Late Yuan Dynasty: I am the true emperor

Chapter 458 Steel Blowing Method and Jiaozhou Bay

That afternoon, Lu Jin summoned his guards and Fang Lanyue, and they brought over a bunch of teaching experimental equipment from home. It ranged from large items like transparent plastic tanks for holding fish (used for fishing before), to smaller items like candles, reed tubes, and cleaned sheep intestines, and even a transparent glass jar of yellow peaches—a Northeastern specialty, not to be missed!
There was also quicklime, calcium carbide, salt, a hand-cranked generator and battery made from an electric air pump, test tubes made of wire and bamboo tubes, a small red clay charcoal stove for brewing tea, a teapot, and a calcium carbide lamp.

There was even an extremely rudimentary miniature steam engine model, which shows that the preparations were very thorough. However, there were still many basic experimental devices missing. Lu Jin could only teach to the best of his ability. For experiments that he couldn't do, he could only draw diagrams and give oral explanations.

In addition, the steam engine had to be built, otherwise many things would be impossible to do; power had become a constraint on many of his ideas.
When afternoon classes started, even though it was 2 p.m., a time when people are most likely to feel sleepy, the students were full of energy and very excited. Lu Jin's physics class in the morning had already piqued their interest, so they were even more interested in the chemistry class in the afternoon.

Lu Jin first wrote the word "chemistry" on the blackboard, then wrote a famous quote from Mozi, before turning around and speaking.

"The discipline of chemistry originally originated from the Mo Jing Tian Zhi chapter of Mozi during the Spring and Autumn Period. In Tian Zhi, Mozi said, 'If it is not cut in half, it will not move. The explanation lies in the end.' This means that if an object is continuously divided into two halves, when it can no longer be divided into two halves, the smallest particle that makes up the object is called the 'end'."

"Of course, this statement is incorrect. I am just talking about the origin of chemistry. I will use this sentence as an introduction. Just listen to it. Our ancestor Gongshu Ban said that Mozi's theory was about knowing what but not why. This is the point. Mozi only summarized some natural phenomena but did not explore their true principles. This is wrong. You should not follow his example."

Everyone present nodded, and Lu Jin continued.

"Starting from this sentence, the ancestors of the Gongshu clan learned from the alchemists of the pre-Qin period, the Taoist alchemists of the Qin and Han dynasties, and the alchemists of Persia overseas. They also integrated the physics of the Gongshu clan, and finally formed a discipline that explores the components contained in all things in the world, uses all things to create all things, and makes all things in the world useful to people. This is chemistry."

"Of course, there are things here that I learned from alchemists and alchemists, but I am not here to teach you how to make elixirs of immortality and medicines of eternal life. Remember, there is no such thing as an elixir of immortality in this world."

"Take Ge Hong, the founder of Daoist alchemy and author of the book 'Baopuzi,' for example. Ge Hong was a figure from the Eastern Jin Dynasty, a time when people liked to take all sorts of strange poisons, such as Wushi San, which would cause people to go crazy and have hallucinations. Historical records show that people would take off their clothes and run wildly, climb high places and sing wildly, and liked to run naked."

Upon hearing this, everyone chuckled softly, while Lu Jin continued.

"In the historical books of past dynasties, especially the Book of Jin, it is often jokingly called the Magic Book of Jin because it records many strange and supernatural things. The Confucian school said that Confucius did not talk about strange phenomena, physical prowess, disorder and spirits. Gongshu Shi regarded ghosts and gods as nothing. So you don't need to believe in ghosts and gods."

"Take Ge Hong as an example. Ge Hong's view in Baopuzi is that if people can live to be a hundred years old by eating grains, then wouldn't eating metals like gold, silver, lead, and mercury, which never turn over, grant them immortality? What a ridiculous idea that is."
"Leaving aside highly toxic substances like lead and mercury, even non-toxic gold and silver will come out the same way you ingest them. Since they cannot be absorbed by the human body, what's the point of eating them? In fact, eating too much of them can cause the internal organs to sag and shift, ultimately leading to a tragic death. Hence the saying that one can commit suicide by swallowing gold."

"Eating lead and mercury is utter nonsense. If you force-feed someone a bowl of mercury, they will die on the spot. How can you eat such a highly toxic substance?"
"So if someone tells you that they have a magic pill that can make people live forever, just let them take it and see if they die or not."

