Struggle in the Steam Age

"By the way, the main purpose of my coming to you this time is to ask what is the specific situation of your new material alginate?" After a brief chat about the specific situation on the island, Lawrence Turned the topic to the most important problem after calling them today.

"Ah, it's actually an accidental product of my previous research." Researcher Miller said. "Because when I came to the Institute of Medicine, I found that many colleagues were studying microorganisms, so I chose the culture medium of microorganisms as my research direction. After all, this culture medium is indispensable in the research or reproduction of microorganisms. "

Hearing what Miller said, Lawrence nodded. Because he knew that because all the things he released before were related to microorganisms, the number of medical personnel who came to the island naturally chose this aspect as their research direction was the largest. And Miller obviously found some suitable direction from this trend and worked hard.

"—Because many people had already started to study various culture media on land at that time, so I thought about finding what I needed from the ocean." Just when Lawrence came back to his senses, Miller had already said Coming to the crucial part.

"At the beginning, because it was difficult to obtain materials from the sea, my plan was very difficult to advance. But since the Loca murlocs joined our territory, the progress has been greatly accelerated."

"I hired ten loca murlocs and asked them to find various organic matter in the surrounding water for me, and then I tested them one by one with yeast. As a result, I have not found a suitable medium, but found a bunch of basically Nothing useful." Miller said with a wry smile. "So recently I have been trying to find ways to develop other uses for those failed products to recover the cost."

"For example, this kind of alginate is like this. After yeast and the extract of that seaweed are fermented together, it will become a hard block. After heating, this solid will become a gel. At this time, you can Shaping it to make it the way we wanted it to be. At first I thought this thing would be a replacement for rubber, but then it didn’t work out.”

"On the one hand, this kind of thing is not heat-resistant at all. It will become soft at 120°C, and it will become liquid at 150°C. Therefore, it is impossible to replace rubber as a gasket or sealing ring on a steam engine. On the other hand, this kind of After the thing is formed, the ductility and firmness are average."

"Fortunately, the loca fish people I hired reminded me that this kind of thing's stability in the face of acid, alkali, salt and other things and the characteristics of not being dissolved by water are used to help them save those things that are inconvenient in water. It’s something to save, so I simply made a batch of these things and sold them to the murlocs. But other than that, I really can’t think of any use for this thing.”

"Actually, there is only one reason I came to you today, and that is because I think this thing is very useful." Lawrence smiled and took a plastic box made of alginate and said. "However, you need to talk about the limit of your material first, and what is the output of this material?"

"The output of this material should actually be very large, because the seaweed that can extract the material is a species with relatively strong reproductive ability, and it is easy to grow in the shallow sea area of ​​​​the island."

After hearing Lawrence's question, Miller asked the murlocs first and then answered him. "As for the limit of this material, we have not completed accurate testing, so there is no accurate identification report yet."

"However, we have also done some relatively simple tests. For example, the thinnest thing is as thick as cardboard. If it is any thinner, it will be crushed with a little force from the fingers." Miller took out the A palm-sized notebook said, "For another example, the priest of the Agricultural Church told me that this thing will dissolve in less than half a year if it is buried in the ground—"

"Then there are many places where this kind of thing can be used." After Miller read the analysis data on this kind of alginate in the small book, Lawrence realized that he had really picked up a treasure this time. .

Because the properties of this kind of thing seem to be very close to the polypropylene in his previous life, and it is obviously much more environmentally friendly. The only difference is that this thing is slightly less tough, but it should be enough for daily use.

Although it is said that using this kind of thing to make plastic bags, life buoys or further production of chemical fibers is basically useless. But it can be made into a variety of containers for holding certain corrosive items.

In this way, many heavy and fragile glass containers or metal containers that require complicated handling can be replaced.

"At least I think we can replace most of the bottles used to hold finished medicine with this material." Lawrence said holding the small box. "Compared with the glass bottles currently used, this kind of bottle is obviously lighter and cheaper. The most important thing is that even if this kind of bottle is not flexible enough, it should not be broken like a glass bottle when dropped from a height of two or three meters. .”

"Hey, this is indeed a good idea. Now those medicines are too easy to accidentally drop on the ground and shatter, and they are a bit heavy." After being reminded by Lawrence, Miller also reacted immediately. Soon, he was discussing with him several uses of this new material, inspired by Lawrence.

"You are so wise." After Lawrence mentioned several new uses of this alginate, Miller looked at Lawrence with adoring eyes and said. "I thought about it for a long time before I barely figured out that this thing can be used by the Loka fish people to carry products on land, but I didn't expect it to have so many uses."

"It's nothing, it's just that I have seen more things. I think if you are willing to pay more attention to the things around you, you should be able to think of these usages."

Lawrence showed a humble expression and said that although everyone present thought that what Lawrence said was a perfect embodiment of a scholar's humility, only he himself knew that he was really just taking advantage of his knowledge.

Because this thing can be regarded as a very environmentally friendly plastic, and Lawrence, who was surrounded by plastic in his previous life, can naturally carry out the mature usage of plastic in his mind after confirming the specific situation of this thing. But in the eyes of outsiders, this is a very wise performance of Lawrence.

In the next period of time, Lawrence and the others planned the future development direction of the alginate industry. Fortunately, the law on the island stipulated the principle of benefit distribution in this situation, so they quickly made a rough division of their respective rights and obligations in the future development of the alginate industry. As for the details, there will be professionals to deal with it later.

In addition to obtaining a new material, the biggest benefit of discovering alginate is that it has found a good industry for the new arrivals on the island. It allows them to quickly integrate into the entire system of the island. Especially for these Loka fish people, the irreplaceability of a characteristic industry formed by virtue of racial advantages is the best way to integrate into the island.

Of course, this irreplaceability refers to the irreplaceability of cost rather than other aspects. Otherwise, the human beings who are the main ethnic group on the island may not be able to tolerate the existence of such a different race that completely monopolizes the lifeline of a certain industry. The sentence of being pregnant with jade can be regarded as the truth in all planes.

But on the other hand, the development of the entire island should be as balanced as possible, especially a multi-ethnic island like the current island of Nova Sauer. Otherwise, those races who have not had opportunities for development for a long time and are obviously poor will naturally have serious dissatisfaction and create a series of troubles.