The train driver in the courtyard

"Are you asking me to return the money?"

The old man said unkindly: "Broken glassware will not be returned or exchanged once sold. Just treat this place as a supply and marketing cooperative."

"No, I'm not. You misunderstood."

At this point, Li Aiguo didn't say anything more and said directly: "Professor Wang, I'm from the compound next door. I came to see you because I admire you."

"Admire me?" The old man was stunned and frowned: "Are you sure the person you admire is me?"

"Yes!" Li Aiguo pointed at the billowing black smoke in the compound and said sincerely: "You don't know how good your explosion was. Before I met you, I didn't know that the smoke from an explosion could be so black, so loud, and not kill people."

Hearing this, the old man looked Li Aiguo up and down and said, "Are you mocking me?"

"Of course I'm not being sarcastic. Don't worry." Li Aiguo took out a book from his arms and pointed at it, introducing: "Professor Wang, in chemical experiments, there are successes and failures, there are positives and negatives, there are explosions and there are no explosions."

"It seems to make some sense." The old man touched his chin: "But it also seems to be nonsense."

"Don't be anxious. Now all the chemists and chemical researchers in the world regard success as the goal. They are on the wrong track!" Li Aiguo held up the book and continued to turn the pages.

"What do you mean?" The old man blinked, looking confused.

Li Aiguo said loudly: "Didn't I just say that if there is failure, there must be success. So as long as we gather all the failures, we will definitely succeed in the end? Do you understand?"

"It seems to be the case." The old man felt something was wrong, but he couldn't put it into words.

"This is why I admire you." Li Aiguo straightened his chest and patted the old man's shoulder affectionately:

"Just think about it, with so many failures caused by you, future chemical engineers will be able to avoid many detours when preparing chemical reagents.

Especially since the explosions you made were so loud, you are simply a guiding light. Isn't that admirable?"

Li Aiguo spoke until his mouth was dry.

The old man blinked his eyes and stood there in a daze.

After five minutes, the old man suddenly asked, "Young comrade, you are talking about chemistry, why are you holding a book called "How to Deliver a Sow"? "

"It's almost the same. They are all science books." Li Aiguo stuffed the books back into the canvas bag without panic, and took out a chemistry book written in Russian and held it in his hand.

He held a chemistry book in one hand and reached out with the other to firmly shake the old man’s hand: “Professor Wang, I am actually a great chemist.”

"Aren't you a train driver? Li Aiguo from the next yard." The old man shook Li Aiguo's hand tightly, blinking his eyes: "Aren't the rat stickers sold by Wang Dagui the ones you made?
Do you think I won't recognize you if you change your clothes?"

Li Aiguo: "."

Well, being famous is also a kind of trouble.

Li Aiguo's expression remained unchanged as he said solemnly: "My main job is to drive a train, and my secondary job is to be a great chemist."

"come in."

Wang Qingdian stared at him for a long time, hesitated for a moment, and finally led the great chemist Li Aiguo into the explosion compound.

The entire compound was covered with iron sheets, giving it a spooky look.

There are many test benches and glassware on the ground, and the bookshelves next to them are filled with various books.

The entire compound is more like a large laboratory than a courtyard.

Wang Qingdian put on rubber gloves to clean up the instruments that had just exploded. Li Aiguo saw bottles of concentrated ammonia and saturated ethanol solution of iodine on the test bench.

"You were making nitrogen triiodide. No wonder it exploded just now."

Nitrogen triiodide is a very active inorganic compound.

In a dry state, nitrogen triiodide can exist in only two states: one is ready to explode, and the other is already exploded.

Even a slight cough can cause an explosion of nitrogen triiodide.

This thing is too extreme to be used as explosives.

Wang Qingdian is old, but he dares to play with this thing. He is very brave.

"I didn't expect you to know this stuff, even though you're a junior high school student. So, tell me, what am I going to do with nitrogen triiodide?"

"Nitrogen triiodide is the main component of explosives. You are an explosion expert, so you no longer need to make explosives." Li Aiguo's eyes fell on the side.

There was a coke stove on the test bench, with steam bubbling from a distillation flask on it. The steam passed through the red-hot charcoal into a large sealed jar.

Li Aiguo smiled and said, "If I'm not mistaken, you make nitrogen triiodide to detect wet hydrogen. Hydrogen dissolves in water, carbon dioxide is absorbed, and relatively pure hydrogen is produced.

At the same time, you are also using the water vapor and carbon filtration to purify the nitrogen in the air. The two are combined together. You are synthesizing ammonia using the Haber process!"

Li Aiguo's words were beyond Wang Qingdian's expectations.

While he was busy, he nodded at Li Aiguo with a serious expression: "You now have a college education."

