novelonline Chapter 898 Ancient Cement
Chapter 898 Ancient Cement
Chapter 898 Ancient Cement
The difficulty of speed control that Qian Daomin mentioned cannot be blamed on him.
In fact, before Watt improved the steam engine, this device did not exist. It was not until Watt invented the centrifugal governor to control the amount of steam entering that the problem was solved.
But Zhu Houzhao really couldn't help him.
It is not entirely true that this kind of scientific invention has much to do with intelligence. The key actually lies in imagination and a moment of inspiration.
This is a bit unpredictable.
Zhu Houzhao placed this project here just to have another thought, maybe it will give him a surprise one day.
In addition, the Academy of Sciences has two equally important projects: metallurgy and cement.
Smelting is also an industry with a high threshold. It’s not that those methods are conceivable, but the key is that even if we do, there is no material that can withstand the high temperature of the liquid metal.
Only cement holds some promise.
Its main raw materials are limestone, clay, sand, etc., but the production process is somewhat particular, such as when to burn and when to grind, and in what proportions to add different raw materials, all of which require experiments one by one.
This is actually not a big deal. Even if you don’t understand the principle, there is a method in materials science that will never go out of date - the exhaustive method!
Even when New China was researching aerospace materials and needed special alloys, it would adopt this method. It was not afraid of tens of thousands of possibilities. It could have 200 groups, with each person trying 50 ratios, and it would come out in three to two years.
Scientific research requires money and sometimes in this aspect, those materials that are not successfully matched become costs.
Zhu Houzhao would also feel that the cement he ordered people to make here was probably not the kind of cement he had seen in later generations.
According to normal logic, any material will undergo various improvements in production methods in the next two to three hundred years. The cement in his impression must be different from the one made by the current crude method.
But none of this matters.
The key is that it can harden when exposed to water or air, which makes it more convenient to use in construction and transportation.
The person in charge of this project team was a middle-aged man who was unkempt. When the emperor came, there was some gray dirt on his hair.
However, when he was introducing, his eyes sparkled and he spoke eloquently.
"Your Majesty, look at these two samples. After many tests, we can draw a conclusion. In order to obtain hydraulic lime, clay and limestone must be burned. After many tests, we found that the best ratio of lime and clay is three to one, and the performance of cement is also the best."
"Best performance? Can it harden when exposed to water?"
Zhu Houzhao took a closer look. In his impression, cement was gray, but this thing was brown. He didn't know what other substances were mixed in it.
"can!"
"for how long?"
The middle-aged man's surname was Fang, and ordinary people called him Master Fang. When he saw the emperor asking this question, he knew that the emperor actually knew a thing or two, "It will take more than twenty days."
"But are there any disadvantages?"
“It’s not very resistant to erosion, and it can’t touch seawater.”
Zhu Houzhao pursed his lips. He knew that these things that were tinkered with in the early days had all kinds of problems.
But there is nothing that can be done about it. Cement was invented very early, and although humans did not understand the principles behind it, it was indeed used very early. However, it was not until 1893 that cement that was not afraid of seawater was actually produced.
Cement will be corroded by seawater, which means that it cannot be used in any seaport construction.
They could only build a few roads in East China and North China. As for building roads to Xinjiang, that would be a project of the century. The difficulty of construction in that terrain would be overwhelming even for later generations.
Zhu Houzhao pointed at the brown powder in front of him and asked, "Can it be mass-produced? What do you think of using it to pave roads?"
"It's OK to lay a short section, but if it's too long, it will require a huge amount of limestone and clay, as well as coal for combustion."
You see, it is connected to the previous steam power device.
Because a large amount of coal has to be mined, and there is no steam power for mining, so we can only mobilize a large amount of manpower.
It's very hard and dangerous.
The production volume cannot be increased.
The real answer is that industrialization is a very difficult thing. As of the 21st century, there are not many truly industrialized countries. Considering the more than 200 countries on the planet, the number of countries that have successfully industrialized may be less than one-tenth.
A simple steam engine cannot solve all problems.
It can only come little by little.
Zhu Houzhao is planting a seed now, and the fruit will be left for future generations to harvest.
"Since it can be produced, we should first trial-produce a part of it. Don't pave it in densely populated urban areas to prevent it from cracking, breaking or having other problems after two or three years. It will be difficult to save it then. Let's pave the road outside the city first and between cities. Don't go to Jiangnan. You need to build a bridge every few steps in the water network area, but it's still unclear whether your material is suitable for bridge building."
The middle-aged man was somewhat delighted, "I will obey your majesty's order."
Seeing this, Zhu Houzhao's mood improved again, "At least I didn't return empty-handed today."
The main application of cement is in infrastructure represented by roads and various houses. The demand for houses is not high. Now the people of Ming Dynasty are building houses very quickly. They even built the Great Wall.
As for roads, they are of some use.
This type of road surface can increase the speed of horse-drawn carriages, which is of course beneficial to the country as a whole. It is a pity that in an era when animal power is still used as the driving force, no matter how well the road is built, the speed of material circulation will not change qualitatively.
But Zhu Houzhao was still very happy, thinking that something was better than nothing.
At noon, he met with 76 contemporary scientists from the Academy of Sciences and told them, "The development of science is of great benefit to the progress of society and the strength of the country. We must not be prejudiced and think that it is just a gimmick and not worth mentioning. The development of science can reveal laws that we have never understood before, and make the Ming Dynasty's understanding of the world more comprehensive and profound than any other country or nation.
On the one hand, scientific guidance allows the Ming Dynasty to build more powerful artillery than ever before, which is an increase in destructive power. On the other hand, scientific guidance can also build ships that do not rely on human and animal power, which is an increase in creativity. The latter is to create wealth and benefit the people, while the former is to prevent some people with bad intentions from robbing the wealth we create. The two complement each other and are indispensable.
I hope you will continue to research and experiment in your field. The practice of the past 20 years has proved that the new products created by scientific development are of great benefit to ordinary people and all living beings! "
The scholars surrounding the emperor shouted excitedly,
The Emperor Zhengde had always been generous to the Academy of Sciences, which made them feel honored.
Of course, there are also some fools who think that the emperor's preferential treatment is a kind of trust and favor, and want to make progress in their careers, which is of course seeking death.
Even more excessive is that some people think that the emperor's preference for this type of people is just like some previous emperors' preference for alchemy and Taoists, and therefore they think of getting promoted quickly through this channel.
When faced with such a situation, Zhu Houzhao not only dealt with it immediately, but also dealt with it severely. He also repeatedly emphasized that people who are devoted to science should no longer focus on how to get promoted.
Even a very young person like Qian Daomin.
Of course, now he has nothing, and he can only sigh in despair at the huge steam device. Qian Daomin, who signed the military order, said to his men: "We have to split into two paths. On the one hand, we will continue the previous experiments, and on the other hand... we must seek help from outside, and we can't always work in isolation."
But when it comes to knowledge and experience, Hou Jingyang of Bowang can be ranked first.
Qian Daomin wanted to try his luck. Even if there was no ready-made method, if he could meet someone who had made achievements in these areas, that would be an additional possibility.
(End of this chapter)