Also called gunpowder. Combustion, explosion and release of chemicals. As one of four great inventions of ancient china. Made of saltpeter, sulfur, charcoal or other combustible substances, it burns or explodes quickly after being ignited. Originated from alchemy.
Ge Hong, an alchemist in the Eastern Jin Dynasty, quoted saltpeter, realgar and mysterious intestines as dried pigs in Bao Puzi. ), the record of turpentine refining, there have been three records of turpentine refining and burning in the Tang Dynasty.
As early as the middle Tang Dynasty, China had already used gunpowder in the military field. Wind and fire thunder, Lei Zhen, lightning thunder, bamboo firearms, spears and bronze guns, etc.
The formula of black powder? Nitrate, sulfur and carbon? Nitrite, Disulfonate and Tricarboxylic Acid? ▲。
Jason Wu TongJian in Song Dynasty recorded the formula of gunpowder. One of the recipes for making fireballs is: Jinzhou Sulfur 14 Liang, Wohuang 72 Liang, Glauber's salt 2.5 Jin, Pill 12 Liang, Dry Paint 12 Liang, 12 Liang, Dingfen 12 Liang and Zhuru/Kloc-2 Liang.
At the initial stage, its preparation method is as follows: Jinzhou sulfur, lying yellow, co-ramming, grinding with Luo, arsenic, sizing, co-grinding, dry paint ramming into powder, bamboo shavings and hemp shavings slightly frying into powder, yellow wax, turpentine, clear oil, tung oil and concentrated oil decocting into paste, adding the powder into the powder, and wrapping with paper and hemp. More guns are used. Song, Jin, Yuan, Ming and Qing dynasties constantly improved the gunpowder formula to make it more reasonable. The invention of gunpowder greatly changed the form of war, and it was introduced into the Arab, European and western worlds, which had a great influence on the course of world history. After the invention of new gunpowder such as smokeless gunpowder, black gunpowder gradually replaced it.
The Invention and Spread of Block Printing
After primitive printing, China first invented block printing in the early Tang Dynasty. Nowadays, the widely circulated block printing method is very similar to rubbing, and block printing is almost the reverse process of rubbing. In any case, it was China's initiative to enlarge the seal to the size of a book and use it to copy a large number of words and pictures.
Engraving printing technology spreads with time. 12~ 13 century, with the convergence of the Mongolian Empire and the Crusade, there was close communication between Europe and Asia, and the Crusade brought oriental printed matter back to Europe, which gave birth to the block printing industry in Europe.
It was not until14th century and the beginning of15th century that Europe began to produce its own woodcut prints, and printed cards, books, portraits and textbooks with wooden boards. The earliest block printing in Europe is the statue of St. Christopher printed by 1423. /kloc-In the middle of 0/5th century, block printing spread all over Europe.
Generally speaking, academic? Printing was introduced into Europe? Engraving printing in this period originated in China and spread to Europe through Mongolian Arabia and Crusaders. This is a clear and indisputable history. First, travelers recorded distant printing, then the physical records of foreign printed matter, and finally local printing workshops appeared, and then spread to the whole of Europe.
Wooden movable type printing in China
In the past, China's contribution to printing focused on movable type printing, rather than block printing, which had a greater impact on actual communication.
China's movable type printing was invented in Bi Sheng's clay type or pottery type in the Northern Song Dynasty.
The wooden movable type of Wang Zhen in the Yuan Dynasty was recorded in the Southern Song Dynasty.
The development of movable type printing in China is relatively slow. One of the reasons is that there are many kinds of Chinese characters and their glyphs are complex. Non-readers are not qualified to be typesetters, while engravers can be illiterate and engrave by ink. The second reason is that the processing accuracy and durability of pottery type and wood type on movable type materials are difficult to meet the printing requirements, while the casting preservation of metal type is guaranteed. The ink used in ancient China is made of water and glue, which is acceptable for water-absorbing wood type, but it is always difficult to hang ink evenly for metal type.
