My mother and second uncle wrote a letter to the third uncle and my grandfather in the capital in the evening, telling them about the gunpowder test in the afternoon, and asking them to purchase fire nitrate and alkali powder as much as possible, for fear that after the matter leaked, Jin and Xixia would restrict exports and raise prices. This is a rather important letter, and the person who sent it picks and chooses. I repeatedly told some precautions before letting them go.

During the day, the high pet is very tired, and at night I have to rush to design the manual lathe, which is the first mother machine, mainly to turn the screw and some threads of the adjustment of the bed crossbow up and down, left and right. Without a lathe, threading is unthinkable. The steps of making the mercury were double-checked, the size of the fuse was checked again, and the time passed when I fell asleep. A thirteen or fourteen-year-old with a freshly injured body couldn't bear it, so he fell asleep.

Waking up late in the morning is too abnormal for a person who is used to practicing martial arts and has no nightlife. When Gao Pet got up, it was past the hour, Fu Bo had already gone out, and it was some time since he came back, and the second uncle came to see him several times, and saw that Gao Pet was still asleep and left. The little sister Jingru, who hadn't seen her for a few days, took a yard to play, and when she saw Gao Pet coming out, she ran over and shaved her face and said, "Big brother sleeps lazy, ashamed." "The quirky elves look very cute.

Gao Pet was very embarrassed, and said to Fu Bo in a loud voice, "Stay up late, stay up late." While taking the towel handed by Xiaocui to wash his face.

"Master Da, come slowly, and talk about things after breakfast." Fauber said.

After washing his face and having breakfast, Gao Pet asked Fu Bo:

"How many things have been made, and how is the situation?"

"Most of the things are done, and they are all placed in the west courtyard, that is, it may take some time for a few pieces of the iron factory to turn over the sand and make a model. The wheelbarrow made by the shipyard has been tried out yesterday afternoon, and it will be good to repair it in some places, and it is estimated that it can be delivered after noon today. I'll keep an eye on this, don't worry, young master. ”

"It's progressing pretty fast, it's better than I thought, you take these drawings, just like last year, and process them. With this lathe, a lot of things can be done. The second uncle urged him tightly, otherwise he wouldn't have to rush to work so much. And all the drawings must be taken back after they are done, and one cannot be missing, you have to keep an eye on it. Don't pass it out. ”

"Young Master, don't worry, generally without permission, they don't dare to copy the drawings, I will take it back."

The Southern Song Dynasty was an honest society, and credit was the foundation of society, and it was true that ordinary people would not do this. But I didn't dare to say it if I knew the purpose, so Gao Zhong still gave a few words.

In the past, in the West Courtyard, the second uncle and several younger brothers were there, and the second uncle was looking at the content that the younger brother had copied last night and what I said during the day, and it seemed that they were really serious, and even the steps were written down carefully. The third brother is really a little genius, he has a good memory, and there is nothing wrong with it. Thinking of the danger of losing secrets, Gao Pet said very seriously: "Gao Fan, when you wrote last night, did anyone see it?" ”

"No, I didn't even let my mom see it." Gao Zhong nodded in satisfaction. Said to the second uncle:

"Second uncle, this is still a hidden danger, if you want to write it in the future, write it in this yard, after I write it, I will see if there is anything wrong, just take it as a homework, and hand it over to the second uncle for safekeeping in the future." You have to look at it, go to the second uncle to see it, you are not allowed to copy it, and the important formula data must be erased. The third brother has a good memory and is not allowed to write silently on the paper after he goes back, he can think in his mind but is not allowed to write. Just these recipes, there is still a secret value for a hundred years. Remembered. In the future, our family should establish a technical confidentiality system, including personnel protection, confidentiality requirements, confidentiality rules, etc., and also demarcate confidentiality areas. Second Uncle please arrest this matter and pick some capable and trustworthy people. ”

"Okay, I'll arrest this." Second uncle

"That's all for this, let's do the work we did yesterday and teach you alchemy. That is, the so-called alchemy of Taoism. I call it chemistry. Alchemy is mysterious, and gunpowder was discovered and invented in alchemy. Alchemy is actually very simple, and my chemistry is much more complex and useful than theirs. Due to the relationship of time, the knowledge and theories of various systems related to chemistry will not be talked about in the next few days. I'm going to make up a book for you to learn from in the future. You just need to know the tasks of the next few days. ”

"Let's talk about copper smelting first." Gao Pet brought over materials such as gall alum, as well as some utensils and tools.

