Acid Preparation
Acid Preparation
He spent two days and one night reading through the book of Elementary Chemistry. He could be fully resurrected by only four or six hours of sleep. At the moment, he had gone back to the first page and started pouring over this ancient book.
The substance is composed of tiny particles. The change of substance is the process of decomposition and restructuring of the tiny particles. The total amount of the substance remains unchanged in the reaction process.
"Oh my god! What a great writer! One should describe the world that was invisible to the people so clearly." He had suspected more than once that what the book recorded was total bullshit. However, the final result actually stood up to the alchemy test based on the recorded formula. Besides, some examples in daily life also proved that what the book said could still hold water.
An example would be the "oxygen" that was described in the first chapter.
It was the main component of the air. People breathed oxygen, not air. Combustion must be in need of oxygen, given that the essence of combustion was a kind of oxidation reaction. The more oxygen was taken in, the more vigorous it burned.
The wording reminded him of the glass kiln in Redwater City— the air blower that was continuously swung by two people could make the temperature in the furnace rise up to the melting point of gravel. As a kind of substance, the pure oxygen could be extracted through alchemy... no, by chemical reaction. "Could the air-blowing equipment be saved if the furnace got oxygen?"
And, what made him surprised was, according to the book, that the water should be composed of two hydrogen particles and one oxygen particle, which was also ascribed to why all creatures needed to drink water. However, the hydrogen seemed to be a kind of gas. He wondered how it was done by mixing up two sorts of gases into a kind of liquid.
Kyle found he had many questions to think over. But what he could make sure of was that he had surpassed all the alchemists, as they were still on the way to explore the formula. He, however, had set foot on an easy path.
He needed to get down to his business. Kyle closed his book reluctantly. It was time to work as the day broke.
He blew out the candle, walked into the bedroom to see his sleeping wife and daughter, and then left home without making noise.
The residence His Highness enfeoffed him was located in the west of the castle, which was far larger than his house in Redwater City, and had walls constructed of bricks. It was a lot more comfortable compared to the wooden-made houses that easily got mildew. Life facilities were all available in all varieties. He was very satisfied with such arrangements even though he did not speak about it. Apprentices lived in another community two streets away from his residence. Their houses were smaller than that of Kyle's and they did not live by themselves, but four people shared one bedroom, seemingly like the layout of hotels.
Apprentices were busy with their work when he got to the chemical laboratory along the bank of Redwater River. They were carefully selected by Kyle and had almost learned to rinse materials in the alchemical workshop in their childhood. They were in between their 20s and 30s now. He satisfactorily nodded when he saw the clean laboratory and glittering glass containers.
"Good morning, Respected Chief Mentor." When the apprentices saw Kyle enter, they immediately bowed.
"Let's start," he said, taking a pair of gloves to wear, which were light, thin, and elastic. It was likely that the gloves were sewed up with animal tharm. There were no such regulations in alchemical workshop long before, but His Highness Roland had repeatedly emphasized the danger of chemical experiments. He had stipulated that the experimenters had to wear gloves and open the window during experiments that touched upon corrosive material reaction.
Their work now was totally different from that in the alchemical workshop. All they were doing was to prepare acid fluid for His Highness. They had operated the acid preparation several times with two varieties of stones. Therefore, Kyle could just look around and give instruction to apprentices instead of doing experiments in person.
The details of sulfuric acid and nitric acid were recorded in the book Elementary Chemistry. Kyle was accustomed to naming the products by the raw material. For example, the former was called green alum while the latter was named saltpeter. The preparation methods of these two kinds of acids were the same, even though they were different in names. The acid vapor was obtained by destructive distillation of green alum and saltpeter, and then collected acid fluid by congealing the acid vapor. Green alum was usually associated with sulfur mines, while saltpeter was the common raw material which could be produced in the exclusive saltpeter preparation pool in the big city.
His Highness, however, stressed that the two varieties of acids must be of high concentration, and he had specially explained the method of purification.
For instance, after collecting the sulfuric acid, the moisture could be evaporated by heating, and 80% or 90% of concentrated sulfuric acid could be finally prepared. However, the preparation of nitric acid was much more troublesome. It was said by His Highness Roland that the sulfuric acid fluid itself was not stable, and easy to volatilize. It would even decompose if exposed to the light when it reached a certain concentration. Therefore, the diluted nitric acid from destructive distillation had to mix up with concentrated sulfuric acid to heat, which could absorb the moisture. The nitric acid that evaporated was stored in a brown glass bottle. A thermometer was intentionally prepared by His Highness for the preparation of nitric acid.
Kyle felt it was like a marvelous creation at first glance—mercury was loaded up within a hollow glass tube, and there was no need to worry about the leaking of mercury because both ends of the glass tube were sealed. Several rings of painting lines served as the scale, and where the mercury stopped to rise would represent the current temperature when the mercury was heated.
Currently, three bottles of concentrated sulfuric acid and one bottle of nitric acid had been prepared. He found that sulfuric acid was not prone to flowing like water under such a concentration. It was much more like viscous oil. Nitric acid was no longer colorless and transparent but changed into a faint yellow. As long as the bottle cap was opened, a burst of white smoke would emit.
"Respected Mentor, should we prepare these two varieties of acid fluid every day?" an apprentice named Amon asked.
"Until His Highness assigns a new task." Kyle paused and asked, "So, are you worried that you have no time to explore the alchemy formula?"
Amon nodded.
"I forgot to tell you that the title of alchemist would not be in use later, so you don't need to rely on exploring formula to become an alchemist," Kyle smiled and said, with his hands touching his stubble.
"No... You mean, not in use?" Amon was shocked. Other apprentices also slowed down the pace of work and listened to what the mentor would say next.
"Yes, the alchemy formula no longer needs to be researched and explored, as you'll rely on memorizing and deduction," said Kyle, as he clapped his hands to gather the apprentices around him. "His Highness Roland gave me a book named Elementary Chemistry. This is also why I brought you here. Most of the alchemy formulas can be deduced from the content of that book if it's studied thoroughly."
"Be deduced?" said the shocked apprentices.
"Yes, it's true. I'll teach you after I learn it carefully and digest it. His Highness also mentioned about the evolution method. You can only be conferred with the title of chemist after passing the test he arranged personally. I believe this title of honor will outmatch that of the alchemist. Even in the Alchemist Workshop in the king's city, it's impossible for them to obtain more knowledge than you," he said.