473 Preparation of Gunpowder
Li You then approached Dong Kui and two other men, and he wanted to teach them how to prepare gunpowder and how to extract saltpeter ore. Gunpowder deployment is a dangerous job. Although the workshop is also here, but at the other end of the other workshops, there is still a separate area specially drawn out. Water power is also needed here. Of course, there is no water now, and large-scale gunpowder deployment. There is no way to proceed here now.
The small courtyard of the workshop is not too big. The small courtyard is just a few rooms on the left and right, plus an open space. It doesn't look like a workshop at all. Except for the stack room on the left, the remaining rooms on the left are mainly used for grinding, mixing gunpowder, and drying gunpowder. Here, there is another room that Li You prepared to teach Dong Kui and others to purify saltpetre.
The purified saltpeter is sold, but the amount is really not much. If Li You hadn't spent a lot of money this time, how could he get so many back. But Li You also knows that the saltpeter he bought still contains some impurities, and there is definitely no problem in using it. But Li You knows one thing very well. The amount of gunpowder used by naval guns is a lot. If you want more, you can only buy the ore to process and purify the useful saltpeter.
At this time, the purification technology is actually possible, Li You asked. The usual method is to grind the natural saltpeter ore and dissolve it in fresh water without impurities, so that the sediment and other particulate impurities are preliminarily precipitated and removed, and finally boiled.
When boiling, put the radish slices in the nitrate solution and boil repeatedly, so that it can absorb the salt and alkali in the solution. After salvaging the radish slices, boil the nitrate solution again and pour it into a porcelain urn to cool and solidify, so that the waste water floats on the urn, the mud sinks to the bottom of the urn, and the pure nitrate resides in the center. Finally, the water is filtered to remove the residue, and the pure nitrate is taken out and dried. This kind of pure nitrate is white crystals, shaped like needle awns, and its purity is relatively high. Generally speaking, about one hundred catties of saltpeter ore can extract about 30 catties of pure nitrate.
The method Li You knows is recrystallization. High-temperature water can dissolve a large amount of potassium nitrate. When the water temperature is too low, the same amount of water can only dissolve a little potassium nitrate. Therefore, as long as the saltpeter is dissolved in high-temperature water to make it as saturated as possible, and finally the temperature of the solution is lowered, the high-purity potassium nitrate will be precipitated quickly, even a little salt will be separated out, so that the purity will be higher. High potassium nitrate too.
This time, Li You didn't have many raw saltpeter mines, so he found more than 100 catties just to teach them. This is enough, and what Li You has to do is to give them both methods. This is what they have to learn today, and they will be taught how to configure gunpowder and gunpowder molding tomorrow.
Although the steel mill is manual, it can be used. After all, it is only more than one hundred catties of saltpeter ore. It will be ground into powder in a short time. It is just that you have to learn these two kinds of nitrate production and purification can not be completed in a short time. . Especially now, Li You is sitting on the side directing Dong Kui to add sliced radish to the pot to remove the salt. This has to be watched. The radish can’t be boiled, and it has to be fished out. The fire can’t be too big, otherwise it’s Water can dry quickly.
At noon, it was finally over, but we have to wait until the saltpeter is dried. The sun here is big enough and it dries fast anyway. The next step is to boil the water in the room, but this time, there is no need to put any radish slices in the big pot, just add the nitrate solution to boil it, and put a fine strainer in the pot.
When the solution became saturated, Li You asked someone to lift the big pot and put it in the pool to cool down. Dong Kui and the others were really surprised to see the saltpeter emerge from the water. . Dong Kui asked: "Young Master, why is this? When can we start the Internet?"
"I'm afraid I can't explain it to you, so you don't want to ask for the time being. It's fine if you know what's going on. You can start the net after you put this pot in the pool over there to cool it down."
Another person asked: "Young Master, do we still need to fetch water?"
"No, the water is enough. If the temperature of the water in the pool is too high later, you can fetch water and replace it."
After a while, they finally pulled up the filter. It weighed at least a few catties, as long as it was dried. Then they continued to do it again and again, no matter what, they had to take the hundreds of catties of saltpeter. Only after the mine has been purified. What they didn't expect was that it was almost evening after finishing it, which was indeed a bit boring.
And early the next morning, Li You asked them to grind charcoal and saltpeter, all of which needed to be pulverized. The finer the better, this was the requirement. When all these were prepared, Li You brought a bag of sulfur and said to several people: "Sulfur also needs to be refined, but mine is refined by others. You only need to remember these three types. The more refined the raw materials, the better. Remember, when you mix medicine later, you must cover your mouth and nose with a cotton cover to do this."
After several people nodded, Li You went on to say: "The medicine we will prepare is called gunpowder. This medicine can burn and explode instantaneously. There is a certain degree of danger. You must be careful when operating. There are two formulas for the medicine, one is artillery medicine, and the other is gun medicine. I will write to you later. This is not anxious. What I want to say is that you can't make a mistake about these two medicines. "New 81 Chinese network update the fastest mobile terminal: https:/
Dong Kui nodded and said: "Yes, Young Master, we will not make a mistake, and will do what Young Master said. It's just... what is a cannon? A gun?"
Li You didn’t know how to answer Dong Kui’s question. He just said, “You’ll know when you see it. Now, I really don’t know how to explain it to you. Okay, let’s not talk about it, let’s go on. About gunpowder. When mixing the powder, remember to make it evenly, add some wine in it, and finally knead the powder into a ball and then squash it. The rest is the later crushing and screening. This is not difficult. When it's big, you don't need manpower, you only need to feed accurately."
After speaking, Li You found a porcelain urn, put it on the table, and then took out a rod to weigh it. The gunpowder used in gunpowder contains relatively little sulfur, with a content of only 8%, and saltpeter is used the most, reaching Seventy-eight. After several balls of gunpowder were kneaded into balls and squashed, they were exposed to the sun outside the house.
The gunpowder was a bit flattened, and it could dry out after a long time. Li You went back to the room and started telling everyone to try to dispense the medicine. This time, Li You brought over 40 kilograms of saltpeter minerals. These are also for them to practice. In fact, this is also simple, and there will be no major problems. The raw materials are all over-weighted. , To put it bluntly, as long as fire prevention is done well.
In the afternoon, the gunpowder was completely dry. Li You asked someone to smash it and sifted it through a fine sieve. This is the granular gunpowder with stable and reliable properties, and Li You had to teach them how to make the line powder. (End of this chapter)