Chapter 331 Great Chemist Zhao Zhen

"Is this rubber?"

In the Chongzheng Hall, Zhao Zhen looked at the yellowed gel and asked with confusion: "Why are the car tires all black in the movie?"

When the ship arrived at the dock in the morning, Zhao Jun went to the dock to greet him immediately, and then brought back the rubber.

Everyone gathered in Chongzheng Hall for a meeting to study this thing.

Everyone looked at the piece of gelatin on the table. It was something they had never seen before. It was a bit like the yellow coral they had seen before, but it was different.

He also lamented that he never expected that this small piece would be the thing that would change the future destiny of the Song Dynasty.

But the appearance is completely different.

Everyone was also very puzzled. The rubber brought back by the ocean-going fleet seemed different from what they saw in the movie.

It was all black in the movie, but after I brought it back and dried it, it turned out to be a yellow-orange mess.

Only Zhao Jun said with a smile: "Because those rubbers have carbon black powder added, the rubber itself only needs to be boiled with fire and then fixed into shape. But that is not strong enough. Adding carbon black can ensure the strength."

"I see, what is this carbon black? Is it charcoal ash?"

Zhao Zhen asked curiously again.

"No, it's something made from oil or natural gas."

"Then can we build it?"

"What a coincidence, we can actually make this thing."

Zhao Jun laughed and said: "Because its name is "Qiu (tai)", now you know it."

Qiu?

Everyone looked at each other and suddenly became happy.

It turns out that this is what carbon black is.

Isn't that a coincidence?

The yield of "soy" in the Song Dynasty was very high.

Because in ancient times it was used to make ink and black paint.

Records have been recorded as early as the Yin and Shang Dynasties, and the handicraft production of pine soot and carbon black was quite common during the Western Jin Dynasty.

Therefore, Da Song does not lack carbon black, and there is no need to worry about insufficient rubber strength.

"Very good."

Zhao Zhen said with great joy: "Will we be able to make rubber immediately?"

"Well, just add an appropriate amount of carbon black."

Zhao Jun said and smacked his lips again: "I know this thing. I have seen it on the Internet before, but I don't know the specific proportion."

"It doesn't matter, I'll take care of it. I've been doing chemical experiments recently. In fact, I found that chemistry is not that difficult."

Zhao Zhen looked around at the crowd and said with a smile: "It's nothing more than heating something. Whether it's minerals or natural things, it can be separated by heating to produce various liquids, gases or pure substances."

"Forehead"

Zhao Jun thought for a while. He originally wanted to refute Zhao Zhen's words. After all, chemistry is a rigorous science that studies the composition, structure, properties, and change laws of matter. It cannot be simply classified as burning fire.

However, the heating experiment is indeed one of the basic operational experiments of chemistry. At least for a beginner like Zhao Zhen, if he likes to do it this way, just let him do it.

But Zhao Jun warned: "Brother, I have to remind you. Chemistry is still very dangerous. Explosions, poisonous gases, and harmful gases can all be produced. Many famous chemists have died on this road. It's better not to mess around. ”

"Forehead"

Zhao Zhen's face froze, and he couldn't help but look at Zhao Jun with a sad expression.

Zhao Jun had not long ago said that he has recently become obsessed with studying mathematics, physics and chemistry. He cooks various chemical substances everywhere and uses distillation methods to collect various substances. Who knows if there are any poisons in them.

"Anyway, don't mess around. Let the people below do the dangerous things. Brother, you don't want to blow up the palace if you conduct research one day."

Zhao Jun advised.

"All right."

Zhao Zhen said again: "Then this rubber is not poisonous."

"Natural rubber is definitely not toxic, but in the future the chemical industry will develop, including synthetic rubber and vulcanized rubber, all of which have certain toxicity."

Zhao Jun explained: "So now we use natural rubber for experiments, which is very safe."

"That's good, there is ready-made equipment in the backyard."

Zhao Zhen stood up and said, "Then let's take it to the backyard and try boiling it."

"Let's go."

Everyone was also very curious.

At that moment, Zhao Zhen left the Chongzheng Hall and ordered Wang Shouzhong to get a batch of soy flour from the warehouse.

Go west from Chongzheng Hall and pass through the palace gate to reach the corridor. Further north is Yingyang Gate of Houyuan, which is very close to Houyuan.

At this time, the rear garden had still changed a lot. The original forests, rockeries, ponds, etc. had not changed much, and even looked a little rough because they had not been repaired much.

Only the surrounding areas with the original Guanjia Palace and Qinsi Palace as the core have undergone earth-shaking changes.

The first is the field in front of the Guanjia Hall. In the past, it was just two fields where Zhao Zhen and his father worked in the farmers' association. Every year during the mulberry farming activities, they would personally go to the fields and pick two hoes. Now it has become an agricultural experimental field.

