Chapter 492: Unexpected Things
"Hey, this doesn't seem to be the direction of the Science and Technology School. Reading" The officials looked in the direction of the explosion, showing puzzled faces.
Liu Fu couldn't help but make a puzzled sound.
Zhao Xu was in no mood to continue the discussion. Last time, Wang Chong's steam engine exploded.
But he had learned his lesson. This time it shouldn't be Wang Chong's fault.
If it wasn't Wang Chong's, then there was only one possibility.
Something happened in Qu Sheng's chemical workshop.
After he handed over the preparation of three acids and two bases to Qu Sheng.
Qu Sheng was not idle. He led the students who were proficient in chemistry in the Science and Technology School to work on this matter.
He occasionally asked about the progress. Qu Sheng reported to him that it would not be later than Wang Chong to manufacture steam engines on a large scale.
Thinking of this, he asked Liu Fu and the officials to continue.
He went to the workshop area under the protection of Xu Lie, and the sound of the explosion came from here.
Sure enough, as soon as he arrived at the workshop area, he saw white smoke coming out near the chemical workshop.
The whole chemical workshop was in a mess, and workshop craftsmen kept carrying buckets to put out the fire.
However, when Zhao Xu approached, he found that the smoke did not come from the production workshop, but from the laboratory in the neighboring workshop.
In addition to the laboratory in the Science and Technology School, Qu Sheng and his team also built a laboratory in the Chemical Workshop in order to conduct experiments nearby.
Now, six students were lying in front of the laboratory, all of them were covered in blood and groaning in pain.
And Qu Sheng was checking the injuries of the six people.
"What happened?" Zhao Xu walked over and asked directly.
When Qu Sheng saw Zhao Xu, he even forgot to salute, with a guilty look on his face, "Your Highness, it's all my fault, please punish me."
"What punishment or no punishment, tell me what happened first!" Zhao Xu said solemnly.
Qu Sheng said anxiously, "A student said that he accidentally mixed glycerin into the mixture of nitric acid and concentrated sulfuric acid. He left without reacting at the time. Other students came in and accidentally knocked the glass bottle containing the mixture to the ground, and then it exploded inexplicably."
Zhao Xu frowned when he heard this.
Because the reaction of creation is an experiment that the students must master, he also asked to keep glycerin.
So there is glycerin in the experiment.
Mixing concentrated sulfuric acid with nitric acid to make mixed acid is also one of the experimental contents he required.
But what a coincidence, this time Qu Sheng and his team accidentally made nitroglycerin.
This thing is extremely unstable and will explode when it encounters a collision.
When he was teaching, he deliberately did not tell Qu Sheng and his team about this, just because he was afraid that these young people would mess around and blow themselves up.
Unexpectedly, he still did not avoid this accident.
"I know, how are the students injured?" Zhao Xu asked.
"The student closest to him was seriously injured, and the flesh on his leg was blown open. The others were basically slightly injured." Qu Sheng felt more and more guilty.
While Zhao Xu was talking, he was already checking the injuries of the students, which was similar to what Qu Sheng said.
The most seriously injured student was already unconscious, and his legs were bloody.
The medical officer stationed in the workshop was applying hemostatic herbs to the unconscious student and bandaging him at the same time.
"Give him the best medicine." Zhao Xu ordered.
These students are his treasures, and their value is not yet reflected.
But when he drives out the Beidi, stabilizes Dasong, and fights against the Western powers in this world, they will become the force that drives the overall advancement of Dasong's technology.
"Don't worry, Your Highness. There is nothing wrong with his bones. He just needs to rest for a while." The medical officer was not very nervous.
"That's good." Zhao Xu nodded.
Soon, the medical officer asked people to carry away the injured students.
Other students began to enter the laboratory to clean up the mess.
Qu Sheng said at this time: "Your Highness, what's going on? Why does glycerol explode when it is dropped into mixed acid?"
"I want to tell you when the Mining Division finds a special soil, but now that you accidentally made it, I will tell you that this student accidentally made nitroglycerin." Zhao Xu shook his head.
Nitroglycerin, an unstable substance, is completely unusable to him at the moment. Because it is a liquid, it cannot be converted into propellant for guns and cannons.
Unless the Mining Division finds diatomite ore and mixes it with it to make stable diatomite gunpowder.
This kind of gunpowder is yellow gunpowder, which is a higher grade than black gunpowder.
"Nitroglycerin?" Qu Sheng read the name again.
Zhao Xu then told Qu Sheng this piece of knowledge again, explaining the role of nitroglycerin and how to use diatomite and nitroglycerin to make yellow gunpowder.
"I didn't expect that an accident would actually create this dangerous thing." Qu Sheng sighed.
"In fact, many things are accidentally discovered in experiments." Zhao Xu smiled.
In contemporary history, gunpowder was also accidentally discovered by Taoist priests when they were refining elixirs.
"In this way, we only need to wait for the news from the Mining Division to digest glycerin and turn it into stable gunpowder." Qu Sheng's eyes were full of expectation, and he wanted to use a whip to urge the people of the Mining Division to find diatomite quickly.
Then he suddenly realized that he didn't know what diatomite was, so he asked Zhao Xu.
Zhao Xu then explained that diatomite is a kind of siliceous rock, mainly composed of the remains of ancient diatoms, just like plants precipitating into oil.
In modern times, this resource is mainly distributed in my country, the United States, Japan and other countries.
This is a parallel world, history has changed, but the location of resources will not change.
In my country, diatomite is mainly distributed in Jilin, Shandong, Zhejiang, and southwest Hebei.
The corresponding areas of Dasong are the northern part of Ningjindusi, Qizhou and Zhejiangzhou, and the location of Daijun in Yanzhou.
Although the quality of Daijun diatomite is not as good as that of Qizhou, it is also rich in resources and enough for him to use.
At that time, when he forced Zhao Heng to ask for the three southern counties, he also had this consideration.
After all, the larger the territory, the more resources there are on the territory.
There will be no bottleneck in mineral resources.
"So that's it." Qu Sheng basically understood, "Wang Chong made granular gunpowder, Your Highness, this yellow gunpowder will be handed over to me."
Zhao Xu nodded, and Wang Chong turned to physics.
This matter is naturally appropriate to be handed over to Qu Sheng.
"Then you have to wait for the news from the Mining Department." Zhao Xu said.
There is no satellite positioning in this world, and the Mining Department can only find it based on his description of the environment.
And the mines are all underground, sometimes they even have to dig deeper to find, which is still difficult.
Therefore, the Mineral Exploration Department can only list diatomite as one of the key minerals to be searched for.
As for when it can be found, we can only hope for luck.
After saying this, Zhao Xu turned to the workshop where craftsmen came in and out, "The laboratory has so much nitric acid and concentrated sulfuric acid. It seems that you have made a lot of them during this period."
Qu Sheng finally smiled, "I will live up to your trust. The three acids and two alkalis that your Highness wants can be manufactured in large quantities here."
Extending his hand to make a gesture of invitation, Qu Sheng walked in front and led Zhao Xu into the workshop.