Watching the hourglass dripping down bit by bit, the aluminum bowl has not moved at all, let alone turned into powder...
Everyone felt that the two little magicians were destined to lose. Maybe they were deliberately trying to fool me, the Emperor!
Everyone is staring at the aluminum bowl, the time is almost up!
Lamei’s eyes also started to look worried!
Only Haitang is very calm. As long as he knows the principles of chemistry, and as long as this world is still the earth, it will come true.
The aluminum bowl is made of pure aluminum, which was precious in this era because it was very difficult to refine.
Aluminum is smart. It oxidizes in the air and forms a layer of aluminum oxide. This protective layer does not look different on the outside. It protects the aluminum inside from being corroded. Once a dense outer layer is formed, the aluminum will rust.
It stopped.
It's not like iron, which foolishly coats itself with a layer of red flaky powder, which quickly falls off, exposing the fresh iron to further oxidation.
From the perspective of oxidation and self-protection, rhodium and gold are comparable to aluminum. Even silver will oxidize into black spots.
"Wow, wow..." In front of everyone's eyes, the two aluminum bowls turned into dust in an instant! They were piled on the plate! They said it was dust because the powder was no longer the original bright color of aluminum, it was really earthy.
.
And half an hour has not yet completely expired.
There was complete silence in the entire hall.
The emperor and the ministers saw this scene happening with their own eyes, so it was still fake!
But, how it happened, no one knows!
Two aluminum bowls turned into dust in front of everyone. How is this possible?!
All eyes finally turned from the powder to Bai Haitang. Seeing the dust, Lamei finally gave up and saved her head again.
Haitang looked at the dust silently. Only she knew that it was actually very simple, just using mercury!
One thing reduces another, and what aluminum is afraid of is mercury! As long as the surface of the aluminum is scratched and some mercury is injected, no matter how thick the aluminum is, it will eventually turn into dust. This dust is actually aluminum embroidery.
If you want this process to be faster, you can infiltrate a small amount of molten gallium into the surface of the aluminum. This will make the aluminum more susceptible to mercury attack, and gallium can melt at a temperature slightly higher than room temperature, so
All you need is a hair dryer.
However, there was no gallium in Haitang's package, and there was no gallium compound in the secret mine in Qiaotou Village, so it was impossible to extract it.
There happened to be natural mercury in that cave, so they collected it and put it in bottles.
Carrying a little bit of everything, you might need it at some point. This package can be said to be a treasure box for Haitang to travel around the world!
When mercury is applied to the surface of aluminum, it will penetrate into the interior of the metal aluminum and destroy its protective layer. It can also prevent the formation of surface oxides so that it can continue to "rust."
Therefore, in less than half an hour, the two aluminum bowls had verified the effect of mercury.
Bai Haitang is certainly not the first person to try this. During World War II, Allied commandos went deep into Germany and smeared mercury on the surfaces of German aircraft. The purpose was to make the German aircraft fly without knowing it.
Solving problems mysteriously without anyone noticing...
In fact, the conspiracy theories created through this method did work...