Don’t raise unruly people in extreme cold weather

Chapter 32 Airship Trial Flight

The first test flight of the airship technology demonstrator was not very grand. Purficott did not even invite anyone to watch the ceremony. After everything was ready, he filled the airship's airbag with inert helium and made it float. in the air.

It was obviously impossible for Purficott to use a hot air balloon to fly the airship, which would consume fuel and be unsafe.

After all, hot air balloons heat the air to obtain lift, which requires a continuous supply of heat to heat the air for a long time.

The calorific value of coal is obviously not suitable for this job, so only kerosene or other fuels with high calorific value can be used.

But in this way, there are hidden dangers in terms of safety. After all, kerosene burns much faster than coal, especially when kerosene may explode.

And another thing is that the knowledge from traveling through the previous world made Purficott clearly know that hot air balloons cannot cross the ocean or fly long distances.

In the original world, airships initially used hydrogen, a low-density gas, as a filling in the airbag to provide lift for the airship.

However, the overly active physical properties of hydrogen determine that it is a gas that can be easily ignited and can easily lead to serious consequences.

When airships were popular in the original world, there was a tragic Zeppelin accident caused by hydrogen being ignited, causing huge casualties.

Therefore, for Purficott, who knows this, it is impossible for her to ignore relevant safety issues and allow a "Perfect airship accident" to happen in the future.

In the original world, airships later used safer helium, which is an inert gas that is less reactive and relatively safer.

Of course, helium also has a huge disadvantage, that is, it is a rare gas. When scientists in the original world first discovered it, they discovered the existence of this substance through spectral analysis of the sun, and in the early days they always thought it was A substance that does not exist on Earth.

It was not until later that scientists discovered the same spectrum while studying uranium ore that they confirmed that helium was also present on the earth.

As for refining helium, that was all after the first industrial revolution.

But in this world, none of this is a problem.

For an alchemist, the difficult thing is never to create a certain substance, but how to discover it.

Because alchemy is not something created out of nothing, it still has to follow the most basic principles.

And the alchemist himself didn’t know what he wanted, so how could he possibly create it?

But for Purficott, this is simple, because she knows the existence of helium and understands what kind of substance it is. It is not difficult to obtain helium.

She only needs to design an alchemical ritual based on the existence characteristics of the helium element, and then she can prepare large amounts of helium through alchemy.

For her who holds the Philosopher's Stone, she doesn't even need to prepare the raw materials, she can just use the Philosopher's Stone instead. Of course, even if raw materials are needed, air itself is a substance and is heavier than helium, so there is no problem in preparing helium.

This is also one of the reasons why the technological development of this world is superior to that of the original world in some aspects. The existence of alchemy allows many things that originally required more scientific development and technological accumulation to appear in advance. This does objectively promote the development of science and technology. develop.

However, alchemy cannot achieve large-scale industrial production. After all, there are constraints, which allow some things to appear in advance, but cannot make them play their due role.

Because humans can only obtain a few research samples through alchemy, but cannot achieve large-scale industrial production.

Just like when humans first discovered aluminum in the original world, its value was even more expensive than gold, because humans at that time could not refine aluminum on a large scale.

So in the same way, it is true that alchemy can be used to create things that transcend the times, but the cost is astonishingly high.

The only one who can break this restriction is Perficott, because she has the highest miracle of alchemy called the Philosopher's Stone in her hand, which can break the rules of alchemy and make the impossible possible.

It is precisely because of this that Purficott was able to create something as outrageous as the maid doll in the era of the first industrial revolution!
  You must know that this is equivalent to the intelligent robot in the original world, and it is something that was impossible to create during the first industrial revolution.

But with the help of the Philosopher's Stone, Purficott broke through the shackles of materials, intelligence, structure and many other fields, and just created this miraculous creation, achieved small-scale mass production, and even made it The manufacturing cost has been reduced to a relatively low level.

You must know that the reason why the maid puppets can come to life is not magic, but a computer with a purely mechanical structure - a miniature difference engine - in their bodies to store and execute instructions.

With the experience of developing the maid puppet, it became very easy for Purficott to produce helium.

The only thing that can hinder her is the storage problem of helium, but this is still not a difficult problem to solve.

In short, after Purficott successfully built a huge helium storage tank, the airship technology demonstrator has completed all preparatory preparations and is ready to fly at any time.

When Purficott's specially designed coal scraper fills the prepared high-quality coal into the furnace of the micro steam engine, it drives the transmission shaft and gear box, driving the propeller at the tail of the airship to rotate to generate thrust to push the airship forward. At that time, even Purficott himself was so excited that it was difficult to control his emotions.

Even in the original world, such a flying experience was rare, not to mention that this airship was built by herself. The satisfaction brought by this sense of accomplishment made Purficott full of pride.

Looking at the ground passing under his feet, Purficott couldn't help but stand on the bow of the airship, opened his arms, let the air flow blow over his body, and wanted to shout something loudly.

"Miss, please pay attention to your safety!" Foster, who was a little embarrassed, wanted to try to reach out and hold Purfict, but he felt that he should not disturb his young lady's interest, so in the end he could only give a gentle reminder.

Faced with Foster's reminder, Purficott still took a step back, and then asked the loyal old butler: "Grandpa Afu, how close are you to becoming a knight? I am about to go to the New World, and I need you. The power to protect me."

"Please rest assured, Miss, I have taken the life potion you gave me, and now I only need the final breakthrough." Although he still looks like an octogenarian, Foster's physical fitness has returned to its peak. Let him have enough confidence to protect his little master.

(End of this chapter)