Don't be afraid of not knowing the goods, just be afraid of comparing goods.
After visiting the steel plant and the arsenal at the same time, Zhu Shucai discovered that in the past six months, the steel plant, the mineral processing plant and the magnetism research institute behind them had made the most progress.
After all, the quality stability of steel in Ma'anshan has been significantly improved. In just over a year of running-in, the adverse effects of high sulfur content in ore and coal raw materials have been completely suppressed.
The follow-up question is just to reduce costs and increase efficiency - that is, how to spend less money to achieve the same effect and reduce waste of energy consumption.
In contrast, at the Institute of Mechanical Physics, there is no theoretical progress. It is just a clumsy way to pile up experimental data, and it is not possible to see any ideas for experimental design by the person in charge.
The idea of rifling design was also done by Zhu Shuren himself, while the people below were only responsible for the physical work.
"The steel factory is doing a good job, better than the arsenal. There has been progress in removing impurities from the raw materials. We will be rewarded this year. We will focus on going to the Mineral Processing Research Institute tomorrow to take a look."
After leaving Ma'anshan Arsenal, after taking stock of what he had seen and heard throughout the day, Zhu Shuren gave the order.
When Gu Yanwu heard this, he immediately explained and pointed out: "As expected, I heard that at the research institute, the governor of Huguang occasionally makes suggestions in person, and he takes the time to come over for one or two months every year.
Governor Fang also sent some of his trusted researchers to stay here, and also found relatives and assistants to stay here to help him organize data and manuscripts and improve his writing of "Physics."
When Zhu Shuren heard this, he suddenly realized that the arsenal mainly relied on craftsmen with no theoretical foundation to explore on their own, but behind the steel plant and research institute, there was Fang Yizhi who was helping him find time to worry about it.
Although there is a certain gap between Fang Yizhi and Western scientists of the same period, and he has not received education in systematic logic, he still has an advantage in broad knowledge and can draw parallels to some extent.
Zhu Shuren rubbed his temples: ""Physics"? Brother Fang finally started to write "Physics"? Oh, Gu said that he actually started to write "Physics". This thing is not easy to write. Don't write it down, it will eventually become
A purely natural history work.
Although Brother Fang is very knowledgeable in this area, he still feels that the theory is not systematic enough and is too piecemeal. If he really wants to write about it, when Zheng Chenggong goes to fight the big officials at the end of the year, I will ask him to capture more Red Yi prisoners.
At that time, send a ship back to bring a message to the Hongyi ruler, asking them to hand over Descartes in exchange for all the soldiers and East India Company employees who were captured in Dagang, otherwise our Ming Dynasty will shoot all the prisoners."
Zhu Shuren is still looking forward to the famous works written by Shang Yizhi in history.
Originally, he was worried that Fang Yizhi would have a smooth career in this world, so he completely forgot about what he had written in the book. This was considered a small loss to the history of science and technology.
Now that I heard that he can still be distracted from his work, Zhu Shuren will certainly support him.
Zheng Chenggong hadn't captured the important officials yet, but Zhu Shuren had already clearly figured out the purpose of the Dutch prisoners.
It's a pity that Descartes is already old now and won't be around for a few more years.
It was not that Zhu Shuren had not considered Newton, but Newton was still a three-year-old child, and Laibnitz had just entered the fertilized egg state.
Therefore, we can only try to leave an introduction first, just like using Descartes's wealth to promote the Ming Dynasty's eagerness for talent to Western scientific and technological talents.
In this era, many talents in the West who are interested in scientific research are still in a very bad situation. The main reason is that the Thirty Years War has not yet completely ended, and Catholic countries have a very severe persecution attitude towards scientific research.
Descartes couldn't stay in France when he was young, and his situation was not much better than that of Copernicus a few decades ago, so he had to live in the Netherlands. Who made France a Catholic country?
According to the normal development of history, in the next hundred years, Western science and technology will develop rapidly mainly in Protestant countries such as the Netherlands, England and North Germany, because Protestant countries do not have strong church power to harm scientists.
France, Italy, Austria, and Spain, the four famous traditional Catholic powers, still had to be scientific research deserts for nearly a hundred years. It was not until a few decades before the first industrial revolution that they found that their national power had been far behind the British and the Dutch.
Only then was he forced to reverse.