"There are many kinds of copper ores that can be used to smelt copper, main, natural copper, chalcopyrite, chalcopyrite, bornite, chalcopyrite, azurite, malachite, etc., and more minerals that are symbiotic with other things. The gallium in front of us is a common copper mine. Our ancestors smelted copper more than 2,000 years ago, and there is a lot of excellent experience in copper smelting, but the smelted copper has many impurities. It's rare to get pure copper. It's more about alloys. Why, this has to do with smelting technology. ”

"For copper ore, we don't have any other minerals here except for a kind of galla, which is very abstract, and let people collect it in the future and let everyone see the real thing. Let me briefly introduce that the copper ore in the Nanshan Copper Mine is called chalcopyrite, which is a compound of copper and sulfur, and sulfur is the kind of sulfur from yesterday, and they combine to become a new substance, copper sulfide. Chalcocite is also almost a compound of copper and sulfur, but they produce something different, called copper disulfide, and bornite is a compound of copper, iron and sulfur. Chalcopyrite is a sulfide mineral of copper and tin, while gallum is a hydrate of a salt of copper. His real name is copper sulfate pentahydrate. ”

"Bile alum can be used as medicine, has the effect of vomiting, decay and detoxification, and can also be used as feed, and is also a raw material for pesticides."

"Mixing bile alum, lime, and water at a rate of 1:1:200 can cure a kind of plague of fruit trees and crops, and can also promote the growth of crops. I call this mixed solution 'Bordeaux liquid'. However, it should be noted that this 'Bordeaux liquid' should be mixed before use. If the crops in the village are diseased, you can try its effect first. "Gao Zhong dissolved the gallium in water and put iron pieces in the aqueous solution.

"There is one of the simplest methods of using bile alum to smelt copper, which is called wet copper smelting, which is relatively common fire smelting copper, that is, replacing the copper in bile alum with iron. You see. The iron sheet just put in is already copper-colored, and there is also red copper at the bottom of the bowl. If you make a large pool of water, pour this bile alum water into it, and put a lot of iron pieces on it, what will you see on the first day? You're sure to receive a lot of fine copper. But this method is only effective for copper smelting from bililum. ”

Speaking of this, including the second uncle, they are all very excited, all of them are like mine owners, and they want to show their skills.

"Don't be happy too early, it is forbidden for the government to open a mine and smelt copper, and the punishment is very severe, once you grasp it, you have to walk with six or seven catties of iron on your feet, I don't know if you can stand it, but second uncle, you can think of a way." Just find a way to get the approval of the official family. ”

"We'll talk to your grandfather about this when the time comes."

"The official family of pyrometallurgical copper smelting has been doing it, but as mentioned earlier, all kinds of minerals have associated minerals, including iron, lead, tin, tin, and tin. If it is not removed, the copper will not be pure, and such copper will not be of much use. I won't talk much about the relationship of time today, but there is one point, your eldest brother has a way to refine copper. The current mining, beneficiation, and smelting technology is too bad for your brother. ”

"Let's talk about using this bile alum to refine sulfuric acid. Sulfuric acid is a very useful thing. Same as vinegar, but much more powerful than vinegar and very corrosive. With such a thing, many things can be refined. ”

Gao Zhong set up the charcoal stove, put the iron pot, put several catties of bile alum in the pot, and then put the copper gas collection cover on the bile alum, the copper pipe passed out of the gas collection hood, and one end of the copper pipe passed into a deep water cup filled with water, so that the big column fanned the stove hard. It looks like this equipment is too dirty, and the glass must be brought out. Gao Pet muttered.

