Chapter 588 – Ignition

Chapter 588 Ignitin
Tennyson Fadeyev stared intently at the iron block that was in the process of scorching.

In order to study the nature of steel and iron, Tennyson built a small furnace with a blower in his experimental place, and applied for a few craftsmen from the ironworks of the Council of State to assist him, and for a week now, he has stayed here to repeat this step countless times, in the hope of gaining some sort of enlightenment through the constant repetition of the step of melting the metal. Tennyson observed a variety of iron related metals, including pig iron, cooked iron, and what the lords called steel.

Now, the piece of iron he was focusing on gradually turned red and soft under the constant burning, followed by slowly melting into a puddle of fiery red liquid flowing out.

Tennyson had once tested that if the iron was stirred constantly, after it had re-solidified, its weight would decrease a little bit compared to what it was before it melted, and after it had re-solidified, the iron became what a blacksmith would call cooked iron; it became softer. Tennyson deduced that the reduction in weight indicated that something must have been separated during the stirring process, and most likely escaped into the air, and that this something was most likely the key substance that changed the iron from hard to soft.

In fact, Tennyson knew from his communication with the blacksmiths that the way to change the nature of the iron by stirring it and letting it re-solidify was called “steel frying” in their jargon, but compared to the way of forging raw and cooked iron together, “steel frying” was a very luck-driven process. However, compared with the way of forging pig iron and cooked iron together to make steel, “steel frying” is a job that depends on luck. In most cases, the iron melted into pig iron will be fried to the end and turn into cooked iron directly, instead of the desired steel. So this method is not commonly used.

The blacksmiths’ words gave Tennyson inspiration, was this series of changes caused by the change in the content of that key substance in the iron? Stirring the iron, the mass became lighter, the pig iron turned into cooked iron, which meant that this substance was more in pig iron and less in cooked iron, but mixing the pig iron with the cooked iron turned it into steel again, that is, this substance was equally divided between the pig iron and the cooked iron, so that in the new form of iron it was less in pig iron and more in cooked iron than in pig iron.

It is, of course, possible that more than one substance, or, rather, more than one single substance, has caused the change in the nature of the iron by its action.

“35th ……” Tennyson let out a long breath and grabbed a pen and paper to record this observation, most of which was a bit repetitive, but he still took notes.

Finishing his notes Tennyson’s stomach growled and he walked out of the lab site with the intention of filling his stomach in the cafeteria of the Vis Academy. The members of the various laboratories and disciplines of the Vis Academy all had their own agreed upon “territories” in the cafeteria, and the territory of the group of people who researched and studied chemistry was located in the southeast corner of the lobby, from which their internal terminology could be heard over and over again whenever a meal was being served. Tennyson finished his meal and came into the small circle of chemistry students and faculty in the southeast corner, where a large group of people had already gathered, talking at the same time as stuffing their mouths with food.

“Hey! Tennyson, this way this way!”

Hoffman, the other head of the chemistry lab, greeted him with a wave of his hand as Tennyson came to sit down at a table near his, “What, Mr. Wells isn’t here yet?”

“Whoops, you know how he is, once he’s done with his experiments he’s wasted.” Hoffman chuckled, “Guess he won’t be eating this lunch again.”

Alas, Tennyson shook his head, Mr. Wells and a few other students were also conducting experiments on steel, they met daily to share their insights and sometimes gathered to repeat experiments that might have new findings.

Everyone was trying to help themselves, and a wave of emotion welled up in Tennyson’s heart at the thought.

“How is your research going?” Hoffman asked with great concern, knowing that Tennyson’s research was very important as it related to the value of the Fadeyev family’s life.

Hoffman himself is leading a chemical team to carry out another important task handed over to the laboratory by Count Paul Gleiman – research on the use of sulfuric acid to produce pesticides, weekdays are also very busy, so this time for the study of steel and did not participate in it, but in the spare time will also ask about the progress.

Tennyson was picking up a piece of tofu and stuffing it into his mouth, it was said that this was the food invented by the lord, Earl Greiman, he was really an inventor with a wide range of knowledge.

Hearing his teacher’s question, he replied, “Mr. Hoffman, I think the increase or decrease of a certain substance contained in steel leads to a change in its properties.”

“Do you have any ideas?”

“My present idea is to try to separate the various monomers in steel and then add or subtract them one by one to see what effect each causes.” Hoffman nodded, “That’s a solid approach, but finding the final answer is still very difficult if multiple monomers are acting together.”

“There’s no way around it then, we can only arrange and combine the various monomers to exhaust all their possibilities.”

“Alas, good luck with your experiment.”

A red-haired lad next to him, who had just been eating with his head buried in his hands, suddenly interjected, “Tennyson, Mr. Hoffman, I do have some speculations.”

Hoffman looked over at him, “Oh, Webster, do you have an opinion?” This Webster was a classmate of Tennyson’s, conducting the same research on steel as him.

Webster replied, “The thing that Tennyson speculated about that caused the change in the nature of iron would be combustibles.”

“Kerosene?” “Yes, combustibles.”

Webster spoke eloquently, “During this recent period of time, I’ve been collecting various methods of smelting and forging iron and steel, running through large and small blacksmith stores in and around Lakeheart Town.”

“Oh, did you find anything?”

“Yes, just before I came back for dinner this trip, it really made me find a little clue, you know? Some blacksmiths use powdered charcoal, soot, and wood ashes when making steel from iron, and by wrapping a mixture of these things around an iron bar and keeping the bar red hot, the bar is transformed into steel.”

Tennyson asked in amazement, “Is this …… really true?”

“A thousand times true, haha, this is a secret that certain blacksmiths don’t pass on, I had to go through a lot of trouble to inquire about it.” Webster proudly raised his head, “Continue, as you all know, the charcoal powder and soot in the mixture is made up of combustibles, that’s why I said that combustibles might be the key factor that causes the properties of iron to change.”

Tennyson suddenly rushed up and hugged Webster, kissing him fiercely. “I thank you, dear Webster.”

“Haha, well said, it’s what I should do, uh …… can you let go of me first.” Webster was stunned by his enthusiasm and wiped the drool from his face with a napkin.

Tennyson couldn’t wait, “Let’s get together after dinner and experiment on this new clue.”

Webster nodded desperately, “Okay, Tennyson, let go of me first.”

(End of chapter)