"Hahahaha." The students present burst into laughter upon hearing this, while Tao Guangyi secretly grinned, thinking to himself that Lu Jin was making fun of his past experience in alchemy.

Zhu Sheng, Song Lian, and others in the back row nodded secretly. It seemed that the Gongshu Secret Manual did have some merit and was not a crazy study that truly regarded itself as a god.

"Alright, that's the introduction. Now let's officially begin learning chemistry. Open your chemistry textbooks and look at the periodic table at the back."

Upon hearing this, everyone immediately opened their textbooks, only to find many unfamiliar characters they had never seen before, some of which they couldn't even pronounce. Only the characters for gold, silver, copper, and iron were relatively familiar to them.

Lu Jin then wrote on the blackboard as he spoke.

"Mozi said that the smallest particle when an object is indivisible is called the end, which is incorrect. Why is it incorrect? Because he had never divided it, so of course he did not know."

"In the last lesson, we learned about the three states of matter. This time, we will still take water as an example. Whether it is liquid water, water vapor, or ice, it is essentially water. Even if it becomes water vapor and floats into the sky to become clouds, when you magnify it to the point that it can be observed with the naked eye, it is still a water droplet. So, can such an extremely small water droplet be called the end of water? Of course not."

"Mozi said that only when something can be divided into nothingness can it be called the beginning. Is it possible that water can be further decomposed even when it is reduced to its smallest size, but the things that are decomposed into are no longer water, but two or even more other substances that make up water?"

Upon hearing this, everyone looked at each other in bewilderment, while Lu Jin wrote on the blackboard.

"Therefore, Gongshu Shi called the smallest unit that can retain the original chemical properties of a substance, can exist independently, and has divisibility, the smallest unit that makes up an object, a molecule. The smallest water droplet that cannot be further decomposed into water is called a water molecule."

"So, is a water molecule water? It is still water. It can exist independently and can maintain the form and properties of water. It can also freeze and evaporate, and has the same characteristics as water. It's just that if it decomposes further, it will no longer be water. So, particles of this size are molecules."

"Can water molecules continue to break down? Of course they can, because molecules are divisible. If they continue to break down, a water molecule will become an oxygen atom and two hydrogen atoms."

"What is an atom? An atom is a basic particle composed of a single element, capable of retaining chemical properties, constituting the smallest basic unit of matter, and indivisible in chemical reactions."

"Copy these two definitions word for word and memorize them, as they will be on the test in the future."

Everyone quickly opened their notebooks and began taking notes. They immediately realized that this chemistry class was much more difficult to understand than the physics class they had in the morning.

However, Lu Jin had no choice. The concepts of molecules, atoms, atomic nuclei, and electrons—these microscopic particles—are the foundation of chemistry. If you don't memorize these concepts first, it will be difficult to master the chemistry later on. So even if you have to memorize them by rote, you still have to memorize them.

Fortunately, after learning these basic concepts, Lu Jin showed them experiments that interested them, which helped them understand. Starting with the introduction given in the morning about the composition of air, she first showed them the candle hypoxia experiment, followed by an oral description of the mouse hypoxia experiment, thus explaining the oxygen in the air.

Then, using glass bottles and water tanks, they collected carbon dioxide using the water displacement method, demonstrating the density and 'fire extinguishing' properties of carbon dioxide to the students, who exclaimed in amazement.

Of course, the highlight was the experiment of electrolyzing salt water to collect oxygen and hydrogen. When they saw that hydrogen could be ignited and made a slight popping sound, and that the red-hot iron wire burned violently in oxygen and turned into black iron(III) oxide, the students sitting below immediately shouted loudly. Even Song Lian, Zhu Sheng and others in the back row who were listening to the lecture exclaimed in disbelief.

Then Lu Jin conducted an experiment on the reaction of calcium carbide and water to release acetylene gas. The students from Luzhou Ironworks understood this experiment immediately because they used carbide lamps for lighting in their ironworks. On the contrary, the students from the artillery class were more surprised.

Lu Jin then spoke up, “Now we know that charcoal can burn and hydrogen can burn. So if we can find a way to combine the two, we can create a hydrocarbon compound that burns more violently. What is hydrocarbon? It is formed by taking the character for charcoal (火) and the character for hydrogen (坙), and combining them into a new character. This character is pronounced 'ting' and is the general term for hydrocarbon compounds.”

