"I don't know much about Seris's situation. Can't they make such a thing? Dmitry asked: "I have always felt that they are like mythical countries, everything is developed......"

"It's mainly a matter of raw materials." Guo Kang explained: "You have to say that compared with ceramics, the temperature required to burn glass is indeed lower, and it stands to reason that there is no technical difficulty. However, the glass craftsmanship in the Seris area is not only late, but also very different from the glass here. Because of these two types of glass, the materials used are different. ”

"The Mediterranean world produces sodium-calcium glass fired with alkali. From ancient Egypt, people would extract raw materials from saline lakes for glass production; However, Seris has long lacked alkali ore and cannot meet the demand, and their 'glass' is fired with compounds containing lead and barium. ”

"This kind of glass is bright in color, but it is not transparent, not resistant to high temperatures, and it is very fragile, so the use value is not high. Because porcelain is very precocious, glass with poor performance cannot be used as utensils, so it develops in other directions. In the end, a variety of glazed ware was formed, instead of the translucent glass on our side. ”

"The lack of resources is much more serious than the lack of technology. This is not something that human beings can compensate for. He shook his head and said, "A long time ago, Seris was importing glass, even including Li Xuanying, who talked about the Tang Dynasty every day. Almost all of the large pieces of transparent glass from the Tang Dynasty discovered in later generations were imported from Eastern Rome and Sassanid Persia. Occasionally, someone dug up a cellar from the time, and there were Roman coins in it. ”

"That's right...... So how long can we last this advantage? Tuohuan asked.

"Chemistry can last forever before it comes up, I guess it's longer than porcelain." Guo Kang said.

Tuhuan frowned, feeling unconvinced.

But Guo Kang really didn't coax him in this matter.

Until the end of the Qing Dynasty, the Central Plains was still very short of alkali, and even needed to buy a large amount from Inner Mongolia. Because it was transported through Zhangjiakou, it became a well-known "mouth alkali" at that time.

Even though the missionaries had brought the technology of glass and spread it among the people, glassware was still not widely used. It was not until the advent of the modern alkali making process that the conditions for mass production were available. It's too late......

"Not only in life, but also in research." Guo Kang said: "The lack of glassware will directly affect the study of natural philosophy. ”

"Do you think, if we didn't have this kind of transparent vessel, we wouldn't be able to do a lot of demonstrations here?" "As for chemistry," he reminded...... I mean alchemy, and even more so it. ”

"Without transparent, robust and heat-resistant containers, many changes would not be observable. In that case, if you do experiments, won't it become a folk tale, Taishang Laojun refining Sun Wukong? ”

"Before opening the alchemy furnace, Sun Wukong was logically in a superimposed state of life and death. Observations are required for confirmation. But turn on the stove to observe, and Sun Wukong may run away. He said metaphorically: "In this way, it becomes a blind practice, and then a gamble." This is certainly very detrimental to research. ”

"What a strange story......" Dmitry was confused.

"Well, actually, the story was originally very profound. I've made a fool of myself to give you an example. Guo Kang said: "This story originally came from a gentleman surnamed Xue. Sun Wukong is a monkey monster, so this story is called the 'Taishang Laojun's monkey' experiment. ”

"That's it......" Tuhuan also nodded: "But what did you just say, what is in the glass?" I don't understand, is that also a technical term? ”

"That's for the elements of nature." Guo Kang explained: "There are many kinds of substances in the world. Over the years, we have discovered that there are not only the four that our ancestors classified. We can do it in a different way and try to be more comprehensive. But this is too esoteric to be needed for the time being. ”

"Oh......"

Tuhuan was used to him talking about all kinds of terms, so he didn't ask.

It was Guo Kang, who was reminded by him like this, and thought of the problem of the elements. I don't know what names these elements should be given in this world. He's used to a lot of words, but he can't tell what other people prefer.

Moreover, Zhu Wenkui's generation has already reached the "soil", and his next generation should be next to the golden word. It's just that in this way, will you have to rush to register the periodic table with the old Zhu family in the future......

He thought about it for a while, but he didn't have a clue. Fortunately, it is still far from this situation, so there is no need to worry about it for the time being.

He thought about it as he led everyone out of the glass workshop.

"At the moment we have one lab left to go." He said: "It's more dangerous there, it's still the same as before, let's see from afar." ”

Everyone had heard him say it several times, and they all nodded their heads in understanding.

They came to a separate wooden house. It seems to have been built temporarily, more like a shed with curtains than a house. There was a monk waiting for them at the door.

After entering, Guo Kang told him to demonstrate the experiment to everyone.

The monk nodded, telling everyone to stay away. He drew the curtain and put on the same robes and beak masks as the previous group. It's just that the robes and masks here are painted with white patterns, and the glasses are also transparent.

The monk put on his gloves and walked into the compartment, bringing out two assistants who were also dressed in the same attire. They were all dressed in the same attire, and they brought a large basin of mercury.

"Inside this mask, it's metal and ice." Guo Kang said: "Mercury is used here, and there is also a hot processing step. But the gas evaporated by mercury is poisonous, so this mask was made. ”

"Does this work?" Tuohuan asked.

"If you can condense some of the mercury and reduce inhalation, it's a success." Guo Kang shook his head and said, "Otherwise, we can only ventilate more and rotate more to minimize toxicity." ”

The monks didn't seem to care. The leader also waved his hand and drew a cross to show that he didn't care.

They went to the compartment again and pulled out a long glass tube. Several men carefully filled the tube with mercury, put it into the basin with the mouth down, and then stood up.

The crowd watched as the mercury in the tube flowed out, slowly descended, and then stopped.

"Huh? Why doesn't it move? A monk asked.

"Oh, that's the alchemy here." Dmitry had become accustomed to the "miracle of alchemy" here and began to take the initiative to guess here.

"Strictly speaking, it's not alchemy. Aristotle wrote a book called Physics. According to his classification, this demonstration should fall under the category of physics. Guo Kang said.

(End of chapter)