As a chemist, Wang Qingdian's ability to clean up messes is first-rate, and he has cleaned up the test bench thoroughly in no time.

Wang Qingdian poured two cups of hot water into a measuring cup, added sugar, citric acid and sodium bicarbonate, stirred it with a stirring stick twice and handed it over.

The citric acid and sodium bicarbonate react to produce carbon dioxide gas, which creates foam and pressure in the solution.

Carbon dioxide gas dissolves in the solution, giving homemade soda its characteristic fizz and refreshment.

Li Aiguo took two sips and felt deeply moved. The methods of top chemists are really extraordinary.

"Tell me, Driver Li, what do you want to talk to a retired old man like me about?" Wang Qingdian took two sips of water.

Li Aiguo took out a document from his canvas bag and handed it over.

"Well, I need some high-purity acrylic acid to make a super absorbent resin.

Of course, this is just my idea, please give me some guidance. "

He also offered Wang Qingdian a cigarette.

Hearing the name of high-purity acrylic acid, Wang Qingdian had already put down his drink.

He took the cigarette and threw it to Li Aiguo: "The research on acrylic acid in China is still in its early stages. I have to take a closer look. Come on, smoke it too. I heard that all of you train drivers are heavy smokers."

Li Aiguo took the cigarette, lit it, made himself a glass of carbonated drink, and sat opposite Wang Qingdian.

Wang Qingdian took a look at the document in his hand and saw the title on the cover: "Research on the Synthesis and Modification of Acrylic Superabsorbent Resins."

Wang Qingdian saw that this thing looked quite professional and his expression became more serious. He turned the page and continued reading.

This document is more than thirty pages long, all written in neat handwriting, which is pleasing to the eye.

The introduction is [The core function of super absorbent resin material is to build a highly intelligent and efficient biological metabolite management system.

It has a highly breathable microporous film. This cutting-edge scientific and technological achievement allows air to circulate freely and effectively expel moisture, creating an exclusive high-tech "fresh air system" for the target.

The super absorbent resin material can be adjusted according to the target body position changes and the distribution of metabolites in the organism.

Dynamically adjust the absorption and diffusion areas to achieve all-round, no-dead-angle control of biological metabolites, greatly reducing the risk of leakage and providing long-term and reliable protection for the target.

While improving the quality of life, it also saves costs and reduces the medical expenses caused by skin rashes.】Looking down, you will find that the information is quite complete, from experimental planning to how to verify, and the chemical reaction formulas are written in a very standardized manner.

And in the last figure, other industrial roles of high-purity acrylic acid are explained in detail.

Wang Qingdian read it carefully. After reading it, he lit another cigarette and said, "Not bad, this is good enough for a technical secondary school education, but..."

Wang Qingdian looked at Li Aiguo and asked, "What are biological metabolites? What is the biological metabolite management system? And what is the goal? Tell me about it."

Li Aiguo said quietly: "The metabolites of organisms are urine, and the management system is diapers. But I gave this thing a goal, called diapers.

That’s very fitting. As for the target, it must be the baby.”

Wang Qingdian: “.”

He thought this guy was good at creating new words to fool people.

There are systems, biological metabolism, risks and so on, all these high-sounding words describe diapers as high-tech comparable to rockets into space.

".You know what, naming diapers diapers is indeed interesting."

Wang Qingdian shook off the cigarette ash and continued talking about diapers: "I have read the materials. The structure is complete and the arguments are solid. Although I have never studied high-purity acrylic acid derivatives before, it is feasible in principle and design."

"Now everything is ready, except for a chemical plant that can help produce super absorbent resin materials. Mr. Wang, you are the former director of the Beijing Chemical Plant." Li Aiguo took the opportunity to explain his purpose.

Wang Qingdian flipped through the materials, raised his head and said, "Since you can find me here, I'm afraid you have found many ways.

If it were five years ago, I might have been tempted.

But I am a retired old man now. Even if I have a few students in the Beijing Chemical Plant, I am afraid I can't help with major matters like project establishment.

They won’t listen to an old man like me.”

Wang Qingdian saw that Li Aiguo didn't believe what he said, so he stood up and pointed to the big yard and said, "This is what the teacher left behind. After the chemical factory moved away, it was supposed to be closed.

But the factory gave me the laboratory in consideration of the teacher's last words, so I can stay here temporarily."

Wang Qingdian laughed at himself and said, "I can use my remaining energy to create some small explosions, so that the younger generations can avoid taking detours."

When Li Aiguo heard this, he suddenly looked a little depressed.

It feels like I have made this trip in vain.

However, he particularly admired Wang Qingdian's spirit of independently researching synthetic ammonia.

You should know that although Wang Qingdian's place is a laboratory, it has lost the support of ministries.

However, he was willing to spend all his retirement salary to buy these pots and pans.

