Liang Wensheng came to his senses and looked at the glassware on Su Shaowen's blowpipe.
There was a flash of surprise on his face, and then he took a few steps closer, looked very carefully, and exclaimed: "Is this done? There is not a single bubble. It's really just like the master said, it's crystal clear and completely Transparent! Shaowen, you are amazing!"
Su Shaowen pursed his lips and smiled shyly, obviously very happy.
"I'll tell the master!" Liang Wensheng couldn't help but turned around and ran out!
"Senior brother..." Su Shaowen opened his mouth to stop him, but Liang Wensheng ran too fast and was already far away.
Su Shaowen looked down at the blowpipe in his hand, feeling filled with a sense of accomplishment. He decided to try a few more times to try to make better glassware.
He carefully peeled off the cooled and shaped glass from the blowpipe and placed it on the partition aside.
There are already many glassware on the partition, in various shapes, all of which were experimented by Su Shaowen during this period.
He has been trying different strengths and angles to see what shape or arc he can blow out. This glass is his most satisfying work so far.
Su Shaowen put the glass on the table and just let go when there was a sudden bang! —
The glass exploded!
A gap opened at the bottom of the cup, and the flying glass shards scratched Su Shaowen's fingers, leaving a shallow red mark.
Su Shaowen was stunned and stared blankly at the broken glass.
How happy I was before, but how disappointed I am now...
He thought of himself staying by the furnace day and night, constantly trying to figure out the various techniques of glass blowing. He thought of being roasted by the furnace so much that he sweated and developed prickly heat. He was so itchy that he couldn't sleep all night. Dare to relax even half a minute!
Because he is afraid...
She was afraid that she would appear incompetent and would be sent back by Hua Qingxue.
He knew that he was clumsy and did not like Master Song, so he worked as an apprentice for Master Song for a year, but he kept doing odd jobs and hard labor in the workshop.
Master Song disliked him for being too short and thin, and his wife also found him unpleasant.
He wanted to learn how to make glass, so he secretly collected the scraps left over from his master's and brother's glass-making work. When he was discovered, he was immediately beaten and scolded.
Now that he has finally got the opportunity to work in the firearms camp and make glass, it is like a dream to him, so he must not lose this job!
Su Shaowen bit his lip, turned around and got a broom and dustpan, swept silently, and then started making new glass.
He must succeed.
…
Hua Qingxue followed Liang Wensheng to the glass workshop of the Firearms Camp. As soon as she stepped through the door, she saw a pile of broken glass shards beside the door.
Su Shaowen wiped the sweat from his face, turned around with a smile, "Master, please wait a moment, I will be fine soon."
After saying this, he turned back to continue working at the furnace.
Liang Wensheng ran to the shelf on the wall and did not find the glass that Su Shaowen had just made. Instead, he found a row of broken glassware. Although some of them were not broken, there were cracks on the bottles.
"What's going on?" He asked in surprise and looked at Su Shaowen.
Hua Qingxue also looked confused.
Su Shaowen walked over slowly holding the blowpipe, his expression showing nervousness, "It will definitely not break this time... It will definitely not break..."
However, God seemed to be deliberately joking with him. Just when Su Shaowen gently put down the glass, thinking that everything was fine, a soft voice suddenly sounded -
Click, click.
There was a thin crack in the smooth cup wall, like a hair falling on it, which was very annoying.
Su Shaowen's eyes finally turned red. He bit his lip tightly and stared at the cracked cup with a look of reluctance on his face.
"Master, I... I don't know why this is happening..." Su Shaowen lowered his head and looked at the blowpipe in his hand, his face full of frustration and annoyance. He was extremely helpless.
Liang Wensheng saw this and felt very sorry. He couldn't help but said: "Master, Shaowen really made the kind of glass you want. I saw it with my own eyes. There is no impurity at all! There are no bubbles! Shaowen He works hard every day. He is always the last one to go to bed and the first one to wake up in the firearms camp..."
Hua Qingxue didn't seem to be listening at all, staring at the cracks on the wall of the glass, thoughtfully.
"That... master?..." Liang Wensheng called tentatively.
"Ah!" Hua Qingxue suddenly shouted, clapping her hands together, "I know what's going on!"
Liang Wensheng and Su Shaowen looked at each other, both confused.
Su Shaowen asked in a low voice: "Master, do you know the reason why the glass cracked?"
Hua Qingxue's face turned slightly red, as if she was a little embarrassed, "It's my fault. I forgot to tell you that the last step in making glass is annealing. Glass without annealing is very easy to break, which is also called cold explosion."
"Annealing?" Su Shaowen asked in confusion, "What is annealing?"
"Annealing is to continue to maintain heat or slowly cool down for a period of time after the glass product is completed to reduce the thermal stress in the glass." Hua Qingxue picked up the cracked glass and explained to Su Shaowen, "The glass has withstood intense temperatures during the forming process. Changes and shape changes, this change leaves thermal stress in the glass, and thermal stress will reduce the strength and stability of the glass products. At this time, the temperature suddenly drops, it is very likely to break, so the glass products must be processed after forming annealing."