There are some sweet potatoes, potatoes, corn, and peppers inside. Zhao Zhen will carry out selective cultivation of them. That is, every time they are planted, they will select a delicious variety and cultivate it to improve their genes.

Next are the houses on both sides of Guanjia Palace and Qincan Palace. Except for the wooden house where Zhao Jun lived before, most of the surrounding buildings have been demolished and a new palace built with reinforced concrete brick walls.

The outside of the hall is painted white, and the upper beams are still wooden and covered with gray tiles. There are brackets and cornices at the four corners, and bells hang below. But the core inside is already modern reinforced concrete and is no longer a wooden house.

In addition, the grassy area near the Guanjia Palace where they often sat outside for meetings has now been opened up to several vegetable plots for cultivating and experimenting with vegetables brought back from overseas.

It was November, and there were still some old fruits and vegetables left in the fields and vegetable plots. The leaves had turned yellow, but they could still last for a while before the weather got completely cold.

"This field is all corn. The wild corn kernels they brought back from North America are still too small. I am now trying to improve it to make it bigger."

"This field is sweet potatoes. The sweet potatoes are also small, but they are really good when roasted. They are sweet."

"That field is potatoes. I don't know how those people got them, but they came up with several varieties. North American wild potatoes are very small, but the toxins are also small. This is the result of their local people's cultivation from generation to generation. There is also a kind of large potato that is large in size and has a lot of toxins. I am trying to cross them."

"That is the Chemistry Palace, where I do chemical experiments. Over there is the Physics Palace."

Zhao Zhen led everyone into the backyard and enthusiastically introduced the new fields and the purpose of the houses.

Some of the houses were used for physical experiments. For example, one of the houses was like a courtyard, with a small playground covering nearly one acre in the middle, which contained various invention instruments.

Other houses were used for chemical experiments, and there was even an alchemy furnace, which was used to burn and forge all kinds of heavy metals like his father.

Although as an emperor, Zhao Zhen was doing these things every day, which was quite unprofessional.

In later generations, as a powerful head of state, in addition to participating in national development, he might have to visit abroad, attend various grand conferences, meet foreign dignitaries, participate in various summits, etc., and he would be busy all the time.

But in a feudal society, there was not much diplomacy, not too many cooperation summits, and he had to ensure his safety, so he could not do this.

After all, he had not left the palace for more than 40 years in history.

This means that he could only stay in the palace to handle government affairs every day, or go to the harem to play with his sister.

However, now government affairs are basically handled by the Political System Council, and his task is to review the notes approved by the Political System Council after the morning court.

If there is no problem, he will stamp it with the seal and publish it in his name.

In the afternoon, a meeting will be held in Chongzheng Hall to discuss national affairs with everyone. Then there is nothing to do, and life is fixed.

In the past, he could still play with his laptop in the morning.

But now the laptop has been in use for twelve years. Although it has been properly preserved and lucky, neither the solar panel nor the laptop has broken down.

But no one knows whether long-term and high-frequency use will cause it to break down one day.

So Zhao Jun also restricted Zhao Zhen's use of the computer. Basically, he turned it on once every three days and used it for two or three hours. In addition to ensuring that it can be used normally, it is usually well preserved.

This also made Zhao Zhen's life more and more boring, and he could only do something else.

Putting fun in things like chemistry and physics may be absolutely painful for future students.

But in ancient times when there was no Internet, no mobile phones, no computers, and life was boring, that was another matter.

Therefore, Zhao Zhen is still very happy to study science except mathematics.

Zhao Jun has not been to the back garden for a long time, and is surprised by the changes in the back garden.

After all, in addition to Zhao Zhen, his concubines also lived in the palace to the west. In order to avoid suspicion, they would definitely not come here often.

He couldn't help but praise: "Your Majesty can set an example and advocate science, which will surely lead the whole Song Dynasty to be united and lead the way to scientific development, making the Song Dynasty more prosperous."

"No, this is what I should do."

After receiving the praise from his grandson, Zhao Zhen was so happy that he took them into the Chemistry Palace.

This Chemistry Palace is a bungalow with rooms. Some rooms are filled with various chemical instruments, some rooms are filled with various utensils, and some rooms even have alchemy furnaces.

However, the instruments are actually some glass products, such as test tubes, beakers, trays, distillation flasks, funnels, etc., not precision instruments.

Those rooms with utensils seem to be cultivating something, which looks like some fungi, and there are moldy orange peels in them.

Zhao Zhen opened one of the doors with his stuff, and inside was a fire-burning room with a big pot, stove, and firewood. It looked like a common kitchen in the countryside.

"This is the room used for cooking. I used it to cook wood ash and lard to make soap. I saw that there were steps in those time-travel novels, so I tried it. It can indeed be made, but the cost is indeed high and the smell is very strong."

Zhao Zhen waved his hand, and there was still a residual smell of lard inside.