"What's the use of this thing? The students from the ironworks are probably already raising their hands. Since it can burn, it can certainly be used for lighting. That's right, this thing can be used to make lamps. Unlike oil lamps and candles, it only needs coal and lime, plus water to burn. It's much cheaper than oil lamps and candles."

Just then, Ye Chen, the son of a craftsman from the Luzhou Ironworks who had spoken in the previous class, raised his hand again.

"Ye Chen, you speak."

"Teacher, the lamps used in the ironworks seem a bit different from this one. Although they burn acetylene gas as fuel, there's a piece of lime in front of the lamp nozzle, and it's called a calcium lamp instead of a carbide lamp. Why is that? And what is the purpose of that piece of lime?"

Lu Jin nodded and immediately explained, "You observed very carefully. However, the calcium lamps and carbide lamps in the ironworks are not much different. They just add a piece of lime in front of the lamp opening and heat it over a flame to make it emit a brighter and more dazzling white light. It can be as bright as day even in the dark. This is just taking advantage of the incandescence of lime."

"Incandescence is the phenomenon where an object emits visible light when heated. Many objects have this property. Lime is used here simply because it is cheap, readily available, and has a long burn-resistance."

"Teacher, I understand, thank you." "Hmm, please sit down." Lu Jin then continued, "So, besides using acetylene gas for lighting, are there any other uses?"

Everyone frowned and fell into deep thought. Lu Jin didn't wait for their answer and took the initiative to say, "When acetylene gas burns in air, it can reach a high temperature of about 2100 degrees Celsius. Through previous experiments, we also know that oxygen can support combustion. So what would happen if acetylene and pure oxygen were mixed and burned?"

Everyone's eyes lit up, and someone immediately raised their hand.

"Hu Guangyao, you speak."

Hu Guangyao, whose name was called, immediately stood up and said, "It will burn more intensely, and may even explode, which can be used to make more powerful firearms."

"The idea is good, have a seat. But compared to making weapons, this acetylene-oxygen flame may have a greater role in production."

"We already knew that the melting point of iron is only 1538℃, while the temperature of an oxyacetylene flame can reach as high as 3100 to 3500 degrees, which is more than twice the melting point of steel. In other words, this flame can melt steel instantly, or even burn through it. It can easily cut a cannon weighing several thousand kilograms into two sections, or melt iron bars into molten iron and embed them in the gap between two steel plates to weld the two steel plates into one piece."

"Because of the powerful properties of oxyacetylene flames in welding and cutting steel, it was jokingly called an industrial magic weapon by Gongshu Shi. Its importance to production is self-evident. So, can anyone tell me what this thing has to do with the artificial refrigeration I talked about in the last lesson?"

The students present immediately began to rack their brains. After a short while, someone raised their hand. Lu Jin called on a student who had been very active that morning, "Mao Xin, you go ahead."

"The teacher said this morning that artificial refrigeration requires putting air into an airtight iron canister, pressurizing it inside, and liquefying the air. Ordinary containers would be difficult to make, and steel containers cannot leak water or air, and casting is not easy either. If we can perfectly weld steel plates into a whole, then we can make this kind of pressure-resistant and low-temperature-resistant steel container."

“Well said, please sit down.” Lu Jin waved for Mao Xin to sit down before speaking.

"Therefore, gas welding technology is also a prerequisite for artificial refrigeration. If you don't master this technology first, you can't even build a sealed pressure vessel, so what's the point of talking about artificial refrigeration?"

Everyone suddenly realized that it all made sense; it was all connected. It turned out that what Lu Jin had been saying was to lay the foundation for artificial refrigeration.

Song Lian, Zhu Sheng, and the others sitting in the back row exchanged glances. It seemed that Lu Jin was really going to work on artificial refrigeration, and his thinking was very clear. He had already made a plan for what to do first and what to do next.

After explaining acetylene, Lu Jin then talked about the reduction reaction of iron oxide, analyzing the chemical reactions involved in each step of smelting iron ore into iron, before speaking to the students.

"Now we know that the smelting of iron is essentially the process of heating iron oxide and carbon together, taking advantage of the affinity between carbon and oxygen to remove oxygen atoms from the iron oxide and restore it to iron itself. What kind of reaction is this? A reduction reaction."

"However, this deoxidation reaction inevitably introduces carbon into the iron. Therefore, the iron we usually talk about is not pure iron, but an alloy of iron and carbon. So what are pig iron, wrought iron and steel? What are the differences between them? They are actually caused by the different proportions of carbon in the iron-carbon alloy."

