Chapter 584： Phlogiston

Tennyson Fadeyev stares intently at the burning iron.

In order to study the properties of steel and iron, Tennyson built a small furnace with a blower in his experimental site, and applied to deploy several craftsmen from the Iron Works of the Government Council to assist him. He has been here countless times for a week Repeated this step again and again, he hoped to gain some insight by repeating the step of melting metal. Tennyson observed a variety of iron-related metals, including pig iron, wrought iron, and what the lord called steel.

Now, the piece of iron he was focusing on gradually turned red and softened under continuous burning, and then slowly melted into a pool of fiery red liquid flowing out.

Tennyson once tested that if the molten iron is continuously stirred, after it is re-solidified, its weight will be a little less than before it was melted, and the re-solidified iron also becomes wrought iron in the mouth of the blacksmith, and it becomes more Soft. Tennyson deduced that the weight loss meant that something must have been separated during the stirring process, and most likely escaped into the air, and this kind of thing is most likely to make the iron from hard to soft. key substance.

In fact, Tennyson knew from his conversations with blacksmiths that the way in which molten iron is stirred and allowed to re-solidify to change its properties is known in their jargon as "frying steel," but is not the same as stacking pig and wrought iron. Compared with the way of forging steel together, "steel frying" is a job that depends on luck. In most cases, the molten iron melted from pig iron will be directly turned into mature iron after being fried to the end, instead of wanting to of steel. So this method is not commonly used.

The words of the blacksmiths gave Tennyson inspiration. Could this series of changes be caused by changes in the content of that key substance in iron? Stir the molten iron, the quality becomes lighter, and the pig iron becomes mature iron, which means that the content of this substance is more in pig iron, and less in wrought iron, but after mixing pig iron and wrought iron, it becomes steel again, which is also It is this substance which is divided equally between pig and wrought iron, so that in the new iron form it is less present than in pig iron, and more than in wrought iron.

Of course, it is also possible that it is not just one substance, or in other words, the properties of iron have changed due to the effect of not just one elemental substance.

"The 35th time..." Tennyson took a long breath and picked up a pen and paper to record the observation process. Although most of the records were repetitive, he still took notes.

After taking notes, Tennyson's stomach growled. He walked out of the experiment site and planned to go to the cafeteria of Weiss College to fill his stomach. Members of various laboratories and disciplines of Weiss College have their own agreed "territory" in the cafeteria. The territory of the group of people who study and study chemistry is located in the southeast corner of the lobby. Whenever meals are served, from here they can Keep passing out some of their internal jargon. After finishing his meal, Tennyson came to the small circle of teachers and students of the Department of Chemistry in the southeast corner. A large group of people had gathered here, talking loudly while stuffing things into their mouths.

"Hey! Tennyson, this way!"

The other head of the chemistry lab, Hoffman, waved his hand to greet him, and Tennyson sat down at a table near him, "Why, isn't Mr. Wells here yet?"

"Oh, you know him, he forgets to sleep and eat once he starts an experiment." Hoffman said with a smile, "I guess he won't eat this meal at noon again."

Alas, Tennyson shook his head. Teacher Wells and several other students are also conducting experiments on steel. They meet every day to exchange their experiences, and sometimes they gather together to repeat some experiments that may lead to new discoveries.

Everyone was trying their best to help themselves. Thinking of this, Tennyson felt moved.

"How is your research going?" Hoffman asked with great concern. He knew that Tennyson's research was very important to the Fadeyev family's worth and life.

Hoffman himself is leading a chemistry team to carry out another important task entrusted to the laboratory by Earl Paul Greiman—the research on the preparation of pesticides from sulfuric acid. He is also very busy on weekdays, so the research on steel this time is not I didn't participate in it, but I will ask about the progress in my spare time.

Tennyson was picking up a piece of tofu and stuffing it into his mouth. It was said that this was the food invented by the lord, Earl Graham. He was such a wide-ranging inventor.

Hearing the teacher's question, he replied: "Mr. Hoffman, I think that the increase or decrease of a certain substance contained in steel has led to the change of its properties."

"Do you have any ideas?"

"My current idea is to try to separate the various elements in the steel, and then increase or decrease them one by one to see what effect each will cause."

Hoffman nodded: "This is a safe method, but if multiple simple substances act together, it is still very difficult to find the final answer."

"Then there is no way, we can only arrange and combine all kinds of simple substances, and exhaust all possible possibilities."

"Oh, good luck with your experiment."

A young man with red hair who was buried in his meal just now interrupted suddenly, "Tennyson, Mr. Hoffman, I have some guesses."

Hoffman looked at him, "Oh, Webster, what do you think?" This Webster was Tennyson's classmate, and he was doing steel research like him.

Webster replied: "What Tennyson guessed caused the change in the properties of iron should be phlogiston."

"Phlogiston?" "Yes, phlogiston."

Webster talked eloquently: "Recently, I have been collecting various methods of iron and steel smelting and forging, and traveled all over Huxin Town and the surrounding blacksmith shops, large and small."

"Oh, did you find anything?"

"Yes, just before I came back from this trip to eat really let me find a little line speed, you know? Some blacksmiths use charcoal powder, coal when making iron and steel When the smoke and wood ash are exhausted, wrap the mixture of these things around the iron rod and keep the iron rod red hot, and the iron rod can be transformed into steel."

Tennyson asked in surprise, "Is this...really?"

"It's true, haha, this is a secret that some blacksmiths don't pass on, and it took me a lot of trouble to find out." Webster raised his head proudly, "Go on, you all know that the mixture The charcoal powder and soot in the iron are composed of phlogiston, so I said that phlogiston may be the key factor that causes the change in the properties of iron."

Suddenly Tennyson rushed up to hug Webster and kissed him hard. "I thank you, dear Webster."

"Haha, it's easy to say, this is what I should do, uh... let me go first." Webster was frightened by his enthusiasm, and wiped the drool on his face with a napkin.

Tennyson couldn't wait to say: "After dinner, let's conduct experiments on this new clue together."

Webster nodded desperately, "Okay, Tennyson, let me go first."