Therefore, it is now 1645. If we can take advantage of 1648, before the Thirty Years of Religious War in Europe is completely over, to spread to the West something like "the Ming Dynasty in the East has no religious persecution of science at all, and also allows free choice of beliefs without interfering with beliefs."
Under the premise of "researching whatever you want," the news, coupled with heavy remuneration, may be able to dig out a considerable part of the seeds of European science.
With one thing going down and the other going up, no matter how you look at it, you are making a lot of money, so you must pay attention to this matter.
…
After some inspections, with this idea in mind, Zhu Shuren became even more careless in the subsequent inspection work, looking at the work in front of him from the perspective of a century-old plan.
That night, Gu Yanwu brought back news that Zheng Chenggong would not be able to arrive tomorrow.
However, the express courier sent by Zheng Chenggong had already arrived in advance, saying that according to the itinerary, Zheng Chenggong and his party should have just passed Taihu Lake and arrived in the Liyang area, and would arrive early the day after tomorrow.
After all, Zheng Chenggong now has status and cannot travel hundreds of miles a day.
Zhu Shuren didn't say anything. He came early and inspected first. How could he temporarily raise the requirements for his subordinates?
So the group stayed one night in Jiangning Town, and washed up and had breakfast the next morning. Zhu Shuren made temporary arrangements, saying that he would inspect a few more research institutes today, and there was no need to make other arrangements for the trip.
Anyway, there are zoos, botanical gardens and museums. After Zheng Chenggong arrives tomorrow, he will have a meeting to teach Zheng Chenggong how to adapt to the animal and plant environment of the tropical rainforest. There is no rush to visit now.
What Zhu Shuren didn't expect was that after arriving at the Magnetism Research Institute, he actually met an unexpected old friend.
As soon as he entered the door, he told the official in charge: "I heard that Brother Mi sent his confidants to help him collect data and write a book. Why don't the people in charge come to see him?"
The official in charge of the office looked embarrassed and quickly explained: "Your Majesty, among the staff assistants sent by Fang Futai, there are women. They usually only check the experimental results and receive data, and do not usually negotiate with the researchers face to face. Your Majesty wants to inspect and give advice.
, you can go to the study room in the other courtyard."
Zhu Shuren was stunned for a moment, but he soon realized what he was doing. He asked where he was, and dismissed everyone. He came alone to an independent and quiet courtyard inside the institute.
This villa must have been requisitioned by Fang Yizhi this year and rearranged, but since it was for work, Zhu Shuren would not blame him for being extravagant.
When I walked into the inner courtyard, I saw women wearing scholar's uniforms with scarves, but they were obviously not the kind who just served tea and water. They all looked a bit bookish, as if they could assist in learning.
When Zhu Shuren came in, several women were slightly surprised and wanted to exclaim. Fortunately, Zhu Shuren did not conduct a vulgar private visit in private, pretending to be a pig and eating a tiger. He came in wearing the prince's python robe generously.
So those women were surprised, but as soon as they saw his clothes clearly, they immediately stopped resisting and allowed him to move around on his own. They even took the initiative to come up to him and salute, and asked earnestly if they could help the prince in any way.
Zhu Shuren roughly guessed who Fang Yizhi sent, and casually asked the female official who was saluting: "Did Governor Fang send Miss Zi Ling to help here?"
The female officials all gathered together and said, "That's right, we are also the clerks trained by Miss Fang."
Zhu Shuren smiled naturally: "When will she know how to do physics?"
Of course the female official wanted to help and say good things: "Miss Fang is very knowledgeable and talented. As long as she is willing to put her heart into it, she can learn anything."
Zhu Shuren stopped talking nonsense and gave a look to lead the way. He was quickly led to Fang Ziling's office. Before entering, he signaled to be silent and wanted to make a surprise visit to see if Fang Ziling was rigorous in his studies.
The female officials did not dare to disobey, so they allowed Zhu Shuren to enter quietly without informing them. They saw a long-lost figure, also wearing a scarf and a scholar's uniform.
As expected, Fang Ziling was unconscious. When he entered, Fang Ziling was still facing a strange copper and iron machine installed in a porcelain cylinder, holding a ledger and recording data.
Zhu Shuren took a casual glance and saw that the machine was a shell bracket of a porcelain cylinder. The inner wall of the shell had ravines nested in layers. It was wrapped with thin red copper pillars wrapped in natural rubber paint. There was also a support on the left and right ends inside.
The weird magnet mechanism.
