Chapter 122 Weather Observation Instrument
Liang Zhou wandered around the mansion, trying to figure out where he could get cinnabar.
Passing by Liang Wu's study, the door was half open. He glanced inside casually and then stopped.
Liang Wu himself had not read many books, but he liked to learn from others to show off his culture. The walls of his study were covered with famous calligraphy and paintings, and each painting was covered with densely packed red seals, some square and some round.
Liang Zhou looked at the paintings with his hands behind his back, shaking his head and frowning: "Qianlong, this is..."
Suddenly, he had an idea. He walked to Liang Wu's desk and rummaged through it. Sure enough, he found a drawer full of brocade boxes.
The brocade boxes of various sizes were filled with various stone seals. Liang Zhou spotted the vermilion round seal at a glance.
Hehe, cinnabar seal, isn’t it here?
…
Zhou Da and Zhao Shiming hesitated as they held the cinnabar seal, which looked obviously valuable.
Zhou Da said: "This is not good..."
Liang Zhou said selflessly: "What's wrong with that? You guys are doing good things for the people by predicting the weather. It's also a way to accumulate merit for my father."
Zhou Da thought about it and agreed, so he found a hammer and with one blow, the cinnabar seal broke into several pieces, revealing the original color inside - an extremely pure vermilion color, which was a world of difference compared to those he had bought before.
Zhou Da found a mortar and water, put the cinnabar fragments in it, and ground them again using the water-flying method. After it settled, he finally obtained some cinnabar powder again.
He put on his mask, relit the fire in the stove, and poured the newly made cinnabar powder into it through the small opening on the stove.
This time, it didn't take long to wait before small silvery-white mercury particles slowly dripped from the mouth of the ceramic tube into the small porcelain bowl below.
"Great, we finally succeeded!" Zhou Da looked excitedly at Xu Shiming and Zhao Sicheng behind him.
Although the amount of mercury extracted this time was not much, only a few drops in total, it was enough to make a thermometer.
Xu Shiming has also gone to see the master craftsman at the ceramic factory again. The porcelain tubes have been made, one thick and one thin, and the tube walls are as thin as a cicada's wing, which is very delicate.
Zhou Da took the thin porcelain tube, carefully poured mercury into it, and then sealed the tube. Because the tube wall was very thin, the half filled with mercury became noticeably darker in color.
Xu Shiming took it carefully and said, "This is really similar to the thermometer I use at home."
Zhou Da explained: "The accuracy is not that high, and it may be difficult to measure body temperature, but it can be used to roughly show the rise and fall of temperature."
Xu Shiming nodded, but the porcelain tube was too thin and would break if not handled with care.
He found a piece of rosin, which was translucent, orange-yellow, and amber-like, and very beautiful. The rosin was polished into a cylinder, and the surface was polished to a bright finish. Xu Shiming then used a tool to drill a round hole of just the right size in the middle of the rosin, and inserted the porcelain tube very carefully.
The curved surface of the rosin refracts light, making the porcelain tube look thicker than before, and the height variation of the mercury in the tube is more obvious. The thin porcelain tube is covered with a rosin shell, making it less fragile.
At this time, Zhao Sicheng's barometer was also ready.
He filled half a bottle of ink in a narrow-mouthed porcelain bottle and sealed the mouth of the bottle with a wooden cork. A round hole was drilled in the cork, just enough for the porcelain tube, which looked like a straw, to be inserted.
Zhao Sicheng used the beeswax prepared in advance to fill the gaps between the cork, the bottle mouth and the porcelain tube to ensure the sealing of the entire device.
After the beeswax was completely solidified, he puffed up his cheeks and blew a breath downward through the porcelain tube, forming a small bubble that entered the sealed bottle. When he let go, the ink in the bottle rose from the porcelain tube due to the compression of the air.
The tube wall is very thin, and the current water level of the black ink can be seen at a glance.
Zhao Sicheng then found a pen and marked the current height of the ink. In this way, a simple barometer was completed.
As a final step, the three men used melted beeswax to glue the barometer and thermometer to a round wooden board to secure them. Then they drilled a small hole in the center of the board and inserted the weather vane they had made earlier.
Zhao Sicheng held the wooden board with a look of satisfaction on his face. "Look, does this count as an ancient weather monitor?"
Xu Shiming nodded. He had interned at the Meteorological Bureau for a period of time before and had some knowledge of meteorology.
Ancient people usually predicted the weather through long-term records and observations, and finally summarized their experience. For example, if a place is often windy, and most of the time it will rain after the southeast wind, this will form an experience.
Speaking of rain, by the way, we also need to observe the humidity.
But this is very simple. Xu Shiming remembered the scene when Qiao Youyou founded the Mathematics Society. He found a round wooden pole and fixed it horizontally on the weather vane to make a simple balance.
A piece of charcoal and a stone are tied to each end of the wooden pole to balance it. If the humidity in the air increases, the charcoal will absorb water and become heavier, thus tilting the balance.
Although the ancients' weather observation method has some truth to it, it is limited by the technological level of the time, and many phenomena are only known but not the reasons behind them.
However, now with this simple meteorological observatory, combined with the records and observation methods of the ancients, they can predict weather changes more accurately.
For example, when the air pressure decreases and the humidity increases, there is a greater chance of rain.
Zhao Sicheng also felt a sense of accomplishment. He suggested: "Such a powerful thing, why don't we also tell Supervisor Ouyang and popularize it in the nearby villages? It would also be a good thing."
Xu Shiming thought for a moment and shook his head.
"I'm afraid this is difficult to explain. First of all, we have not yet been able to prove that the results measured by this observation instrument are accurate.
Secondly, the ancient people all regarded wind, rain, thunder and lightning as divine manifestations. If we take out the observation device and talk to them about science, they might regard us as heretics. "
Zhao Sicheng thought about it and felt that it made sense. He didn't want to be tied to a cross and burned, so he immediately gave up the idea.
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