If you don't truly love this job, you won't be able to do it no matter what.

After chatting for a while, seeing that it was getting late, Li Aiguo decided to "take advantage of the situation" and take away the bottles and jars that had just exploded.

Just as he stood up, Wang Qingdian suddenly said, "Driver Li, I see that you are very concerned about these diapers, but I advise you not to think about it if you don't have a way in the military industry. The reactors in the Beijing Chemical Plant are not something that ordinary people can use.

"The military industry route?"

Different trades have different worlds. As a train driver, Li Aiguo really doesn't understand the ins and outs of a chemical plant.

Wang Qingdian lit a cigarette and squinted his eyes as he said, "Jingcheng Chemical is now considered half a military factory, responsible for developing military materials for the troops. If we want to get Jingcheng Chemical approved in the shortest possible time, we can only go the military route."

Li Aiguo's eyes lit up instantly.

Although he doesn't have connections in the military industry, he does have connections in special departments.

"Professor Wang, your words really enlighten me. Thank you!" Li Aiguo stood up and was about to leave.

Wang Qingdian pointed at the bottles and jars and said, "Why, you're not going to take them away? We can make a lot of money from them."

Li Aiguo: "."

In the end, Li Aiguo decided that "a thief should not leave empty-handed" and loaded all the bottles and cans onto the tricycle.

Taking advantage of this time, he also figured out why Wang Qingdian "retired" so early.

Wang Qingdian is Mr. Gao’s student, direct descendant, and a well-known organic chemist in China.

Even if the Xinhua Chemical Reagent Factory is rebuilt into Jingcheng Chemical, Wang Qingdian should continue to serve as the director.

However, after the completion of the Beijing Chemical Plant, Wang Qingdian proposed to devote all the resources of the plant to independently develop the technology of synthetic ammonia.

Some comrades, however, feel that developing synthetic ammonia technology is too time-consuming and carries a high risk of failure.

More importantly, there are already nitrogen fertilizer plants in the country, namely Dalian Chemical Plant, Yongli Nanjing Fertilizer Plant and Tianli Nitrogen Company.

Yongli Jinling Ammonia Plant was invested and built by national capitalist Fan Xudong, with famous chemist Mr. Hou as the plant director. The equipment was purchased from Xiaomei. The synthetic ammonia production capacity is 3.3 tons/year.

The predecessor of Dalian Chemical Plant was Manchuria Chemical Industry Corporation. The technology and equipment for synthetic ammonia were purchased by the Japanese. The synthetic ammonia production capacity was 5 tons/year.

Tianli Nitrogen Company's equipment comes from a synthetic ammonia intermediate pilot plant of DuPont Company.

and.

Among the "156 projects" currently being aided by the Russians, there are seven chemical industry projects, with three nitrogen fertilizer plants at the core, namely the Jilin Nitrogen Fertilizer Plant, Taiyuan Nitrogen Fertilizer Plant and Lanzhou Nitrogen Fertilizer Plant.

These three nitrogen fertilizer plants were relatively advanced in technology and scale at the time.

In other words, we now have three synthetic ammonia factories in our country, namely, the Japanese, the Americans and the Russians.

If you can fully understand and master these technologies, you can avoid many detours.

Jingcheng Chemical should use its limited funds and technology on reagents.

Wang Qingdian was a conservative person and had conflicts with his superiors. He "retired" after a disagreement.

"I have visited those nitrogen fertilizer plants. The technicians and equipment are all from foreign countries. Even the technical information is kept confidential. They are wary of us!"

Wang Qingdian threw the bottles and cans onto the tricycle.

"There is no technical detour! Only by mastering large-scale, low-cost synthetic ammonia technology can we produce cheap nitrogen fertilizer."

After hearing this, Li Aiguo had an even higher opinion of Wang Qingdian.

In later generations, due to technological limitations, domestic synthetic ammonia equipment could only be imported from abroad, costing billions of dollars in foreign exchange.

Moreover, due to price and equipment transportation issues, there are not many large-scale nitrogen fertilizer plants in China, and the annual output of nitrogen fertilizer is only a few hundred thousand tons.

This situation continued until the 1990s, when we finally mastered the high-pressure ammonia synthesis technology and were able to produce all kinds of high-pressure equipment in the ammonia synthesis process. Then the technology spread across the country like wildfire.

It is precisely because the technology of synthetic ammonia and nitrogen fixation has been solved that the members can plant various high-yield varieties without having to worry about the land being abandoned and losing its fertility in the second year. This has injected a solid foundation for national development and laid the foundation for future development.

It would be great if we could find a way to develop the synthetic ammonia technology. Li Aiguo rides a tricycle and travels through this passionate era.

The tricycle is filled with life, and the beautiful scenery in the distance is a dream. (End of this chapter)