Although the shape of the generator looked very different from that of later generations, Zhu Shuren could at least recognize what this thing was trying to do. He couldn't help it. He had casually mentioned all this before, saying that he wanted to study "magnets and package barriers."
The experimental effect of "copper coils of material rotating and cutting each other".
The people below just messed around and made these things, but they didn't cost much anyway. Even if the industrial value is not great, it is still good for future scientific enlightenment.
Zhu Shuren looked at it for a few times and then said: "When did you come? Mi Zhi didn't even notify me."
Fang Ziling's hand holding the charcoal pen trembled and froze on the notebook. The tip of the charcoal pen was also broken by the force and fell off from the penholder wrapped with silk thread.
"My little sister pays homage to the prince. I didn't know that the prince was coming, so I'd like to apologize for my rudeness." After taking a deep breath, Fang Ziling adjusted her mood, then turned around and bowed with her hands folded.
In Zhu Shuren's heart, he had actually put some thought into it in the past few months. Now that the kings' conspiracy had just passed, it was time to prepare for the matter of taking concubines. He also wanted to find an opportunity to discuss it with Fang Kongzhen.
Unexpectedly, it was Fang Ziling who came to the area around Nanjing first and provided some convenience for contact.
Now that Fang Ziling was so generous, it made him feel a little embarrassed, or more precisely, a little guilty.
He quickly changed the subject and first asked how the other party was doing recently and whether he was adapting well: "Ziling, you and I have been close friends for several years. How come I didn't know that you have studied so widely and know all these things? My brother Mi, really, how can I
Why don't you worry about this?"
Fang Ziling smiled generously and found a seat next to her to sit down: "Although I don't like these, as long as it can be written clearly in the book, what can't I learn? What my brother can understand, my little sister can always take more time to understand.
Understand it. Just think about it and think about it."
While talking, she also picked up a manuscript from the bottom of the eucalyptus, which was Fang Yizhi's unfinished "Physics". It could be seen that Fang Ziling's beautiful handwriting had also added and annotated a lot of content on it.
It can only be said that the scientific and technological works of this era are more at the level of natural history and experience, and at most add some so-called summary of rules that are almost metaphysical. It is not difficult for people who have read a lot to understand, as long as their thinking is not rigid.
Zhu Shuren looked at it for a few times, praised it a few times, then looked at the prototype of the machine in front of him, and asked Fang Ziling to demonstrate it.
Of course, this machine was not made by Fang Ziling. It can even be said that the design process has nothing to do with her. She is only responsible for recording the experimental data after it is completed and summarizing the failure phenomena. Then someone will naturally make changes.
Fang Ziling was also magnanimous. He was not in a hurry to change the topic. Instead, he demonstrated very attentively. It seemed that he was indeed curious about this job.
"It's not easy to demonstrate. Could you please, Your Majesty, step on the treadwheel on the shaft connected to the magnet to make the magnetic shaft rotate. Then you can see that the connected coil has a slight change in suction, which can suck up the iron sand."
.”
Zhu Shuren followed the instructions and looked over. Sure enough, this strange machine could not transmit electricity over long distances. The thick copper wire wrapped in natural rubber paint from the windings of the machine could only be led out a few feet away, and then it was twisted into a coil.
Iron sand is placed under the coil.
This scene is a bit like those children's power generation experiments seen in science and technology museums in later generations, where people can generate electricity by pedaling a bicycle, but the machine in front of them is much clumsy and crude.
Zhu Shuren started pedaling as usual, and sure enough, he immediately saw the iron sand under the coil in the distance beating slightly, rising and falling.
It's just that the electromagnetic force output by pedaling is very weak and unstable. If Zhu Shuren continues to pedal at a constant speed, the magnetic force will soon disappear and the iron sand will fall down again.
He hasn't reacted yet, because in later children's experiments in science and technology museums, children were asked to pedal at a constant speed, but the electrical appliances in science and technology museums are all electric lights, which require a steady current to do work. The harder they pedal, the brighter the lights.
Bright.
Fang Ziling immediately summed up his mistake based on his experience in the past few months, and pointed out with a smile: "That's not the case. You have to go fast and slow. When you go from slow to fast, there will be suction, and when you go from fast to slow, there will be suction."
There is suction, but if you don't listen to the acceleration and deceleration, there will be no suction at a uniform speed."
