He filled a bottle with water and marked it. Insert a bent copper pipe into the water,

He inserted another copper tube into a bottle cap with a small hole in the middle of the cap, Zhu Zhanji inserted the copper tube, and then glued the gap tightly.

Ma Di, who was helping next to him, then used a piece of duck intestine to put it between the two copper pipes, and Zhu Zhanji first blocked the copper pipe on the side of the gas cylinder with his fingers, and asked Ma Di to fill the copper pipe with water.

Ma Di filled the copper pipe with water and quickly tied the duck intestines with a thread, at this time, Zhu Zhanji flattened the copper pipe and let go of his hand, but the water did not flow out.

Zhu Zhanji asked at this time: "You can see that although the copper pipe is filled with water, after the duck intestines are tied tightly, the water will not flow out, what is the reason for this?" ”

Of course, the crowd couldn't speak, but just watched curiously.

There is also a small hole in the cap of the empty bottle, and a flint is attached to the lower end of a small stick.

And under the cap there is also a hanging basket made of copper sheets, next to which there is a grinding stone and lead.

Zhu Zhanji filled the hanging basket with a sufficient amount of red phosphorus, carefully adjusted the position, closed the end of the bottle cap, and finally sealed the bottle mouth.

Everyone didn't know what Zhu Zhanji was going to do, only Ma Di, as his assistant, was extremely excited, and after wiping the glue, he waited anxiously for the glue to solidify.

Zhu Zhanji said: "We all know that there is air around us, but we don't know what air is made of and how much it weighs. Today's experiment is to find out how much of the air is conducive to combustion, and how much it occupies, and how much weight. ”

Because Zhu Zhanji is the grandson, and because everyone serves his job, no one directly refutes his words. However, from the looks of everyone, it can be seen that most of them still disagree.

With just the simple device of these two bottles, it is a bit fantastical to try to measure the invisible and untouched air.

However, Ma Di was convinced of Zhu Zhanji's words, because in the past few months, Ma Di had been constantly learning the new things and new ideas that Zhu Zhanji had instilled in him at all levels.

From bearings to machine tools, and then a variety of new industrial technologies have been developed. There is also the glider that can carry people into the sky, although Madi is still young, he is already the top chief engineer.

With the accumulation of mathematics, the connection between the various parts, including the calculation of the bearing force, Ma Di has surpassed Zhu Zhanji.

In the past few months, he has led a team to complete the production of nearly 100 gliders, and all of them have been tested in the sky.

Exposed to more aerodynamics, Madi is also one of the people who know the most about air, because what the glider relies on to reach the sky is itself the direction of his current research.

He was also the most adamant believer that air has weight.

As the ambassador of the Nine Products of the Ordnance Bureau of the Ministry of Industry, in terms of rank, the sixteen-year-old Ma Di is not high. Because many nobles and children of civil officials have corresponding titles as soon as they are born, which is far higher than the nine grades.

But those are just lords, and among the official officials who currently have positions in the Ming Dynasty, Madi is the youngest one.

Zhu Zhanji looked at Ma Di, he looked at the glue again, and said, "Your Highness, you have to wait a little longer." ”

Zhu Zhanji nodded and said, "Then you tell the ministers about the iron ball test I asked you to do." ”

After all, Madi was young, and although he was in front of the chiefs, he was not afraid at all, nodded a little excitedly, and then asked: "My lords, do you know why the fruit of the tree falls to the ground when it is ripe, instead of floating in the air?" Leaves flutter in the wind, but end up falling to the ground? There is also a ten-pound iron ball, and a one-pound iron ball, which falls at the same time, which one falls to the ground first? ”

Although his position is low, his uncle is now a middle-level official in the Ministry of Industry, and his father has directly joined Zhu Zhanji and is serving Zhu Zhanji.

What's more, his sister married Zhu Zhanji and is now one of the six good women, and he is deeply loved by Zhu Di and Zhu Zhanji.

So although he lived a little widely, no one blamed him. One of the old people, who had a good relationship with Ma Zhicai, said with a smile: "Of course, the ten-pound iron ball fell to the ground first." ”

Madi smiled: "No, I have tried it myself several times, and they all landed almost at the same time. ”

"Why?"

