"Yamachō, I have another question!"
In the laboratory, Mo Lingwei frowned and asked, "Since we need direct current so much, why didn't we just use a direct current generator to generate electricity?"
Hearing Mo Lingwei's question, Li Zexuan couldn't help but praise this girl's intelligence. He thought for a moment and said, "Ink Girl, have you ever thought about this question? If the electricity from the hydropower station is direct current, how much voltage will be attenuated after it passes through a one-mile long wire?
You have to know that for a wire of the same thickness, the longer the length, the higher the resistance, and the greater the divided voltage. Let's say the output voltage of the hydropower station is 200 volts. If it is transmitted to a place one mile away, the voltage will be only 150 volts. The further it is, the lower the voltage will be!
"And the electric lamps produced by our workshop all have the same calibrated voltage. If we use direct current to transmit electricity, the places far away from the hydropower station won't be able to get enough voltage to light the lamps!
"If we use alternating current to transmit electricity, this problem won't exist because we have transformers. We can use transformers to boost the voltage at places far away from the hydropower station and raise the voltage to the value we need. "But direct current isn't as easy to convert voltage as alternating current!
"Besides, Ink Girl, you should know that the internal structure of an alternating current generator is simpler than a direct current generator, and its lifespan is also longer than a direct current generator. So after considering many factors, I chose alternating current transmission!"
In fact, even in modern times, the battle for direct current didn't end with alternating current winning. In the twenty-first century's power system, high voltage transmission coexisted with alternating current and direct current, complementing each other. In fact, with the development of electronic technology, direct current transmission might even return to its dominant position. This was because direct current transmission only needed to consider the losses caused by the resistance of the line, while alternating current transmission would cause losses due to impedance, inductive reactance, and capacitive reactance!
But with the current technological conditions of Tang Dynasty, alternating current transmission was the most feasible and economical method!
Mo Lingwei suddenly understood. She nodded and said with admiration, "I didn't expect there to be so much knowledge in this. Yamachō was really far-sighted when they built the hydropower station!"
Li Zexuan smiled and didn't answer. Instead, he looked at Wang Ji and asked, "Mr. Wang, I believe that the problem of the DC power supply will be solved in a few days, but I don't know if you have the materials and equipment ready?"
Wang Ji nodded and said, "Don't worry, Yamachō. This old man is fully prepared and only lacks one crucial element! The electrolytic cell, crude copper, and bile vitriol are all ready! "
Li Zexuan said in surprise, "Oh? His progress was so fast? Then, Mr. Wang, do you have enough gall alum prepared? "
After all, the amount of copper that the workshop would be refining in the future was not small. Li Zexuan had to ask in advance.
Wang Ji smiled and said, "Don't worry, Yamachō. Gall alum isn't anything rare. There's a mine in Lantian County that produces gall alum, and it's more than enough to supply our workshop!"
Li Zexuan was pleasantly surprised when he heard that, "What? There's a gall alum mine in Lantian County? Why didn't I know about it? "
Wang Ji asked curiously, "There's always been a gall alum mine! But it's only used in medicine and isn't worth much. It's normal that you don't know about it, Marquis! "
Gall alum was a crystal of copper sulfate. It could also be used in medicine. It could stimulate the gastric mucosa and stimulate the vomiting center to induce vomiting. It was used in phlegm congestion, throat paralysis, epilepsy, eating poison, mouth ulcers, tooth ulcers, ulcers, pterygium, and so on.
Li Zexuan quickly interrupted, "Who said that it's not worth much? Not only can it be used to refine crude copper, it can also be used as an electrolyte to electrolyze copper. With this gall alum mine, we can solve our copper shortage problem to a large extent! "
"Refining copper with gall alum? How can copper be extracted from gall alum? Oh, right! This can indeed be done. Ge Xianweng mentioned in "Baopuzi Inner Chapter: Yellow and White" that using gall alum solution to soak iron pieces to obtain copper. In chemistry, this is called a substitution reaction! Eh! Why didn't I think of this? "
Wang Ji was puzzled at first, then he patted his head and said in annoyance.
There were two ways to refine copper: the fire method and the wet method. The fire method was to make contact with burning charcoal and decompose the peacock stone into copper oxide, then reduce it back to metallic copper. The equation was CuCO3.Cu (OH) 2 + C = 2Cu + 2CO 2 + H2O!