Zhu Shuren was stunned for a moment, and then he realized that indeed, the electrical appliances in the science and technology museum of later generations were resistance-type electrical appliances, while electromagnetic induction was inductive-type electrical appliances. What was needed was not a steady current, but a change in the current, and what was needed was constant change from small to large.
The process of changing from big to small.
"Change magnetism to generate electricity, change electricity to generate magnetism", the key lies in the word "change".
It seems that this thing is really difficult to apply industrially, and there are too many things that need to be solved. Otherwise, if water wheels and windmills are used to replace human pedaling in the future, you will not be able to ensure that the speed of the water flow continues to change.
Zhu Shuren consciously pedaled fast and slowly. In order to pursue sudden acceleration, he sometimes used force more violently. As a result, the iron sand continued to be sucked in, but after a while, the brush ring burned at the output end of the motor.
Fang Ziling quickly called for staff to perform repairs, and Zhu Shuren had no choice but to stop the experiment.
The female official in charge of maintenance was still a little worried, and quickly explained that this machine was not like this normally. Zhu Shuren just patted them on the shoulder gently: "It's okay, it was just used improperly. It just needs to be repaired and optimized, and it didn't cost much money."
After this personal experience, Zhu Shuren had to admit:
To be honest, if you don't consider the industrial application scenario and it is purely for laboratory use, "discovering the existence of electricity" is really not more difficult than building a steam engine.
The steam engine must ensure the machining precision of the piston, cylinder and flywheel crankshaft. The cylinder must be sealed tightly without air leakage. Each steam transportation link must also be airtight. The transmission mechanism must also be smoothly damped. Otherwise, the eccentric inertia will be large.
As soon as the machine started spinning, it flew away and was scrapped.
Experiments on electromagnetic induction do not require such high precision. Unbalanced coils and unbalanced magnets are nothing more than higher impedance and lower efficiency. However, the little power exerted by pedaling a bicycle in the laboratory will definitely not cause danger, and it will not kill anyone.
The difficulty of electricity lies not in the machine itself, but in the supporting system engineering. In the laboratory stage, there is no need to consider electricity storage, transmission, and consumption.
Although it is said that after the original magnetic induction motor that can theoretically discover electricity is built, it may take fifty years or even more before it can stably use electricity for lighting, and it will take nearly a hundred years to build a motor with stable output, but Zhu Shuren did not let it go.
They do that.
If electricity is only used to generate magnetism, then the output electrical terminal only needs a fixed coil, and nothing needs to be done. It is a special case with the lowest difficulty.
After all, moving magnets generate electricity, and changing electricity creates magnetism. This is the step with the lowest requirements for the original industrial foundation. To put it bluntly, it is just a pile of copper and magnets wound and processed into a specific shape.
Historically, the steam engine appeared seventy or eighty years earlier than the generator. That was just an accident of history. It does not mean that the steam engine is more difficult than the generator. There is no need for Zhu Shuren to copy history.
It's just that the discovery of electromagnetic induction was quite accidental, and if the follow-up research on electricity needs to produce value and benefits, the supporting equipment required is much more complicated than the steam engine power. The whole system appeared seventy or eighty years later than the steam engine, and it is not the "mechanism" of the electric motor.
"It's difficult in itself.
Just like in the 2020s, some people still think that electric vehicles are new energy sources, but in fact, anyone who knows a little bit about engineering principles knows that early electric vehicles appeared earlier than internal combustion locomotives, and there were electric motor-driven cars before the gasoline engine was born. It’s just that
The use of electricity requires many supporting technologies, so it cannot be promoted. Until now, who makes charging and exchanging electricity more troublesome than refueling at a gas station?
Although steam engines and diesel engines are much more complex than electric motors, as long as the steam engine and diesel engine are built, even without supporting system facilities (of course, fuel is required), a machine can directly generate productivity by itself, while electric motors can only "
"Machine" without supporting equipment is a waste.
Zhu Shuren can completely build a primitive magnetic induction motor, just like the one he sees now, and then slightly improve it. It's just that no other power application scenario can be found within 150 years after it is built, and it doesn't cost much anyway.
.
But no matter what, relying on the machine in front of him, Zhu Shuren had already seen a few summary sentences in Fang Yizhi's "Physics" manuscript: "Electricity does not produce magnetism, magnetism does not produce electricity, magnetism produces electricity, and electric change produces magnetism.
”.
It is enough to be able to realize that electricity and magnetism are mutually reinforcing, but they are not naturally interdependent. They only occur during the process of changes in large and small directions, and cannot occur when they are static.
