From Chief to Ball

Everyone was in tacit understanding, they smiled and didn't ask any more questions, they either sat on the ground or took out the wooden stools and sat down in silence.

There was a huge pottery basin in front of him, and Chen Jian's brothers poured buckets of mercury into the pot with buckets.

Chen Jianxi pointed to the silver metal inside and said, "Mercury."

After the mercury filled half of the clay basin, Chen Jian inserted a long glass tube into the mercury basin, and then the brothers kicked buckets of water over and poured them into the basin.

"water."

Water is light but mercury is heavy. Mercury is at the bottom submerging the glass tube filled with mercury, and the upper layer is clear water, which is distinct from top to bottom.

Enduring the danger of possible mercury vapor poisoning, he lifted the glass tube filled with mercury.

After standing upright, the quicksilver suddenly dropped a part, exposing the empty space above.

There is a lot of space above the mercury, but it was obviously full of mercury just now, and it didn't have the slightest contact with the air. What is in that space?

Is it air?Is air formless?If so, wouldn't it prove that Chen Jian's particle theory is wrong?But if not air, what is that blank space?

The glass is transparent, and everything can be seen clearly, which is beyond people's imagination.They know that there are bubbles in the world, so what exactly is air?Is it created out of thin air?Or is it that the glass tube that seems to be filled with air is actually different from the transparent air outside?

People know that Chen Jian will not stop there, because nothing can be explained now.

Chen Jian also knew, so he worked together to slightly lift the glass tube filled with mercury, and the bottom of the glass tube was separated from the mercury, but it was still submerged in the water.

A miracle appeared at this moment, the mercury quickly left the glass tube, and the glass tube was filled with water in an instant.

This time, there is no empty space anymore, unlike mercury, this water will completely fill the glass tube which is more than one step long!

However, everyone noticed that when the water filled the glass tube, no air bubbles were produced in the basin, not at all.

This is counterintuitive: put a bottle in water and there will be bubbles when filling.But this time, there was no air bubbles at all.

Someone has quickly thought of a possibility - there was nothing in the empty glass tube that was higher than the mercury before, and that is the real emptiness there!

And the emptiness that is common to the naked eye is not really emptiness, but filled with something!

Chapter 81 Obtaining knowledge through investigation ([-])

He took out the prepared sulfur powder, wiped off the mercury that might have splashed on his body, turned around and said, "Excuse me, what is that empty space? Is it air? I don't think so, otherwise there will be Bubbles come out from below. So since there is no air, and nothing, you can call it a vacuum."

Turning around, he picked up a gypsum pen and wrote the word mercury on the black wooden board, and said: "As you all saw just now, my brothers used small pots and buckets when carrying mercury. Why? Because Mercury is too heavy."

"This is a truth that everyone knows. And someone has already measured it. The weight of mercury in one side is thirteen and a half times that of water."

"Then you have also seen just now that the height of mercury in the glass tube is two feet and three inches. May I ask everyone, if it is replaced by water, how high can it rise? At least how long the glass tube can form a vacuum?"

As soon as the words fell, the dozens of people below had already figured it out, and their thinking had been completely mobilized by Chen Jian.This simple oral calculation is not a problem at all for these people who are here today.

"Three feet and one foot."

Chen Jian nodded, turned around and wrote down the number of three feet and one foot on the wooden board, and said: "That is to say, if there is a glass tube of three feet and two feet, the water will stay at most three feet and one foot. place, there will be a complete vacuum for another foot."

"I can make this kind of glass tube. My glass workshop has the best glass craftsmen and the most perfect glass, but I can't bring such a long glass tube to the capital. If you are interested, you can go to Mincheng. I will prove it to everyone."

Chen Jian picked up the pen again, drew the glass tube and mercury on the wooden board, wrote the height, and said: "Why did the mercury rise to a height of two feet and three inches? It is because air has quality and intangibility, so it is The air presses that mercury down to this height."

"Some people will say, if this is the case, does it mean that each of us has a force as large as a two-foot-three-inch mercury on top of our heads? If this is the case, wouldn't we be crushed to death?"

Many people below have already nodded frequently, seeing is believing, this is irrefutable.But after seeing it, there is a conflict with the common sense that seeing is believing. Is the world seen in the eyes real?Or truth?Do you need to look at the world from a different angle?

But after Chen Jian finished speaking, he smiled and said: "Let me be a joke, we will explain this question later. Youdao is to understand the world, explain the world, and the most important thing is to change the world. I would like to ask you, you say we What is the use of knowing the existence of a vacuum? How can it change the world?"

The thoughts of the people below were suddenly interrupted, but they didn't feel any discomfort. On the contrary, they stared at Chen Jian full of curiosity, and recorded everything just now on paper and pen one by one.