"Generally speaking, according to Gongshu's definition, iron-carbon alloys with a carbon content of about 2% to 5% are called pig iron; those with a carbon content of less than 0.2% are called wrought iron; and steel is an iron-carbon alloy with a carbon content of 0.03% to 2%."

"Students from the ironworks should know that what comes out directly from the blast furnace is called pig iron. It needs to be forged or wrought iron and cast iron to be made into steel. And the price of steel is often more than ten times that of pig iron. Now that we know the chemical principles of iron smelting, is there a way to produce more, cheaper and better quality steel? Of course there is."

"Let's first look at the difference between the frying method and the pouring method. The frying method involves stirring molten pig iron to make it react with oxygen in the air to produce carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide gases, which then separate from the molten iron, thereby reducing the carbon content in the pig iron and turning it into steel."

"The molten iron pouring method involves pouring molten pig iron with a high carbon content onto wrought iron with a low carbon content, thereby neutralizing the carbon content and turning it into steel."

The students present listened with great interest, and Song Lian, Zhu Sheng, and others in the back row had a sudden realization that this was the principle behind steel pouring and steel frying.

Zhan Tong also lowered his voice and whispered to the others, "No wonder His Highness said that the Mohists knew what but not why, and always had a feeling that they were the only ones who were sober in a world of drunks. It turns out that it is true. If we hadn't listened to this chemistry lesson today, we probably would also know what but not why. It turns out that frying steel and pouring steel are actually for decarburizing molten iron."

The others nodded, feeling as if they had finally learned the truth about the world.

Lu Jin continued, "Now that we know that we can get steel and wrought iron by decarburizing pig iron, is there a more efficient way to decarburize pig iron? Can someone tell us?"

The students present immediately raised their hands enthusiastically, and Lu Jin called on another person, "Wang Yue, you speak."

The student named Wang Yue immediately stood up and said, "Teacher, we can introduce oxygen into the molten iron. Air is 80% nitrogen, and nitrogen cannot react with the carbon in the molten iron, so the efficiency of steelmaking is very low. If we can introduce pure oxygen into the molten iron, so that the carbon in the molten iron can come into full contact with the oxygen, we can speed up the decarburization reaction and improve the efficiency of steelmaking."

“That’s a good answer. Please sit down.” Lu Jin asked him to sit down and then said, “This is indeed a very good method. By blowing pure oxygen directly into the molten iron to decarburize it quickly, the efficiency of steelmaking can be improved. I call this method the blowing method, in order to distinguish it from the previous frying and pouring methods.”

"But can this steel blowing method be achieved? The key is that you need to be able to produce a large amount of pure oxygen. To produce a large amount of pure oxygen, the most convenient, cost-effective and lowest-cost method is to directly separate oxygen from the air. Separating oxygen from other oxides through other chemical reactions is not impossible, but the cost is too high and not worthwhile."

"If the cost of refining oxygen is higher than the cost of frying and pouring steel, even if you can improve the efficiency of steelmaking, the price will still be very high. And if you want to separate pure oxygen from the air, you need to figure out artificial refrigeration first."

"So before we can figure out artificial refrigeration, are there any other ways to implement the steel blowing method? Can we blow air directly into the molten iron to achieve the decarburization reaction? This is the homework I'm giving you, and you can discuss it with each other."

"We'll continue with physics tomorrow morning, still focusing on changes of state. That's all for today's lesson. get out of class dismissed."

After Lu Jin announced the end of get out of class, he immediately packed up his things and left. The students in the classroom immediately started chattering and some were even borrowing each other's notes to copy.

On the other side, Feng Guoyong was also waiting at the school gate, and saw Lu Jin come over to report as soon as get out of class ended.

"Your Highness, judging by the time, General Yang's Third Army should have landed in Jiaozhou Bay this afternoon, but we haven't received any news yet."

Lu Jin nodded. "Is there any news from other directions?"

"Oh, there's something else. Chen Youliang, whom Your Highness previously instructed to keep an eye on, joined Liao Yong'an's First Army in Wuchang the day before yesterday. He chose to lead the navy and is now traveling by boat with his family to Jiankang."

Upon hearing this, Lu Jin narrowed his eyes. "Tell me the details of what happened."

"Yes."

(End of this chapter)