This was also the main way to produce copper before the Song Dynasty in China!
The wet method was also known as the gall copper method. The production process mainly consisted of two aspects. The first was to immerse the iron in gall alum (CuSO4.5H2O) solution (commonly known as bile water), so that the copper ions in the gall alum would be replaced by metal and deposited into elemental copper. The second was to collect, collect the copper powder that was about to be replaced, and then smelt and cast.
China's people first used natural copper compounds to refine copper by wet method. During the Western Han Dynasty, sulfuric acid was used to react with copper oxide, and then iron was used to replace the copper. Liu An's "Huainan Wanbi Technique" said that when green iron was obtained, it would turn into copper. "Green" referred to soluble copper salts, that is, when copper salts meet iron, copper will be formed.
Jin Gehong's "Baopuzi Inner Chapter: Yellow and White" also recorded that "Green was used to paint iron, and the iron was red like copper." During the Northern and Southern Dynasties, it was further recognized that not only copper sulfate, but other soluble copper salts could also undergo substitution reactions with iron.
However, these methods were only discovered by the alchemists during the process of refining pills, and were not actually used in production! It wasn't until the late Tang Dynasty and the Five Dynasties that the wet method of refining copper began to be used in production. In the Song Dynasty, it developed into one of the important methods of producing copper.
In the early Tang Dynasty, there were very few people who knew about the wet method of refining copper, not to mention using it in production!
Seeing that Wang Ji had reacted, Li Zexuan nodded and said, "That's right! The process of smelting copper with gall alumina was a chemical substitution reaction! In a while, I'll send someone to find the mine that Mr. Wang mentioned, and quickly find out the reserves of copper sulfate. After that, we can dig a water tank around the mine, forge the iron into thin pieces, and place them in the tank. Then, we'll use the bile water to soak the iron pieces, and the copper in the bile sulfate will adhere to the surface of the iron pieces.
Although forging the iron pieces into thin pieces is more troublesome, our workshop now has a hydraulic press, so this can't be considered troublesome! In addition, forging the iron pieces into thin pieces can increase the surface area of the iron, greatly reducing the substitution time, and increasing the copper production rate. I hope that the copper produced from this mine can completely supply the electricity consumption of Lantian County! "
A while ago, he was still worrying about where to get some copper. He didn't expect that there would be a mine of copper sulfate in his fief. The people of this era obviously didn't realize the true use of the mine, otherwise, this mine would have been expropriated and mined by the imperial court, and wouldn't have waited until now!
Hearing this, Wang Ji couldn't help but sigh with longing, "If the reserves of copper sulfate in this mine is really amazing, we can cover the entire Lantian County with electricity ~! This kind of scene, I'm looking forward to it even in my dreams! "
…
After leaving Mo Lingwei's laboratory, Li Zexuan immediately sent Liu Feng and Liu Yun to bring people to investigate the mine of copper sulfate. After that, he went to the Ba River to check on the progress of Zhang Hongsheng's armor manufacturing. Zhang Hongsheng promised Li Zexuan that he would be able to make the first set of plate armor by the day after tomorrow at the latest. After the first set was made, the production speed would get faster and faster!
"Young master, yesterday, I got people to use the hydraulic press to forge a batch of iron pieces of the same size and thickness. With these iron pieces, we can make the chain you mentioned before. I have already arranged for the craftsmen to assemble the chain, and it should be completed by tomorrow! With the chain, young master, are you planning to start building the second generation of chain driven bicycles? "
Faubert was also at the hydropower station. Seeing Li Zexuan come over to "inspect the work", he quickly walked over and said.
Li Zexuan heard this and was delighted. He secretly thought that those outdated and clumsy front wheel driven bicycles could finally be eliminated. He smiled and said,
"Build! Quickly build! The faster the better! Oh, right, Faubert, this chain driven bicycle, even if I don't give you the blueprint, you should be able to imagine its structure, right? "
Faubert nodded and said, "Young master, don't worry. I know what I'm doing. This second generation of bicycles is only different from the first generation. Everything else is basically the same. This won't be a problem for me!"
