Chapter 663 The Truth of Steel and the Law of Genetics

"Carbon?"

Paul showed an exaggerated expression of curiosity.

Tennyson came to Paul and put a pile of papers on the table.

Paul quickly scanned it. There were dense words on it, which detailed the experimental process of the alchemist.

What moved him was that the shadow of laboratory science had already appeared in it, and new methods such as control variables and control experiments had taken shape in it.

"We have done countless experiments and finally confirmed that your suspicion of the so-called phlogiston is correct. In fact, there is no such thing as phlogiston escape when calcining metals. Instead, some substances in the air combine with metals, so the metal ash is heavier."

Tennyson pointed at the paper and introduced it to Paul paragraph by paragraph.

"Let's call this substance oxygen for now, but it is still not the key substance to turn iron into steel."

"So we focus on the auxiliary material when making steel-charcoal powder."

"In the process from iron to steel, it is something in the charcoal that changes the properties of the metal."

"So we continue the experiment..."

Tennyson spoke very fast, forcing Paul to listen attentively.

"...We studied other substances, such as coal and diamonds - which cost a lot of money, and used the high temperature generated by convex lenses to burn them."

"The gases produced in them produced the same phenomenon after being mixed with lime water..."

"...Finally, we concluded that these things, including charcoal, have a common element - a form that can no longer be decomposed into other substances. With your profound knowledge, it is easy to understand the meaning of this - or element, we call it carbon."

"Carbon is the key factor from iron to steel."

Tennyson threw away his previous restraint and waved his arms excitedly.

"Great Earl Graman, in the process we even overturned the phlogiston theory."

"This will surely go down in history, and it all started with your last doubt about phlogiston."

Paul stopped him from flattering, "If you can, please focus on the research itself."

"Oh, of course." Tennyson regained some composure, but his face was still flushed.

"To sum up, Earl Graman, as long as we control the carbon content in the metal, we can make steel of various properties."

Paul nodded with great satisfaction.

"With this theoretical guidance, we can find or summarize a large-scale, fast steel smelting process, instead of letting craftsmen swing a big hammer and hammer it hard."

"That's right, Earl Graman. We already have an iron factory, and we must be able to quickly build a steel factory on this basis."

Wells also joined the discussion, his eyes shining.

He also made great efforts in the experiment, but he didn't want to steal the limelight from his students.

"Tsk tsk, it's unbelievable that the exquisite and expensive diamonds are actually relatives of black coal...."

"Maybe in the future we can find a way to directly synthesize diamonds artificially, which will definitely make a fortune."

"It's exciting to think about it."

The three of them were very engaged in the discussion, and Marianna on the side was a little surprised.

Smelting steel on a large scale?

She had a scene of thousands of knights in plate armor galloping on horses in her mind.

But it was only a flash, she didn't believe her son could really find such a method.

Who knows if the two alchemists are talking nonsense - Marianna didn't understand much of what they said just now.

Hmm? The witch saw a picture that surprised her.

Paul's eyes were wet.

Just because of the nonsense of the two alchemists?

For a moment, she felt a little unhappy in her heart. Her son's eyes had never been wet after knowing her identity.

Snap!

What she didn't know was that Paul was moved not because of the conclusion itself, but the process of Tennyson and others to reach the conclusion.

The alchemists began to look for reasonable explanations step by step based on detailed data, meticulous logic and self-consistent calculations, instead of relying on the previous unrestrained thinking.

He slapped the table heavily and said excitedly: "Tennyson! Your family will be free again from today!"

Tennyson immediately stood up from the stool and knelt on one knee.

"Thank you, great Earl Graman!"

"You deserve it." Paul smiled and stretched out his hand, "Please sit down, let's listen to what surprise Dean Anderson has brought us."

"Dear lord, two gentlemen, it is an honor to introduce my discovery to you here."

Anderson also put out a stack of papers for Paul to read.

No mistakes in one sentence, one post, one content, one 6, one 9, one book, one bar!

When introducing, his tone was much softer.

"During this period of time, I have been studying plants and paying attention to the correlation between their traits between different generations."

"We know that children's appearance will always have some of their parents' characteristics. Cows, horses, and even various plants, the next generation will always be affected by the previous generation."

"I call this phenomenon heredity, and my research is to find out the laws of heredity."

"At the suggestion of Earl Graman, I chose peas as the experimental subject, and it turned out that this suggestion is very useful."

"After unremitting efforts, I came to the following conclusions."

"There is something I call genetic factors that control the characteristics of organisms. Genetic factors come from both parents and are divided into dominant and recessive..."

Anderson spoke in a calm tone, introducing his experimental process and the conclusions in detail.

Paul felt that there was nothing wrong with it. What Anderson said was basically in line with Mendel's set of ideas.

Distinguishing appearance, selecting purebreds, dominant law, segregation law, independent distribution law, etc.

Of course, if we consider the development of genetics later, there must be fallacies in this, but such a discovery in this world is already precious.

"I think these conclusions can explain why the world's organisms are so diverse. In addition, I have discovered a big problem that has always existed in human society."

Anderson's expression became serious.

"The union between brothers and sisters is not allowed by our social ethics. Now it seems that this is because our ancestors have discovered that the union between close relatives is likely to produce problematic offspring. I think it can be explained now. This is because the closer the blood relationship, the greater the possibility that they carry the same bad genetic factors. When two bad genetic factors are combined together, the part of the traits they control will inevitably show harmfulness."

"But there is a loophole in our ethics, that is, only the union between close relatives of the same paternal line is prohibited, regardless of the maternal side. Now it seems that genetic factors come from both parents, so not only cousins ​​cannot be united, but also direct unions between cousins ​​are also not allowed."

"I ask you to issue a decree immediately to prohibit this phenomenon and notify other parts of the kingdom of our new discovery."

Paul nodded heavily, "There is no need to consider this at all. I will definitely accept your suggestion. This is called eugenics. I will order the State Council to draft a new decree later."

He stood up, full of confidence.

"Anderson, your discovery is very important. Perhaps we can use the laws you have summarized to do something meaningful."

"For example, in the areas of crop cultivation and livestock reproduction..."

Especially when we have to fight against orcs.

I have almost forgotten a lot of knowledge about chemistry and biology, so I wrote this randomly. Please forgive me if there are any mistakes.