Chen Jian took out another set of glass tubes, and after connecting them, heated them underneath.The thin tube at the end of the glass tube is inserted into the water, and the large glass bottle is filled with water, and some purple-red water-soluble dyes are added to the water.

Glass is the mother of experimentation, because it is transparent, allowing one to directly see what is going on in it.

The flames burned, and the water in the glass bottle gradually boiled. Chen Jian said again: "I think many of you should have read my hypothesis. I said that any object has three states, solid, liquid, and gas. The same is true for water. , water can be turned into ice, can be turned into gas. The same is true for air, but because the temperature is not low enough today, the air will not become liquid, let alone become solid like steel."

"Well, now, please."

Chen Jian turned off the lamp that heated the glass bottle, said a word not to fry, picked up a ladle of cold water and poured it on the glass bottle.

Having said that, people were not shocked.On the contrary, they all nodded after seeing the purple-red water rising rapidly along the glass tube and being sucked directly into the glass bottle.When it was heating, someone had already guessed it, and when Chen Jian splashed water, someone had already thought of the ending.

Chen Jian shook the gradually discolored glass bottle and said with a smile: "Look, this is changing the world. You all know that the coal mines near Mincheng are different from the coal mines near Old Yucheng. They are not open-pit mines, so they are always There will be water seepage in the pit.”

"So, according to this, is it possible to change the world? If this is not glass, but a huge iron pot, the formed water vapor is poured with cold water to form a vacuum, and the atmosphere will press up the water in the mine. Of course, according to calculations, we It can be known that, assuming a perfect situation, the height of this lift is three feet and one foot, excluding air leakage, sealing and other situations, two feet can always be achieved."

"Nowadays, it is assumed that ten people are needed for a mine pit, and once the water leaks, three people need to be drained out. But if this kind of vacuum-based machine appears, only one person needs to make a fire and water it. And this machine can dry dozens of people. The work will never stop. How much coal can be dug out? How many people who could not use coal can use coal? Correspondingly, can the prices of silk reeling, dyeing, spinning, and rinsing be reduced? This Isn't that the way to change the world and make it a better place?"

The people below nodded repeatedly, imagining this kind of machine, and couldn't help but feel excited.

"Everyone, since a vacuum or thin air can suck up water, can compressing the air also have power?"

Chen Jian took out a U-shaped glass tube with one side sealed and the other open.The open end is much higher than the sealed end.

Still lift the mercury, and gently put it into the glass tube, so that the bottom of the mercury just blocks the bend of the glass tube.

"At this moment, you can see that the mercury is equal on both sides. The air on both sides is not compressed, so it is equal."

Chen Jian lifted the mercury tank and slowly added the mercury into the glass tube.

With the injection of mercury, a height difference began to appear on both sides of the glass tube.After calming down, Chen Jian drew a mark on both sides with ink.

"Look, compared to just now, the mercury column at the sealed end has risen a bit. Why? Because there is more mercury on this side, the volume of the air on the other side becomes smaller. That is to say, after the air volume becomes smaller, It has the power to return to its original state. So it can support such a high mercury on this side, so the weight of the mercury on this side is equal to the force of the compressed air on the opposite side to restore its original shape. Everyone agrees on this point, right? Of course, there are many possible explanations, but this is the only one I will use."

"If someone says that there may be some kind of ghosts and gods controlling it, it may not be unreasonable, as long as you are willing to believe this reason."

Everyone laughed, and Chen Jian also laughed, and said: "Then everyone, do you think that the volume of the compressed air is related to its strength? I guess it is related, and there is a perfect calculation that can be done." expressed relationship."

Mercury was injected into the glass tube again, this time exactly twice as high as the last time.After drawing the scale again, let several people re-measure the height of the opposite air with a precise ruler.

The crowd did not swarm forward, but quietly waited for the answer.In fact, they already have the answer in their hearts, and it is a perfect answer. Many people here are convinced that all the inner ways of the world are perfect.

When Chen Jian read out the difference between the two times, the people below all shouted: "According to your induction method, increase it!"

This is not a question, but a prudence and expectation in witnessing the birth of a theorem that uses arithmetic to describe the world.

After the third injection of mercury stabilized the reading, applause broke out immediately.

Chen Jian picked up a pen and wrote down the first theorem this time in big characters on the wooden board.

"For a quantitative gas in a closed container, at a constant temperature, the pressure and volume of the gas are inversely proportional."

After writing the first theorem with a pen, Chen Jian said again: "Since this is the case, there are two ways to increase the pressure. One is to compress the volume of the gas. The other is to keep the volume constant and increase the amount of gas. In fact, this is also a form of compression. Right?"