Li Zexuan said excitedly, "Hehe! That's good! I'll wait for Faubert's good news! The previous bicycles have brought us a lot of profits. Now that we have the technology to produce chains, we can create a more agile and light second generation bicycle. I believe that more people will like it and be willing to spend money on it! In the near future, the bicycles produced by our Qi Qu Pavilion workshop will be spread all over the Tang Dynasty! "
Last year, because he didn't have a dam or a hydraulic press, he couldn't make chains. He could only make those "ancient" bicycles with pedals installed on the front wheel. These bicycles were very taxing to ride and could easily trip over. Li Zexuan only felt that it was a novelty at first. After riding it for a few days, he stopped riding it. He was a modern person. Any bicycle that he had ridden before was a million times better than those "ancient" bicycles!
But Cheng Yaojin, the "native" of the Tang Dynasty, didn't know that there were better bicycles in this world. They only knew that the bicycles produced by the Qi Qu Pavilion workshop were faster, more agile, and more convenient than horse carriages. That was why they rode them every day.
Now that he had chains, everything was different. Not only could Li Zexuan produce bicycles with chains to drive the rear wheels, he also wanted to make mountain bicycles with disc brakes to change the speed. He even wanted to make electricity …
These improved bicycles could not only replace horse carriages, but also horses!
… … …
The next day.
The first thing Li Zexuan did after breakfast was to go to the medical center. When Dr. Wang saw Li Zexuan, he quickly reported:
"Yamachō, this time, our Tang Dynasty joint medical center has recruited a total of 58 highly skilled and ethical doctors. Among them, there are eight female doctors and fifty male doctors. Among them, there are some who are good at bonesetting and treating injuries. There are also some who are good at treating children's diseases. There are also some who are good at acupuncture and massage. In any case, there are already qualified doctors in the previous departments!"
Li Zexuan nodded and said: "That's good! The medical center must operate normally as soon as possible and fully open to the people of Lantian County. All the prices of the herbs and the consultation fees must be open and transparent. We can't cheat the people! In addition, the number of female doctors is still too small compared to the number of male doctors. I told you before that doctors don't differentiate between men and women. In the eyes of a doctor, there should be no concept of gender. Don't look down on other people's medical skills just because they are women. Ge Qingyue yesterday is a good example! We have to recruit more female doctors in the future! "
Li Zexuan heard that in yesterday's interview and examination, Ge Qingyue had "smiled proudly" with two full marks. Who knew how many people's eyes had popped out of their sockets. Li Zexuan felt that Ge Qingyue could be used as an example to all the women in the world who were interested in medicine. He wanted to tell the world that women could also learn and practice medicine, and that their medical skills were not inferior to men!
Dr. Wang cupped his hands and said: "Yamachō, after yesterday's interview and examination, no one dares to look down on female doctors. The reason why there are only eight female doctors is because there are too few female doctors who came to apply! However, today's Datang Daily published a notice that our joint medical center can recruit female doctors. I believe that soon, there will be female doctors with excellent medical skills coming to our medical center! "
Li Zexuan heard this and nodded: "That's good! If the medical center has any difficulties in the future, Dr. Wang, you can tell County Magistrate He or me. If we can help, the county government and I will definitely do our best to help! "
"Yes! Yamachō! "
… … …
In the afternoon, Li Zexuan rode to the workshop again.
He had received news that Mo Lingwei's electric motor and the second-generation chain bicycle that Faubert was in charge of had been completed!
"Yamachō, this is the electric motor. As long as it is connected to the battery, the rotor inside will be able to spin rapidly!"
Mo Lingwei pointed at the "lump" of metal on the floor and said in the workshop of Qiqu Pavilion.
Li Zexuan frowned. He had to admit that the electric motor's appearance was a little ugly. The outer shell was cast directly. The surface was not polished, quenched, or painted. It was as ugly as it could be. He just did not know if this ugly thing could be used properly!
"Connect it to the battery and let me see!"
Li Zexuan said softly.
"Okay!"
Mo Lingwei replied and quickly asked Song Xiaosi, who was next to her, to bring a lead-acid battery over from Wang Ji's place.
Since Yan Shaoning went home in a hurry yesterday, he had not come yet. Mo Lingwei had no one to order around, so she could only order Song Xiaosi around!
After the lead-acid battery was brought over, Mo Lingwei placed the electric motor upside down and asked Song Xiaosi to hold it steady. Then, she connected the power source. When the power source was connected to the battery's positive and negative electrodes, the electric motor started to spin rapidly!
"Success! Success! We have changed the way power is used in this era! "
Li Zexuan said as he looked at the electric motor that was spinning wildly.
… …
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