Su Shaowen stared blankly at the glass in her hand, "That means... I didn't do anything wrong? There's nothing wrong with my blowing method?"
"Yes." Hua Qingxue smiled slightly, stretched out her hand and gently touched Su Shaowen's head, "You did a good job, you just missed one step to be like this."
Su Shaowen was relieved and finally had a smile on his face, "Master, then I will do it again. This time I will remember to anneal."
Hua Qingxue shook her head, "No need to do it."
When Su Shaowen heard this, his heart suddenly jumped!
He looked at Hua Qingxue uneasily, with panic in his eyes, worried that Hua Qingxue thought he was not smart enough and would not want him...
Hua Qingxue pondered for a moment and said, "You have to help me make something else first..."
Su Shaowen's heart was relieved, and he asked cautiously: "What does the master want me to do?"
"I'm going to Shengjing with the general in a few days. I want to make some mirrors as gifts for my friends in Shengjing." Hua Qingxue looked at Liang Wensheng and said with a smile, "I need the two of you to help with this matter."
Liang Wensheng was stunned, looking at Su Shaowen and then at Hua Qingxue, "Uh... Master, Shaowen and I don't know how to make mirrors..."
"You help me prepare tin foil and mercury. Shaowen makes glass of the same size as the mirror we usually use." Hua Qingxue thought for a while and added, "...Ah, by the way, I need to find some more. Craftsmen who are good at carving help us inlay the back of the mirror and carve some auspicious patterns."
If he wanted to make a thin and flat glass plate, Su Shaowen was already competent after this period of practice.
There are ready-made molds for making glass plates in the workshop. You only need to inject a thin layer of glass frit, let it cool and then peel off the mold.
But this thing is thin and brittle, how can it be used as a mirror
Liang Wensheng imagined a bronze mirror inlaid with glass in his mind. No matter how he thought about it, he felt strange...
The two of them prepared according to Hua Qingxue's request. In the following time, Hua Qingxue gave them a chemistry class, focusing on the chemical reaction process when mercury and tin meet.
Just stick shiny tin foil to the glass surface and pour in mercury. Mercury is a liquid metal. It can dissolve tin and wait quietly until the two merge into a viscous silvery white substance that sticks tightly to the glass plate, and the mirror is complete.
"The principle of a mirror is to reflect light. In fact, the ability of a mercury-coated mirror to reflect light is not very strong, but given our current conditions, it can be considered a great success."
Hua Qingxue looked at the reaction mirror in the mold, with a faint smile on her face and a relaxed tone, "When we make a still in the future and can refine silver nitrate, there will be a more convenient method to make more silver nitrate." Good mirror.”
Although Su Shaowen had been making glass for a while, this was his first contact with such chemical knowledge. He listened very carefully. The more he listened, the more he admired Hua Qingxue.
"Master, you are so amazing, you can do everything." Su Shaowen said sincerely.
Compared to Master Song's stinginess, Hua Qingxue had no reservations about him and was willing to teach him no matter what the problem was.
Liang Wensheng is actually one year older than Hua Qingxue, and he also admires Hua Qingxue very much, "Yes! Master, nothing can trouble you!"
Hua Qingxue laughed when she heard this, "It's actually very simple. When you become familiar with this knowledge in the future, you will understand that in fact, everything in the world we live in is composed of elements. As long as you understand the characteristics of these elements, Then through artificial combination, we will get the effect we want.”
She casually picked up the semi-finished glassware that Su Shaowen had made before and said, "For example, this glass, in the eyes of ordinary people, is a transparent and fragile object, but in my eyes, it is just silica."
She put down the glass and picked up the porcelain cup used by Su Shaowen to drink water. "What is this? A cup, but to me, it is an aluminosilicate compound, the main component of which is aluminum oxide."
Liang Wensheng suddenly realized, "No wonder the master asked us to memorize the chemical element list. It turned out to be so that we can better understand the constituent elements of these daily objects!"
Hua Qingxue smiled and nodded, "There is no shortcut to learning chemistry. After memorizing the table of elements, you can then understand the characteristics of each element one by one. However, our current conditions are limited and we cannot teach you one by one..."
After all, we are not in modern times. Many chemicals can be purchased directly. For example, silver nitrate is sold by most pharmaceutical factories in various purity.
But here, Hua Qingxue can only find a way to extract it by herself.
There are also some elements that were extremely rare in ancient times and almost impossible to find.
But how to put it... Although it was difficult, Hua Qingxue felt a sense of accomplishment as she watched Liang Wensheng and Su Shaowen earnestly communicate with each other about their understanding and views on elements.
She felt that she had done a good thing, and this unexpected time travel seemed to become meaningful.