Combustion Element

Translator: Cinder Translations

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Tennyson Fedotov was intently watching the iron block that was burning. 

To study the properties of steel and iron, Tennyson had built a small furnace with a blower in his laboratory and had requested several craftsmen from the Ironworks Factory to assist him. For a week now, he had repeatedly gone through this step, hoping to gain some insight from the continuous melting of the metal. Tennyson's subjects of observation included various metals related to iron, including pig iron, wrought iron, and the steel mentioned by the lord.

Currently, the iron block he was focused on was gradually turning red and softening under the intense heat, eventually melting into a pool of fiery red liquid.

Tennyson had tested before that if molten iron was stirred continuously, the weight would decrease slightly after it re-solidified, and the re-solidified iron had transformed into what blacksmiths referred to as wrought iron, making it softer. Tennyson deduced that the weight reduction indicated something must have been separated during the stirring process, most likely escaping into the air, and this substance was likely the key element causing the iron to change from hard to soft.

In fact, Tennyson learned from his conversations with blacksmiths that the process of stirring molten iron and changing its properties upon re-solidification was referred to as "stir-frying steel" in their jargon. However, compared to the method of folding pig iron and wrought iron together and hammering it into steel, "stir-frying steel" was a much more luck-based endeavor. In most cases, the molten iron from pig iron would directly transform into wrought iron after being stirred, rather than the desired steel. Thus, this method was not commonly used.

The blacksmiths' words inspired Tennyson. Was this series of changes caused by the varying content of that key substance in the iron? Stirring the molten iron led to a weight decrease, and pig iron turned into wrought iron, indicating that this substance was more abundant in pig iron and less so in wrought iron. But when mixing pig iron and wrought iron, it turned into steel, meaning that this substance was evenly distributed between the pig iron and wrought iron, leading to a lower content in the new iron form compared to pig iron and a higher content compared to wrought iron.

Of course, it was also possible that the change in the properties of iron was not caused by just one substance, or that it wasn't solely due to the action of a single element.

"Thirty-fifth time..." Tennyson sighed and picked up his pen and paper to record this observation. Although most of the notes were repetitive, he still made a point to jot them down.

After finishing his notes, Tennyson's stomach grumbled. He walked out of the experimental area, intending to go to the cafeteria at Weis Academy to fill his belly. Each laboratory and discipline at Weis Academy had its own customary "territory" in the cafeteria. The chemistry students' territory was located in the southeast corner of the main hall, and during meal times, various internal terminologies from their discussions could be heard emanating from that area. Tennyson grabbed his meal and joined the circle of teachers and students from the chemistry department, where a large crowd had already gathered, stuffing their mouths while discussing excitedly.

"Hey! Tennyson, over here!"

Hoffman, another leader of the chemistry lab, waved his hand to greet him. Tennyson sat down at a nearby table. "So, Professor Wells isn't here yet?"

"Oh, you know how he is. Once he gets into an experiment, he forgets everything," Hoffman laughed. "I bet he won't eat lunch again today."

Sighing, Tennyson shook his head. Professor Wells and a few other classmates were conducting experiments on steel. They would meet daily to share their insights and sometimes gather to repeat experiments that might yield new discoveries.

Everyone was working hard to support each other, and thinking of this brought a wave of emotion to Tennyson's heart.

"How's your research going?" Hoffman asked with genuine concern, knowing that Tennyson's research was crucial to the Fedotov family's fortune and life.

Hoffman himself was leading a chemistry group on another important task assigned by Earl Paul Grayman—research on producing pesticides from sulfuric acid. He was quite busy, so he hadn't participated in the steel research but would occasionally check in on the progress during his free time.

Tennyson was just popping a piece of tofu into his mouth, which was said to be an invention of Earl Grayman, who was truly a versatile inventor.

Upon hearing the professor's question, he replied, "Professor Hoffman, I believe that the increase or decrease of a certain substance in steel leads to changes in its properties."

"Do you have any ideas?"

"My current thought is to find a way to separate the various elements in steel, then increase or decrease them one by one to see what effects they each have."

Hoffman nodded. "That's a prudent approach, but if it's a combined effect of multiple elements, finding the final answer will still be quite challenging."

"Then there's no choice but to arrange and combine various elements, exhausting all possibilities."

"Well, I wish you success in your experiments."

Suddenly, a young man with red hair, who had been focused on his meal, chimed in, "Tennyson, Professor Hoffman, I actually have a hypothesis."

Hoffman looked at him. "Oh, Webster, do you have any thoughts?" This Webster was a classmate of Tennyson, also researching steel.

Webster replied, "The thing that Tennyson suspects is causing the change in iron properties should be combustion elements."

"Combustion elements?" "Yes, combustion elements."

Webster spoke confidently: "Recently, I've been collecting various methods of steel smelting and forging, visiting various blacksmith shops in Alden Town and its surroundings."

"Oh, did you find anything?"

"Yes, just before I came back to eat, I found a clue. Did you know? Some blacksmiths use charcoal powder, coal smoke, and wood ash when making steel. They wrap these mixtures around the iron bar while keeping it in a red-hot state, and the iron bar can then transform into steel."

Tennyson asked in surprise, "Is that... really true?"

"Absolutely, haha! This is a secret that some blacksmiths don't share; I had to go through quite a bit of trouble to find it out." Webster proudly raised his head. "Continuing on, as you all know, the charcoal powder and coal smoke in the mixture are composed of combustion elements, so I say combustion elements might be the key factor leading to the change in iron properties."

Suddenly, Tennyson rushed over and hugged Webster, giving him a hearty kiss. "Thank you, dear Webster."

"Haha, you're welcome, it's what I should do, um... can you let go of me first?" Webster was startled by his enthusiasm and wiped the saliva off his face with a napkin.

Tennyson said eagerly, "Let's conduct an experiment based on this new clue as soon as we finish eating."

Webster nodded vigorously. "Okay, Tennyson, just let me go first."

(End of the Chapter)

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