The Rise of the European Emperor

"The whole system is rhombus-shaped, but irregular, mainly because the two upper rhombus sides are longer and the two lower rhombus sides are shorter. The upper sharp corner of the rhombus is the steering wheel. The obtuse angles on both sides are set with a fixed pulley. The lower sharp corner of the rhombus is the rudder plate."

"The four diamond sides are equipped with a movable pulley to save effort. When the sailor turns the steering wheel, the rope will pass through the fixed pulley and the movable pulley, pulling the rudder plate to one side and changing the course of the ship..." Da Vinci gushed endlessly. Introducing.

Marin looked at the drawings and felt that the design was quite reasonable. The lower rhombus is short because the fixed pulley is closer to the parallel position of the rudder plate. This also results in a longer lever arm of the rope pulling the rudder plate and a higher torque. In fact, the lower half of the so-called rhombus is infinitely approaching a line...

After thinking for a while, Marin asked:

"If the steering wheel is turned so frequently, the rope should be worn a lot, right?" This was a question that Marin was very worried about. After all, great sailing requires persistence. Sometimes, the ship runs for several years at sea. If the rope is changed too frequently, it is easy to cause inconvenience, not to mention the trouble.

Da Vinci thought for a while and said:

"Indeed, we can only prepare more flax ropes..." He had nothing to do about it. Of course, he didn't know there was an artifact like sisal.

"The bottom part of the rope of this system is close to the rudder board. It seems to be soaked in water. The flax rope seems to be not very resistant to seawater corrosion..." This problem is the big problem. Marin's boat now only runs on North American routes, which is acceptable for rope wear. But seawater corrodes, this is no way. After all, the end rope needs to be soaked in seawater for a long time together with the rudder board.

Da Vinci thought for a while, and suddenly his eyes lit up, saying:

"Your Majesty, you can have them drawn into fine copper wire with navy copper, and then twisted into a copper rope with navy copper wire to replace the end of the rope. In that way, won't you be afraid of seawater corrosion soon?"

"Is there such an operation?" Marin was stunned. But soon, he had to admit that it was a good way...

It's a little trickier to wire and braid the navy copper with zinc and tin added by Marin himself, but it's very feasible. Of course, it's not much, just replace the section that often comes into contact with seawater.

I have to admit that Da Vinci's brain is flexible, but before Marin can compliment him, Da Vinci rubbed his hands again and said:

"Grand Duke, look... the steering wheel system is also finished. Would you like to give me some zinc ingots and sulfuric acid for me to study hydrogen?" Well, this guy is still obsessed with hydrogen...

...

Marin didn't want to watch the only science god under his command run wild on the road to death,

So, he had to think of other ways...

...

"Um... ah... this..." Marin mumbled.

"Where are the zinc ingots and sulfuric acid?" Da Vinci couldn't help himself, and almost wanted to get it himself.

Marin was shocked and blurted out:

"I can't give it to you, I have other uses for sulfuric acid!"

"Another purpose? What purpose?" Da Vinci was also interested. He was interested in scientific knowledge, not just hydrogen.

"I want to make nitric acid!" In a hurry, Marin thought of another reason temporarily.

However, after thinking of this reason, Marin felt good.

Then, Marin took the curious baby Da Vinci to the laboratory to make nitric acid...

The process of making nitric acid is very simple, which is to use concentrated sulfuric acid and saltpeter to heat the reaction. Nitric acid is volatile after heating, just pay attention to collection. This point, Marin has long been familiar with after preparing hydrogen - as long as you use a narrow-mouth bottle, connect the pipeline to water...

After many steps such as cooling, Marin is worth a large bottle of concentrated nitric acid...

"By the way, what am I doing to prepare nitric acid?" Marin suddenly forgot his purpose.

But after thinking about it, it seems that he really had no special purpose before. Just to fool Da Vinci...

"Cut, what did I think it was, it turned out to be nitric acid..." Marin didn't expect that Da Vinci was not interested at all.

why? Because some people in Europe have already prepared nitric acid at this time...

In fact, in the eighth century, the Persian scholar Jabir Ibn Hayan produced the earliest nitric acid. Then, this technology was also introduced to Europe. Italy, where Leonardo da Vinci is located, is the Western European country that has the closest contact with the Middle East. So it is no surprise that Italians know about nitric acid.

Of course, all Da Vinci had seen before were dilute nitric acid, which was far from the concentrated nitric acid prepared by Marin.

If nothing else, concentrated nitric acid can nitrocellulose and other plant fibers to form the terrible nitrocellulose - collodion...

Originally, Marin wanted to blow a wave with Da Vinci, but he thought of the strong explosive characteristics of collodion... Marin still didn't blow anything with Da Vinci...

Da Vinci wants sulfuric acid again, and it is not uncommon for Marin to use sulfuric acid to prepare nitric acid. Marin was anxious, so he thought of another use for concentrated sulfuric acid:

"Ada, I want to make ether!"

Da Vinci was stunned for a moment:

"What is ether?"

"Ether is a kind of anesthetic, it can make people unconscious, the magic medicine for you to dissect..."

In an instant... Da Vinci's eyes lit up like 200-watt headlights...

It was only at this time that Marin remembered that Da Vinci was an anatomical maniac...

At the beginning, when Da Vinci was kidnapped in Milan, Marin discovered that there were many stolen dead bodies in the basement of Da Vinci's villa. Moreover, the bodies were all dissected. Otherwise, there will be no human anatomy map left by Leonardo da Vinci in later generations. When it comes to anatomy, Da Vinci instantly gets excited...

"Then what are you waiting for? Let's go and prepare ether!" Da Vinci, the dissection madman, said excitedly.

Of course, Da Vinci wasn't really perverted either. Instead, he thought - if there is such an anesthetic, then he can painlessly cut tumors and carrion from patients, and treat various wounds with ease. You know, the all-rounder Da Vinci is also a master of medicine. Of course, a master surgeon...

Marin hesitated and said:

"Ada, first help me make a thermometer with a larger range. Because this preparation requires a high temperature of 140 degrees Celsius..."

Da Vinci quickly took the lead, and two days later, he brought a large range of mercury thermometers, which can measure up to 200 degrees Celsius.

Then, "chemist" Marin started the preparation of ether...

The preparation of ether is very simple, that is, mixing alcohol and concentrated sulfuric acid and heating at 140 degrees...

Of course, Marin is not a real chemist, so he is a little unsure about the amount of the two added. Marin added more alcohol when he couldn't eat enough. In this way, the obtained product may be a mixture of ethanol and ether. However, this is better than residual sulfuric acid.

why? Because concentrated sulfuric acid is a terrible strong acid. Think about it, if you use this ether to anesthetize a patient, as a result, because of the residual concentrated sulfuric acid, after covering the patient's mouth and nose with a damp cloth dipped in ether, the patient will be disfigured because of the residual concentrated sulfuric acid...

Therefore, Marin would rather add more alcohol than let the concentrated sulfuric acid have residues, which is a terrible thing to disfigure...

Because ether is volatile, the glass bottle is sealed when heated. Otherwise, the ether will evaporate after heating. After the reaction was over, Marin let the flask cool and the ether was liquefied. Diethyl ether is slightly soluble in water, so in the prepared mixed solution, diethyl ether floats on the surface of the solution, just collect it. Of course, this also contains ethanol. Because, although ether is slightly soluble in water, it is miscible with ethanol. Of course, when you fish, you will also bring some water. That's why I said that if the concentrated sulfuric acid remains, it will also be fished out... Cover the patient's mouth and nose with a snap, then it's over...