Ma Di shook his head and said, "I don't know, His Highness said that the acceleration of inertia was not enough, so it landed at the same time." ”

Chen Cheng stroked his beard and asked, "Then why does everything in the world fall to the ground?" ”

"That's because of gravity, our earth revolves around the sun, and the moon revolves around our earth, all because of gravity. Otherwise, we live on a ball, why wouldn't we fly away? ”

These concepts make it a little difficult for people in this era to accept, although most people have seen the globe from afar, and have vaguely accepted that people live on a big ball, but this much knowledge is still too turbulent to accept.

Madi said again: "According to His Highness's orders, a hollow iron ball is being cast in the foundry, and when the iron ball is ready, His Highness said that we should all know the existence of atmospheric pressure." ”

Someone else asked, "What is atmospheric pressure?" ”

Ma Di was a little stuck all of a sudden, and he didn't know how to explain it, so he looked at Zhu Zhanji for help.

Zhu Zhanji smiled and said, "I don't know if you have seen beheading in this experience?" When a person's head is cut off, blood sprays several meters high from the neck, which is the reason for the atmospheric pressure. ”

Zhu Zhanji opened his mouth, even if there were different opinions, no one would refute them at this time. Although more people believe that the blood splatter is so high, I am afraid that it is because of the human body.

Zhu Zhanji continued: "Put a piece of wood under the water, the deeper the water, the greater the water pressure and the greater the buoyancy. Since we are surrounded by air, there is of course pressure in the air. ”

A mid-level official said: "But why don't we feel it? ”

Zhu Zhanji asked, "Does the fish know that there is pressure in the water?" ”

At this time, Chen Cheng said: "I can prove this that I have been to the Western Regions many times, and I have also climbed to the Western Regions Plateau. It is not suitable for us Han people to live, and many people have difficulty breathing and have splitting headaches after going up. Only those who are accustomed to the environment over there can't feel it, and in the same way, when they come down to us, they will always be sore and weak, unable to move, and they need to adapt to move normally. I didn't know what the reason was before, but now that I think about it, it must be the barometric pressure! ”

Of course, Zhu Zhanji knew why, but he couldn't say it directly. He looked at Madi and asked, "Is the glue dry?" ”

Madi nodded and said, "It's okay." ”

"Then let's get started, be careful, don't hurt yourself."

Madi nodded excitedly, holding the small wooden stick on top of the cap of the gas cylinder in his hand, manipulating the grinding flint.

After rubbing back and forth a few times, the fuse and the red phosphorus were finally ignited, and then the red phosphorus in the cylinder began to burn violently.

Everyone saw the white smoke rise, and soon nothing could be seen inside the cylinder.

Everyone's eyes were fixed on the glass bottle, and Madi's eyes were even more unblinking, and the burning caused by the red phosphorus ended quickly, and then cooled down very quickly.

When the temperature of the bottle cooled down, Zhu Zhanji nodded, and at this time, Ma Di untied the string on the duck intestine.

Everyone saw that the water in the water bottle flowed automatically into the gas cylinder, and after about a fifth of the flow, it never flowed again.

At this time, Zhu Zhanji said again: "Do you see anything now? ”

Everyone looked confused, and they didn't understand what Zhu Zhanji meant, and of course they wouldn't come out to offer their ugliness. Only Madi said: "The air that burns is about one-fifth of what this bottle has." Because one-fifth of the air is burned, about one-fifth of the water is sucked in in this empty bottle because of the air pressure. ”

Zhu Zhanji nodded, and asked again: "I don't know if you have ever cupped on weekdays?" Why is it that after burning a fire cup, the fire pot can be sucked tightly on a person's body? It is because after a part of the air is burned, a part of the air is missing inside, and the pressure inside and outside changes, so the fire pot is sucked on the person. ”

He took a deep breath and said, "We have air on the outside and air on the inside of our bodies, so get used to this environment. They can't survive when they get to the water, and the fish in the water can't survive when they get to the shore. ”

Everyone still didn't pay attention to what Zhu Zhanji wanted to express, but Zhu Zhanji was not in a hurry, and waited for everyone to carefully observe the bottle. He added: "This experiment tells us that about one-fifth of the air can be burned, and we don't know if this part of the air has any other effect, but what would happen if someone could find a way to separate this part of the air and inject it into the furnace?" ”

At this moment, everyone understood and began to talk about it.

Zhu Zhanji never thought that he would be able to decompose pure oxygen at this time, but as long as he could get 50 percent of the oxygen, the temperature of the steelmaking furnace would increase by at least 200 degrees.