"Novels are all fictional. Soap itself has to add a lot of spices to be used for bathing. The cost is very high, and the supply can only be used by a few dignitaries. It will not be popular until the industrialization period."

Zhao Jun said: "I am still skeptical about whether I can make a fortune by making soap in the non-industrial period."

"Just give it a try anyway."

Zhao Zhen smiled, then called Wang Shouzhong to add clean water to the pot to prepare for the experiment.

Every time Zhao Zhen conducted an experiment, the room was cleaned, which was relatively clean, but the smell inside was quite strong.

The waiter got a bucket and poured water into the pot. Then Zhao Zhen directed them to start lighting firewood, and after the water boiled, they put the large piece of rubber in it.

Zhao Jun was stunned by this series of operations.

Good guy.

Zhao Zhen is a chemist.

It's just pure theory.

The actual operation is all done by hand.

But if you think about it carefully, as an emperor, there is really no need to do such hard work.

Just doing the theoretical work is enough.

Zhao Zhen and many prime ministers stood aside and watched the rubber soften quickly after being put into the boiling water, but it had no intention of dissolving at all.

The waiter stirred a stick, trying to speed up the dissolution of the rubber inside, but it was of no use.

"It doesn't seem to dissolve."

Zhao Zhen frowned.

Zhao Jun thought for a while and said: "Normally, if it can be dissolved, then how can it be used in industry? Wouldn't steam dissolve it?"

"What should we do? If it cannot be dissolved, how can we pour it into the mold? Do we have to take the natural rubber juice and pour it every time?"

"It should be that a solvent is needed."

"what do you need?"

"Let me think about it, sulfide? Wait a minute. Is there any oil?"

Zhao Jun suddenly remembered.

He had occasionally seen on station B before that oil was also a solvent.

Many industrial products are adulterated with petroleum.

"That must be true. I have distilled petroleum before."

Zhao Zhen said hurriedly.

"Pour some oil in and try it."

"Wang Shouzhong, go get the stone lacquer I boiled."

"yes."

Wang Shouzhong quickly went to the next room to get oil.

In a moment he brought a bucket.

Zhao Zhen ordered him to pour half a bucket in to test the water.

Wang Shouzhong walked around and poured it in, and a pungent smell of petroleum hit his face.

It must be said that this experimental environment is still very dangerous.

In other words, he was adding oil to water. If he accidentally poured it into the stove below, the highest political circle of the Song Dynasty would be wiped out in an instant.

The oil was quickly poured in, and soon the rubber resin inside began to dissolve.

"It's working."

Zhao Zhen was overjoyed and then said: "Fang Qiu."

A waiter then took the container for storing carbon black and began to pour the black powder into the cauldron.

Another attendant stirred together the rubber, oil and sour.

Soon the rubber liquid in the pot turned pitch black, exuding an unpleasant and pungent smell, and also looked ugly, as if it was possessed, like a pot of dark food.

"It turned black as expected."

"Nonsense, Qiu is originally used to make ink. It's like pouring ink into water. It's weird that it doesn't turn black."

"We just want to see if the cooling can be useful if it is fixed."

"It is not a problem for natural rubber to solve the problem of rubber rings. What we need to explore now is the ratio of petroleum and carbon black. After that, we just need to make a mold, pour the stuff into the mold and cool it."

Zhao Jun looked at the things inside and said.

Rubber has better heat resistance after adding carbon black. Although it has not been vulcanized, such rubber is enough if it is only used in steam engines.

The only problem right now is that in the first test, the ratio of oil and carbon black was added haphazardly and was not perfected.

The strength of the rubber produced is still unknown. Only by experimenting and improving again and again can we achieve its best effect and truly use it in industry.

"Leave this to me."

Zhao Zhen smiled and said: "Within ten days, I will make the best rubber, and within a month, I will see the train start running!"

"Brother is worthy of being the greatest chemist of all time. No one in the political, historical, chemical, or physical circles can mention you as a great man with great achievements. Newton will stand on your shoulders in the future!"

Zhao Jun gave a thumbs up and praised him fiercely.

Zhao Zhen was immediately overjoyed and said: "Don't worry, leave it to me, but Grandson, you still have to be serious about building the railway tracks."

"That's for sure. I'll build a section of railway track on the outskirts of Beijing first. I'll definitely see results in a month."

Zhao Jun patted his chest and promised, and then said: "The trial run will be carried out first. After we are sure that it can be run, we will hold another grand ceremony. When the time comes, brother, you will also go out of the city to watch the ceremony and the palace to take a look. This is a national celebration. For such a big event, we need to invite envoys from surrounding countries!”

"All nations come to court!"

Everyone looked at each other and suddenly felt refreshed.

The Song Dynasty has been cowardly for too long.

Now industrial development is finally possible.

After the industrialization process is completed, military capabilities will also develop rapidly.

From then on, I felt proud.

They will be on top of the world.

This time.

The Song Dynasty really wanted to announce it to the world.

They stood up.