Liuli is the ancient Chinese name for glass, which is a narrow glass saying, which is said to have been accidentally discovered by the ancients when they fired bronzes. Pen? Interesting? Pavilion wWw. ｂiquge。 ｉｎfo

For a long time after the advent of glass, it was used as a decorative object, and because of the colorful colors of its ingredients, it was considered a good luck. At the same time, the glaze is also one of the "Seven Treasures of Buddhism", and Buddhism believes that it has the effect of eliminating diseases and avoiding evil.

But its greater role is still in the application of optics, because of its light transmittance, human beings use glass to make a variety of lenses to re-understand the world, history will use the era of bronze as the "Bronze Age", and then because of the popularization of iron, human beings have entered the "Iron Age", modern people call the age of science "Glass Age".

Therefore, the production of glass was discovered in ancient times, and Wang Mai was ecstatic. Think of Leeuwenhoek, who was little more than a gatekeeper who was admitted to the Royal Academy of Sciences for his microscope's discovery of the microbial world; Galileo observed the movement of the planets with telescopes, confirming the doctrines of Copernicus and Kepler. Glass can be said to be a sacred object in the age of science, and many landmark deeds in the history of science have been discovered due to its contributions.

Finally, I found a few high-quality glassware in the glazed workshop of the White Horse Temple, and put them under the sunlight to look at it, which is very close to the light transmittance of the glass in later generations.

In the stunned eyes of others, Wang Mai smashed the crystal clear glass bowl with one stone, leaving only a thick bottom of the bowl.

Wang Mai looked at his masterpiece, quite satisfied, and looked back at the stunned craftsmen: "If you burn such a translucent glass in the future, must you keep it for me?" ”

After speaking, he handed the bottom of the bowl to Master Zhang next to him: "Please trouble the master to grind it as soon as possible according to my request." "This master Zhang is a master jade maker, and he has carved and polished many precious jade pieces in his life, and he is the best jade craftsman found by the White Horse Temple according to Wang Mai's requirements.

Polishing lenses is a delicate job, and Wang Mai thought about it for a long time before he thought of using ancient jade craftsmen to polish lenses. The craftsmanship of these jade artisans is truly ingenious, and they are able to create a variety of exquisite jade objects according to the different textures of the jade. "The Book of Songs" has clouds: such as cutting, such as learning, such as grinding. It describes the process of making jade by craftsmen, and it is amazing that a piece of jade is made into a high-quality jade, which requires dozens of processes, large and small.

Leeuwenhoek and Galileo, two laymen, could polish lenses to meet the requirements, and there was no reason why the professional jade master beside him could not compare to them.

However, Wang Mai still pays attention to the grinding process of the lens throughout the whole process, so as to communicate at any time.

Master Zhang, an old man who had read more than half a hundred, entered the room and didn't say a word. First of all, this irregular thick glass was processed into a set size with a cutter and iron tongs, and the whole process was completed in one go, without even drawing lines on it. Wang Mai measured it with a wooden ruler, and his requirements were basically the same, which was really godly.

Then Master Zhang took out a tool that made Wang Mai unable to close his mouth, a copper vernier caliper.

Taking it from Master Zhang's hand, Wang Mai carefully looked at the tool that looked like a vernier caliper: "Where did this vernier caliper master get from?" "The size on it is very fine, very close to the vernier calipers that later generations saw.

"Vernier calipers?" Master Zhang looked at him puzzled, "This ruler is called Xinmang caliper, which was made by Wang Mang in the Han Dynasty, and we craftsmen who do fine work have been using it." ”

Wang Mang? This Wang Mang Wang Mai knew that he was a relative, and finally succeeded in usurping the throne, but he was destroyed within a few years of becoming emperor. According to the history textbooks, this man carried out reforms, and also used shells as currency, and was an emperor who liked new things, no wonder he was able to make this thing.

"I'm lonely, I haven't heard of this before." Wang Mai returned the new mang caliper to Master Zhang.

"Officials are scholars, and it is common not to know such strange things, these are all small tricks."

"No, no, no!" Wang Mai shook his head, "This is a beautiful tool, how can it be a little trick." With this thing, it is possible to measure small objects with precision, which is really a significant innovation. ”

After measuring the glass pieces with calipers, Master Zhang began to polish them roughly. The grinding tool is interesting, it is a tool similar to a foot-operated sewing machine.

Wang Mai carefully observed for a while, and basically determined that this thing was the same as the principle of a sewing machine. Below is a pedal connected to a force transfer rod, and at the other end of the force transmission bar is a set of simple gears, and above the gear is connected a grinding wheel-like disc.

Looking at such professional equipment, Wang Mai was secretly speechless, he really couldn't treat the ancients as turtles. First the process of making glass, just now it was the vernier caliper, and now there is such an exquisite force transmission tool, these things are all based on the accumulation of human experience and endless exploration. It's just that because of the lack of systematic summary and sorting, coupled with the change of dynasties, these things have gradually disappeared in the long river of history.