"When this gallium is heated, it first evaporates out water, and the gallium becomes anhydrous copper sulfate, and then it releases a kind of gas similar to sulfur burning, called sulfur trioxide, and the gas burned by sulfur is called sulfur dioxide, which can be used for bleaching. Sulfur dioxide can be converted into sulfur trioxide, but it is very difficult, sulfur dioxide is not very useful, and this sulfur trioxide dissolves in water and becomes a very useful sulfuric acid. What is left after the calcination of bile alum is called copper oxide. "Using this time, Gao Pet calcined bone meal, charcoal, and lime together.

"Calcining these things together, I'm going to make something you haven't seen before, and I'll call it phosphorus (phosphorus hasn't been discovered in this world at this time, so it won't be eight hundred years from now). This is used to make the most crucial thing in a match. Our current method of refining phosphorus is the worst refining method, because there is very little phosphorus in the bones, why is it refined like this? Because we don't have time to look for phosphate rock. Have any of you heard or seen ghost fires in mass graves on summer nights? The second uncle nodded.

"The so-called ghost fire is this kind of thing that burns itself. There are many substances such as calcium and phosphorus in the bones of animals. So phosphorus can be refined from bones. There are two main states of phosphorus, white phosphorus and red phosphorus, and white phosphorus becomes red phosphorus when heated at 400 degrees (they don't know the concept of temperature, and it is another explanation). White phosphorus burns up on its own in the summer (40°C) and phosphorescence can be seen in the dark. Phosphorus has a foul odor. It is highly toxic. White phosphorus is almost insoluble in water. But red phosphorus is not toxic and is very safe. When we will refine it, we will first make white phosphorus, and then we will make some of it into red phosphorus. ”

I already smelled a foul smell, white phosphorus, burnt bones, and the pungent smell of sulphur trioxide calcined by biliform. Everyone changed their positions a little farther away. Gao Zhong took a wet towel and gave it to Dazhu and asked him to cover his mouth and nose.

Gao Zhong used to bring over the tin (antimony) ore and the tin and a few things to make matches.

"You see, this is Lian Tin and Lian Tin Ore, Lian Tin I call him antimony, Lian Tin Ore is the oxide of Lian Tin, and there are impurities in it, which are generally not used directly. It is mainly used with a fire extinguishing agent, and when it is mixed with phosphorus, it is applied to the matchbox, because with it, the matchbox will not be burned off with the match at once, so that the match shell can be used. If there is no tinned ore powder, we can use tinter to burn antimony oxide in the air. Even tin is poisonous, pay attention, usually do not touch. But the oxide of even tin is not toxic. ”

"The wood is cut into small sticks and soaked in molten wax, the purpose of which is that when the match is burned, the burned ash will not fall off the matchstick."

"In addition, we use batter to make the binder of match skin, but the effect of this batter is poor, generally with water glass, but water glass is a little troublesome to make, and next time we make another water glass to make better matches."

Mix the fire and sulfur together, add some and pour in the batter and stir well, then use the matchstick to light it into a small ball with a diameter of 1 minute, and then bake it dry, not with an open flame or too high a temperature. Take one and put it in the fire and light it, and the match will burn with a "hiss", which is similar to the effect of a modern match, and finally depends on the treatment of phosphoscale. The copper over there was almost calcined, and I asked the pillar to remove the charcoal. The bones have been burned black, pour some water into them, let it cool down, and also fear spontaneous combustion of white phosphorus. Five white phosphorus the size of soybeans were found inside. Store two in a glass of water. Three, in a small tin box with a lid, put them on the stove and heat them. Take it out for about seven or eight minutes and put it aside to cool. The dilute sulfuric acid obtained by calcining bile alum is heated and evaporated on a stove until there is no water vapor and becomes concentrated sulfuric acid. Put it away. Back to the red phosphorus grinding powder, quartz sand, and tin ore grinding powder. Mix together in proportion, add the thin batter, spread on a carton and place on the fire to dry. Took the freshly made match and asked the second uncle to wipe it. It was lit up at once. Matchmaking is done.

It's evening. I made more than twenty boxes together. Each person was divided into two boxes, and the remaining fifteen boxes were held by the second uncle. Let the third child write down the two recipes and processes of the match, and the matchbox was designed by Gao Pet. Let the second uncle arrange for trial production respectively.