this, both of them sighed in unison.
The development of any technology embodies the wisdom of a large number of scientific researchers, and the development of any technology also relies on many prerequisite technologies.
The development of science and technology is definitely not based on knowing a reaction equation and being able to create missiles.
Jian Xia sighed and said, "Why is it so easy for me to make a howitzer after reading novels and TV shows?"
Cui Ruoyun said: "Let's do it step by step. At least we have the guidance of our predecessors. As long as we can solve these problems step by step, we will definitely be able to produce qualified guns."
Jian Xia changed the subject and said, "Have you been at home for a long time?"
Cui Ruoyun was unkempt, and if Li Yan hadn't specially sent a maid to serve her, she would have looked even more sloppy.
Jian Xia pulled her and said: "Go and wash up quickly. Let's go to the Western Region Exhibition. There must be a lot of good products!"