Listening to Lao Xu, Emperor Yang of the Sui Dynasty's Ministry of Works, He Chou, built an "arbitrary car" for his lewd pleasure, and Yang Guang sat in the car and enjoyed the joy of fish and water without moving by himself. Master, if you have a chance, you must visit this He Chou and ask him for advice.

A tooth-aching grinding sound came into his ears, Wang Mai fled out of the house in a panic, he finally couldn't stand this sound, and it made people want to commit suicide.

After a long time, there was no movement in the house, Wang Mai went in again, and Lao Zhang was holding the lens to observe.

"How?" Wang Mai asked a little worriedly.

"It's not far from what the officials wanted." After receiving an affirmative answer, Wang Mai finally breathed a sigh of relief.

The next step is polishing, which is a delicate job that requires a lot of grinding materials. Lao Zhang took out several boxes from the wooden box he carried with him, and when he opened it, he saw that there were various powder particles of different thicknesses, presumably this was the material needed for polishing.

The polishing work lasted until the next day, Wang Mai looked at the convex lens in his hand with satisfaction, and put it on the book, and the small words could be put very large. It's just that I don't know that the magnification of the lens doesn't meet the requirements, this is not what Wang Mai is good at, so I can only slowly grope for it.

The making of a telescope is simpler than that of a microscope and is done quickly. Rao is Kong Yingda heard Wang Mai's description of the telescope, and was also shocked when he saw that the scenery far away in the sky was close in front of him.

The people of the Guozijian also surrounded them, competing to look at the strange things in front of them.

"It's really clairvoyant!" Kong Yingda quickly named the telescope.

"No, no, no! It's called a telescope! Wang Mai corrected.

"Hey!" Lu Deming interrupted him, "How can a telescope have clairvoyance to listen to, according to the old man, it is better to have the name clairvoyance." ”

With the unanimous approval of everyone, the naming right that should have belonged to Wang Mai, the maker, was deprived in this way. No way...... The protection of intellectual property rights must be universalized, don't you see that people abroad are naming things after the inventor? What Halley's Comet, Moore's Law, Hubble and so on.

This first telescope was just a failure, and the magnification was limited, but with the experience of the first success, I believe that it is not far from a real microscope and astronomical telescope.

"Everyone!" Wang Mai shouted, and the crowd quieted down, "There are still some gifts for everyone." Liang San and Liu Da behind him walked into the crowd with a box and distributed them one by one.

"What you have in your hands is similar to this telescope, and it can have the effect of magnifying your eyes." For a while, more than a dozen big-eyed monsters appeared in front of Wang Mai, and the scene was a little funny.

"It's called a magnifying glass, it's not like that," Wang Mai picked up a book from the table and showed them, "Everyone, please see." ”

At this time, everyone finally understood, and they couldn't wait to learn Wang Mai's appearance, and it was chaos again.

"Many of you here have eye problems, and you can read the words on the books with this magnifying glass." Wang Mai explained on the side. Let me give you a taste of science.

For a while, the eight doctors, nine teaching assistants, and Kong Yingda of Guozijian all nodded and praised.

"Assistant Professor Wang is really talented," one of the Dr. Si stood up and said, "I just don't know what the truth is in this?" ”

Wang Mai smiled and nodded, this person really cooperated with him, but he saved a lot of effort: "Everyone, please follow me out to have a look." ”

Everyone stopped in an open area in a prison with Wang Mai, and Wang Mai looked up at the sky, and the spring sun was still sufficient. He placed a magnifying glass in the sun: "Look, what does it mean that the light passes through the lens and forms a spot, but the light around the spot is noticeably darker?" ”

"The light has gone to the spot of light." Dr. Si's words resonated with everyone, and they all nodded.

"Yes," Wang Mai pointed to the sky, "you should all know that the light comes in a straight line and does not turn around under normal circumstances. Therefore, this magnifying glass can play the role of bending the light, which is basically the same as the image of small holes. ”

Everyone nodded, agreeing with this principle.

Wang Mai put another piece of paper underneath, and after a while, a burnt black spot appeared on the paper, and the black dot slowly spread little by little, and soon the paper was completely ignited.

There was another uproar, Wang Mai's performance was like a spell in the eyes of everyone.

"You don't have to make a fuss, since the sunlight can bring us warmth, it is only natural that the sunlight that gathers can ignite the paper." Wang Mai explained.

Wang Mai took everyone to the arithmetic school, drew an oval of a convex lens in the sand table, and then the focus of the matter: "There are several rays of light on this side, let's treat it as the sun's rays, according to the explanation just now, the rays will turn after passing through this lens, and finally converge at a point, and call it the focus." This focus is based on the curvature of the mirror, you can verify it, I won't explain it here. If a small word happens to be in focus, and the word we see through the lens will be magnified by following the process just now. So, the reason why our eyes can see things is because the light reaches the eyes, not ours because the eyes have the so-called eyesight. ”