The first rain since the beginning of winter finally fell, and it lasted for two days at a time.
Roland leaned against his desk, looking at the hazy town outside the window. The rain was rolled up by the wind, hitting the glass one after another, stirring up bursts of ripples. Under the refraction of the ripples, the outline of the town became distorted. The houses and the streets were bent and deformed, no longer as neat as before. Due to the lack of effective drainage measures, the jagged stone road was flooded, from a distance, it looked like many sparkling streams.
The distant mountains and forests were obscured by the mist, faintly discernible, just like a maze on earth.
If such a scenery was placed in modern times, it would certainly be a tourist attraction, but today, what Roland wanted to see was a steel and concrete jungle. When it rained, the construction of the city wall had to stop, which made his joy of successfully "dissuading" the stronghold emissary from the day before yesterday fade a bit.
"You just said that the air around us is composed of many kinds of gases, is that true?"
A clear voice interrupted Roland's thoughts, Anna blinked her beautiful blue eyes and asked.
"Ahem, Miss Anna, when you call His Highness, you should use honorifics," the Chief Knight reminded her.
"Don't be so particular," Roland turned around, "She is now my student." Taking advantage of the rain, he called the two witches and Carter to listen to his class – yes, he decided to open a class of popular science. The stonemason Carr's school inspired him, even a stonemason can open a school, let alone a dignified mechanical engineering dog. Why would there be discrimination, wasn't it because of ignorance? Universal education in any era was the most effective means to promote the development of civilization.
He originally wanted to call the assistant minister, but the other party was busy with government affairs, so he politely declined. For some reason, Roland felt that after winter, Barov was particularly motivated, almost single-handedly taking over the daily management of Border Town.
Hearing that there was new knowledge to learn, Anna immediately became radiant, her eyes seemed to be suffused with light. Nana was very happy to see that she didn't need to treat the various experimental animals. Carter, on the other hand, held an expression that said, "Since I have nothing to do, I might as well accompany you in your nonsense."
But not long after the class started, the Knight's gaze became unfocused. Nana also looked confused, staring at the words "nature" and "science" in a daze. Although Anna didn't seem to understand, she still tried hard to remember everything she heard. Roland had no choice but to pause and let the three of them digest it for a moment.
In response to Anna's question, he smiled and nodded. "Of course, although they look the same."
"Your Highness, I don't understand. Since they all look the same, how do you know they are different gases?" Carter expressed his doubts.
"I can prove it to you."
Roland knew that if he were to explain it in words, most people would be confused by these mysterious theories. He decided to excite them with a simple experiment.
A candle, a glass cup, a wooden basin, and a bowl of clear lime water — these were the things he had prepared in advance. Although the glass cup at this time was light brown and not as transparent as the beakers of the later generations, it was still enough. After all, this simple experiment did not require observation of the process of change.
Roland had already done it once in advance, and the results of the experiment proved that although there was magic in this world, the rest of the laws of nature were still the same as on Earth. He let Anna light the candle, and then put it in the wooden basin.
"Combustion consumes a kind of gas, and this gas is closely related to all life. If we stop breathing, we will become like this candle. Pay attention, "Roland put the glass cup on the candle, the flame swayed twice, and soon went out.
"It has exhausted the air, Your Highness, this is not surprising," the Chief Knight said disapprovingly. "Without air, of course we will die, such as falling into the water."
Nana nodded again and again.
"So, do you think there is nothing left in the cup?" Roland asked while pouring the lime water into the wooden basin. The water quickly covered the mouth of the cup, and finally stopped at half of the cup.
This experiment was so classic that most primary school teachers liked to use it as an introductory experiment for natural interest classes. Roland still remembered the teacher's demonstration and explanation on the table, which gave him a sense of shock, and from then on he embarked on the road of science and engineering.
He gently lifted the corner of the cup, and saw a few bubbles instantly drilled out of the mouth of the cup, rising to the surface.
Then, the clear lime water became slightly turbid, and a little white suspended matter slowly spread out from the mouth of the cup.
"If there is nothing in the cup, we will not see the bubbles and the change of the water surface. This means that the air contains at least two different gases. In fact, the candle only consumes a part of the air, and the other part is unable to participate in the combustion. Although it is colorless and odorless like the former, its nature is completely opposite. "
"It seems … seems to be the case," Carter thought for a long time before he understood the relationship between the two, "but what is the use of knowing this?"
"If we can obtain the former gas, we can make the flame burn longer, and similarly, if we obtain the latter gas, we can quickly extinguish the flame!" Anna suddenly said.
"What a genius," Roland praised in his heart, although there was a small error, but from the different properties of the gases, she was able to immediately associate the separation and purification of the use, this idea was definitely a genius level. It must be known that she had not received any systematic modern education, being able to quickly think of this was enough to show that her logical ability was beyond ordinary people – at least far better than his own Chief Knight.
"That's right, since human beings learned to use fire, they have been separated from animals, and the origin is just an accident. Perhaps it was the lightning that ignited the trees, or perhaps it was the sparks from the impact of the stones that caused the fire. But if no one noticed this, no one tried to use it, we would still be like beasts, "he said patiently," The purpose of this experiment is to tell you that curiosity and thinking are the driving forces of human progress. There are many such potential forces in nature, just waiting for us to discover and use them. "
After saying this, Carter still had a doubtful expression, and Nana belonged to the type who did not understand, but still felt that it was awesome, her eyes staring straight at Roland. Only Anna lowered her head, as if she was thinking about something.
"Well," Roland sighed, indeed, an idea that was too advanced would not bring shock, it would only make people feel confused. The height of their thinking determined that it was impossible for them to understand the power of that kind of power, only when the real thing was really placed in front of them, they would know how magical the hidden power of nature was.
At this time, the kettle hanging on the mantel began to make a "kuang kuang" sound, it was the sound of steam hitting the lid.
"Ah, the water is boiling," the Knight walked over and took out the kettle with a fork, the sound soon stopped. He used a piece of cloth to wrap the handle, and lifted the kettle to fill everyone's cup with water.
For example, Roland reached out to hold the cup, feeling the temperature coming from the cup. From the first day of using fire, its principle had already matured. "Boiling water", countless people had seen it and practiced it, but they did not expect that this gentle wisp of water vapor could also contain amazing energy.
This driving force would only be grasped by humans after hundreds of years, but in a very short period of time, it had changed human history. Although the principle was simple, it was limited by technical problems, so it was not the first choice of most people for farming. But I am different, he thought, there are still witches in this world. Using magic to fight is just a barbarian's idea … Using magic to create, to replace some of the key technology that inhibits the progress of civilization, is the correct way to use it.
After chatting until the sun went down and eating dinner with everyone, Roland returned to his bedroom.
In this era, there was no nightlife to speak of, if they did not make people, everyone would go to bed early. He had also considered whether to use his privileges as a prince to recruit a maid to exercise, but in the end, because of his thin skin, he could not bring himself to say it.
Just as he lit the candles in the room, he heard several claps behind him, and then someone said, "It was really a unique lesson, I did not expect that His Royal Highness the 4th Prince is actually a learned person."
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