Zhu Zhanji did not know anything about this at all, and he could only hope that such an experiment would attract more people's interest and let them open up ideas in this regard.

Chemical experiments are almost untouched in this day and age, because everyone is concerned with what can be seen and touched.

In addition, this country has admired Confucianism and suppressed work for more than a thousand years, and even Gewu is a strange skill, let alone this discipline.

If it weren't for ink, printing and dyeing, and Taoist alchemy, it would be applied to this knowledge. There are tens of millions of people in the entire Ming Dynasty, and it is difficult to find a few people who have studied this aspect.

It is impossible for Zhu Zhanji to change the social atmosphere quickly, he can only use his hobbies to influence the people around him.

Madi is one such seed, and this kind of interesting experiment can attract more people to explore the unknown in the middle of nature.

The temperature of 1,200 degrees, although it cannot completely melt the molten steel, can already make steel, although the pursuit of increasing the furnace temperature is urgent, but it is not in a hurry.

The popularization of these basics can only be easier if more people have an interest in the industry as a whole.

He suddenly had an idea to compile a Ming version of a children's popular science book called "One Hundred Thousand Whys" before this expedition.

The more he thought about it, the more he felt that he should, but if he wanted to be reasonable, this time was a little too tight, so let Sun Lin and them collect a little more materials first, and then choose when he came back.

At this time, Madi turned into a fragrant bun again, surrounded by a large group of people and asked about all kinds of knowledge about stress.

He is also not stage frightened, there is one thing to say. Because of his young age, he has won praise from many people.

It's not enough to do one trial, others are preparing for a second trial and want to test it again to see if the results will be the same.

Some people also asked what the test test on atmospheric pressure was, but because the iron ball that did not meet Zhu Zhanji's requirements was not made, this test could not be carried out for the time being.

When they see that two semi-circular iron balls come together and draw air, it becomes difficult to separate, and they must have a fuller understanding of pressure.

There was a commotion outside, and immediately after, Meng Liang, a young eunuch who Zhu Zhanji knew, shouted: "Your Highness, Your Majesty is in a hurry, please ask Your Highness to discuss matters in the Imperial Palace!" ”

Everyone stopped talking and looked at Zhu Zhanji. Zhu Zhanji took two steps towards the door and saw that Meng Liang had already run in.

He knelt on the ground, holding a royal pen in Zhu Di's study in his hand and said: "Your Majesty's imperial edict, His Royal Highness the Taisun is hereby in the palace." ”

"What happened?"

Meng Liang glanced around, but did not speak. Zhu Zhanji also knew that he was reckless in asking, there were hundreds of officials of the Ministry of Labor here, how could he tell what happened in the Jinshen Palace.

He turned around and instructed, "Everyone, if you are interested in such an experiment, if you have the right reason, you will release research funds for research." Chen Langzhong, anyone who is interested in research cannot be stopped, and report to Lonely. Lonely is not afraid that you will spend money, but I am afraid that the silver will not be spent. ”

"Yes, the ministers obey."

Out of the courtyard, while Li Liang and the others were going to lead the horses, Zhu Zhanji asked again: "What happened?" ”

"Two things, one is that the negotiation team headed by Jin Shangshu arrived in Dongying, but it was blocked in Nagasaki, and it seems that Dongying is determined to oppose my Ming Dynasty this time. The second thing is that the Zhongshan Kingdom Shangba Zhi, with the support of my Ming Dynasty, attacked the Beishan Kingdom and now Guiren City, and the Beishan Kingdom Lord Pan Anzhi, who was close to Dongying, killed himself in the city, and Beishan perished. ”

Ryukyu is only the name of later generations, and the current Ryukyu still belongs to three countries, namely Nakayama Province, Kitayama Country, and Shannan Province.

The Zhongshan Kingdom was the most powerful of the three countries, and Shang Ba Zhi, formerly known as Ba Zhi, was close to the Ming Dynasty and was given the surname Shang, who was also the founder of the first Shang dynasty in the Ryukyus.

Later, the Ryukyus were annexed by the Toei, and the Shang family was in charge.

Zhu Zhanji knew that Jin Shangshu and they were being harassed in Dongying, and it was obvious that Dongying was unwilling to talk about it, which also announced that the war was about to break out.