At least this is a qualitative "principle of electromagnetic induction" and a distance from the "law of electromagnetic induction". The only difference is the physical quantities in a few formulas, which cannot be calculated quantitatively. Who makes us so backward in mathematics (Zhu Shuren
I also learned formulas in high school in my previous life, but I have forgotten them after not doing it for many years. He only remembers the principles and cannot do calculations)
But this qualitative scientific discovery itself can inspire latecomers to explore and is worth a fortune.
…
It would be a bit embarrassing to talk about these nonsense things inspired by science at the moment, but who made Zhu Shuren see Fang Ziling again, even in such an embarrassing environment, there was no way around it.
As the female staff of the institute removed the burned-out machines, cleaned them, and recorded data, Fang Ziling finally led Zhu Shuren to another office that was purely used as a study room. There were no machines or experimental equipment, and it looked very refreshing.
Zhu Shuren was thinking about how to speak, but when he was about to speak, he tested it first: "The last time we said goodbye was during the 16th year of Chongzhen's reign."
Fang Ziling's eyes flickered for a moment, and she said with a hint of sadness: "Your Majesty, you have a good memory."
When Chongzhen was fifteen years old, she was seventeen years old. Her mother Wu Lingyi once tested her whether she should rush to marry the Shen family. At that time, due to various concerns, she declined, saying that she was not in a hurry.
If he had agreed at that time and got married the following year, he would have been successfully married at the age of eighteen.
Now it has been delayed for another seventeen years, the first year of Chongzhen, the first year of Longwu, the second year, and suddenly it has been three years. Fang Ziling will be twenty-one years old soon.
In the Ming Dynasty, she was such an old girl at the age of 21. Fortunately, there was a reason for the incident and no one put pressure on her family.
Zhu Shuren also knew that the other party must have thought of his own age, and time flies by:
"You are twenty-one this year, right? In the past few years, you were busy with military affairs and had to work hard, so you had to put the rise and fall of the world first. Now that the country's foundation has been settled, if you have not changed your original intention, Zi Ling, I will give you an explanation.
"
Fang Ziling's face turned red and she quickly returned to normal: "Why did the prince say this? You should discuss this matter with your father and brothers. How can I discuss this matter with my little sister, who is a girl in the boudoir? This time, my little sister was also attacked by my brother.
I’m just here to do academic work!”
Zhu Shuren was squeezed out by her righteous words, but he could no longer be frivolous. He could only take care of the other person's face and said domineeringly: "Forget it, I am neglecting etiquette. I will summon my secret brother to discuss this matter and let him
Take the letter back to Uncle Shi."
Fang Ziling turned around and pretended not to hear. Anyway, she just thought that she was betrayed by her father and brother. She didn't want anything, so she didn't want to be embarrassed.
However, Zhu Shuren could clearly see that after he said the decision he just made domineeringly, and when the two calmed down again and discussed academic issues, Fang Ziling's expression became obviously much more relaxed, and it seemed that even knowledge could excite her.
…
Zhu Shuren spent the whole day wandering around several research institutes. He had not originally planned to visit the Zoo, Botanical Garden and Museum, but now that he met Fang Ziling, he would definitely change his itinerary.
How can you take a girl to just go to the laboratory of a research institute all day long? It is also a good pastime to go to a museum to educate and entertain, show off your knowledge, and let the girl admire you.
After a short half-day tour, Fang Ziling, who was already unfamiliar because she had not seen him for three years, became familiar with Zhu Shuren again, and gained a new understanding and admiration for the prince's insights and erudition. It was not until dusk fell that Zhu Shuren asked the female official to see her off.
Go back to the place.
It seems that in the future, the appointment of women in the academic research field will be moderately relaxed. The Ming Dynasty already had female palace officials, and there were female generals like Qin Liangyu. Why can't women be used in non-management academic positions?
Any job that involves a lot of publicity can be done behind closed doors to learn and conduct experiments.
With these random thoughts, Zhu Shuren returned to the place where he stayed and rested randomly all night.
Early the next morning, Gu Yanwu came to report that Zheng Chenggong and his party had arrived. Zhu Shuren sobered up, temporarily put everything yesterday behind him, and began to worry seriously about national affairs again.
"Quickly summon brother Zheng Xian to see me. I am about to discuss with him some precautions for using troops to prevent miasma."