Due to two technical reasons, movable type and printing have been in a small-scale experimental state in ancient China. There has never been an example of movable type printing of official books in the Ming Dynasty. The Collection of Ancient and Modern Books in Yongzheng period of Qing Dynasty was printed with copper movable type at one time, and then changed to wood movable type when printing the series of "Five Ying Dian Ju Zhen Edition" in Qianlong period. Even in the late Qing dynasty, there were still a large number of flexible newspapers, which were eventually defeated by the lead printing and lithographs imported from the west, instead of the traditional wooden movable type and metal movable type.
compass
First, Sina
As early as 2000 years ago in the Han Dynasty (206 BC-220 AD), skilled craftsmen polished and chiseled magnets into spoon shapes, put them on a mirror-smooth chassis made of bronze, and then cast directional carvings. When the magnetic spoon stops rotating on the chassis, the handle of the spoon guides and the mouth of the spoon points north. This is the earliest musical instrument in the world invented by our ancestors, called Sina.
Second, the ancient compass
Later, the ancients made an ancient compass based on Sina. The compass at this time is very similar to the compass used now. It has a magnetic needle pointing in the direction and a dial showing the direction. Installing a compass on a ship can guide people to sail.
Third, guide blind fish.
About the early years of the Northern Song Dynasty, due to the needs of military affairs and navigation, as well as the development of materials and technology, artificial magnetic disks, needles and artificial magnetization were used to make guide fish, which was more advanced than Sina in performance and use.
Fourth, the compass.
Shortly after the invention of the guide fish, a compass with more significance, simpler manufacturing method, more convenient use and wider use was invented. Shen Kuo, a famous politician and scientist in the Northern Song Dynasty, recorded for the first time in the book Meng Qian Bi Tan (A.D. 1086) that grinding an iron needle with a natural magnet can make it point to the south. It is also described that the compass is not a complete guide, but slightly to the east. This is the phenomenon of magnetic declination.
Compass is the result of China ancient working people's understanding of magnet magnetism in long-term practice. As one of four great inventions of ancient china, its invention has played an inestimable role in the development of human science, technology and civilization. In ancient China, the compass was first used for rituals, etiquette, military affairs and divination, and to determine the orientation when looking at geomantic omen.
The compass was introduced to Europe by Arabs, which provided technical support for Columbus' discovery of America and Magellan's voyage around the world, promoted ocean navigation and ushered in the era of great geographical discovery.
make paper
About 3,500 years ago, in the Shang Dynasty, China had written characters carved on tortoise shells and animal bones, called Oracle Bone Inscriptions. In the Spring and Autumn Period, tortoise shells and animal bones were replaced by bamboo chips and sawdust, which were called bamboo slips and wooden slips. Oracle Bone Inscriptions and bamboo slips are very heavy. During the Warring States Period, Hui Shi, a thinker, liked reading. Every time he goes out to study, he is followed by five carts full of bamboo slips, so there is an allusion to learning to be rich and having five cars. In the Western Han Dynasty, among the court nobles, they wrote with silk or cotton paper. Silk is the general name of silk. Writing on silk is easy. It is not only much more than bamboo slips, but also can be painted on them, but it is expensive and can only be used by a few royal nobles.
People all know that Cai Lun makes paper. In fact, papermaking was invented in China before Cai Lun made paper on a large scale in the Eastern Han Dynasty. Many ancient pieces of paper from the Western Han Dynasty unearthed in China in the 20th century can prove this point. This is not to deny Cai Lun's contribution to papermaking, but to say that Cai Lun's papermaking is not a sudden invention, but a process of technology accumulation. Plant fiber paper unearthed in the Western Han Dynasty is the predecessor of Cai Lun papermaking. Cai Lun has expanded the range of raw materials for papermaking, and rags, fishing nets, bark and hemp heads can all be used for papermaking, among which bark papermaking is his invention. His papermaking technology is more sophisticated. When papermaking came to him, he got rid of his position as a textile vassal? By-products discarded after textile were used to make paper, and Cai Lun developed papermaking into an independent process.
Joseph Needham, a British historian of science and technology, said: During the 3rd century A.D. to13rd century, China maintained a level of scientific knowledge that the West could not reach. ? China's scientific inventions and discoveries? Often far beyond contemporary Europe, especially before15th century? .