Chapter 101 Enlightening scientific thinking
“The shoes worn by horses are different from the shoes we humans wear. They are not worn on the feet, but nailed to the horse’s hooves.”
A Shaofu Craftsman Said: "But Master, if you drive the shoes worn by the horse into the horse's hoof, won't the horse feel pain?"
Li Niandao : "Horses' hoofs are different from human feet. They have a layer of hard horny skin about an inch in size. Anyone who has seen or touched a horse's hoof should know this."
A young craftsman said excitedly: "I have touched a horse's hoof. , as the young master said, it feels hard and very different from our feet.”
Not many people have touched the hoofs of horses, but many have seen horses. Thinking back carefully, it seems like this.
“This layer of cutin is like our human nails.”
Li Nian stretched out his left hand and pointed at his nails with a stick: “You have all trimmed your nails before, have you ever felt pain?”
The craftsmen of the Shaofu shook their heads. When doing their work, they should not keep their nails too long. They usually trim them when they find they are too long, but no one has ever associated this with horse hooves.
“As long as it does not exceed the thickness of the horny layer on the horse’s hoof, it will not cause the horse to feel pain.”
After saying this, the craftsmen of the young mansion suddenly realized. One of the craftsmen of the young mansion asked curiously: "But Master, why don't I feel pain when I trim those nails?"
Looking at the craftsman who asked the question, Li Nian He smiled and said: "This is because the part of the nail that is trimmed has no nerve distribution."
After explaining this sentence, Li Nian did not continue to explain, and turned the topic back to the horseshoe: "Usually when a horse is running, in fact That's it Part of the horn is connected to the ground, but what do you think will happen if the horse keeps running?
A craftsman said: "It will be worn..."
As soon as this statement came out, The craftsmen all understood that the horseshoes were nailed to the horses to replace the wear and tear of the horn, so that the horses could be used for a longer period of time. Moreover, the horseshoes were nailed with iron shoes. The roads that were originally rough and difficult for the horses, You can leave too.
The one-year-old craftsman thought for a while and suddenly thought: "The hooves of cows and horses are the same. I dare to ask, sir, if I can nail these hooves on cows too?"
Li Niandao: "Cows and horses are different. , cows do not need to travel long distances and usually The fields are cultivated, and the soil in the fields is generally soft and will not damage the hooves of cattle, so there is no need to nail nails, but the hooves of cattle need to be trimmed regularly, just like people trimming their nails. "
Elderly craftsman Xiang Li Nianxing. He gave a gift: "Thank you very much." Master, please clear up your doubts!"
At this time, another craftsman reminded: "These horseshoes and stirrups look simple to make, but they are so useful. You must not let the barbarians imitate them. It will be better than Da Qin. If he can master the horseshoe and the Stirrups..."
Due to historical reasons, Qin did not lack horses very much, but compared with the increasingly powerful Xiongnu in the north, it was still far behind. If stirrups and horseshoes were spread out hastily, it would bring advantages to the Xiongnu Maybe even bigger than Da Qin.
Li Nian also thought about this problem and said: "You must keep the matter of horseshoes and stirrups a secret and not leak it out."
The Shaofu craftsmen who can be selected here strictly abide by the Shaofu regulations The person who kept the law secret, his expression became serious when he heard Li Nian's words. He responded: "Don't worry, young master, we will not dare to leak the secret!"
Li Nian waved his hand, and the chamberlain who carried two wooden boards stepped back, and another chamberlain came forward carrying a new wooden board. The Shaofu craftsman saw that what was drawn on the wooden board was a complete production process diagram.
Li Nian pointed with a small stick at a stone-like object in the first picture: "This is 'Stone Nirvana'. Some of you should know about it."
The craftsmen clicked Nodding, I know, they have used this thing to smelt metal, but this thing has a smell and sometimes makes people breathless.
Compared to stirrups and horseshoes, Li Nian paid more attention to briquettes. He said carefully: "Crush it into powder, find yellow mud, and mix it with water in a ratio of 80% stone nirvana and 20% yellow mud." There was a craftsman holding a bamboo slip and carefully recording it. Li Nian said again: "'80%' and '20%' do not mean that the weight is eight to two, but from the size. Stir when mixing to make the stone and yellow Mix the mud evenly until the mixture can be kneaded into balls."
"Then use this briquette machine to make them into pieces of briquettes."
Probably the most technical aspect of making briquettes is the briquette machine, but for these young master craftsmen, they can figure out how to make it after just a few glances.
The wooden stick pointed to the last picture, "Put the prepared briquettes in a ventilated and sunny place to dry, and then they are ready."
Li Nian remembered that when he was a child, his family also used briquettes. Especially in winter, his parents always went to the town to buy a lot of briquettes. But later, when natural gas was connected, they bought less briquettes, and people who made briquettes stopped making them.
Now that he is in this world, he may never see his parents again. Some of the things he did in Da Qin actually had the idea of accumulating merit for his relatives in another world.
After all the craftsmen listened, one craftsman asked: "Sir, can these briquettes be burned? Why are there these holes in them?"
Li Nian explained: "Of course, you can make them. These holes..."
I wanted to say that this is conducive to air flow and more complete combustion, but after thinking about it, Li Nian changed it to a way that is easier for craftsmen to understand.
"When you are lighting a fire, have you ever discovered that if you gather the firewood in one place, the fire will not be big, but if you spread the firewood and leave gaps between them, you will burn a bigger fire?"
Li Nian didn't mention it, but he didn't expect it. When the craftsmen recalled it now, they found that it was true. Although they had been doing this for so many years, almost no one thought about it deeply and regarded it as a common thing.
I never paid attention to it in the past, but today I heard the young master mention it, and I thought about it carefully, why is this?
It took so many years to find out that they didn’t know the reason.
The reason why Li Nian talks about this in detail is not only to make the craftsmen better at what they do, but also to inspire their scientific thinking.
It is too difficult for Li Nian alone to promote the progress of science and technology in this era. More people are needed to do the same, and these Shaofu craftsmen are the top technical experts of this era, and they may not be able to lead the way in science and industry in Daqin. People, founders.
He was going to propose to the First Emperor that he should give classes to the craftsmen of the Shaofu every once in a while to answer some of the doubts they encountered, preferably after the paper was made. Without paper, it would still be too troublesome to rely on bamboo slips for recording and dissemination.
A craftsman said: "So the holes in the briquettes have the same reason, making the fire burn bigger?"
Li Nian nodded and said: "Exactly, this thing is simple to make and easy to burn. The fire produced is larger, and it will not produce the same fire as burning stone nirvana directly. Due to the addition of yellow mud, a lot of smoke and dust can also reduce the consumption of briquettes and reduce its price, so that more people can afford it. "
"The cinders left after burning briquettes are also available. Can be used to pave roads, make cement, etc. ”
The older craftsman who had just asked if the cow's hooves could be nailed said, "Master, do you want to use this thing as a new kind of firewood for the people of the world to use?"
Before Li Nian could speak, the older craftsman himself said: "If Shi Nie can offer it, this method will do great good to the world, and I don't know how many people can survive."
(End of this chapter)