Chapter 162 Progress in Chemistry

Mrs. Lavoisier immediately smiled and nodded: "Your Highness, I am willing to do my part. If you need it."

Joseph did not expect Lavoisier to admire his wife so highly. Although he was a little surprised, he still said gratefully: "It's great that you can help."

Lavoisier continued: "Your Highness, although Mariana has never gone to college, you can definitely trust her experimental operation skills. In fact, she has been managing my laboratory for these years.

"I will make experimental plans every week. In terms of specific experimental operations, her efficiency is even higher than mine."

After Lavoisier's explanation, Joseph learned that Lavoisier's wife had been studying chemical experiments with him after marrying him, and became his de facto assistant. It can be said that her indelible contribution was among Lavoisier's experimental achievements.

Joseph thanked the Lavoisiers again, and then chatted with them.

While talking, Joseph suddenly caught a glimpse of a strange oil painting hanging on the wall of Lavoisier's house. It had a yellow background and a neat bunch of strange symbols painted on it - two triangles stacked on top of each other, with a "trident" ” circles, glowing “suns” and so on – it looks like a wizard’s potion recipe.

Lavoisier followed his eyes and immediately showed a proud smile: "Your Highness, that is the table of elements I made. I have discovered 33 elements. Countless objects in the world are all made of these little things. Made up of!

"Look, that one is hydrogen, that one is oxygen, and this one is gold..."

Seeing Joseph's eyes stiffen, he hurriedly explained: "Oh, the so-called elements are simple substances that cannot be decomposed by any method in terms of chemical concepts."

"Ah, thank you for your explanation." Joseph then reacted.

Of course, it was not that he did not understand what elements were, but he was surprised that Lavoisier and his contemporaries chemists actually conducted a large number of fruitful researches based on this "wizard's spell"-like elemental symbol.

He suddenly felt that he might be able to help Lavoisier improve the efficiency of his research, which might allow him to devote more time to the trial production of mercury fulminate.

He considered it for a moment, pointed to the table of elements on the wall, and asked, "Mr. Lavoisier, does the way these symbols are drawn have any special meaning?"

Lavoisier was stunned for a moment, then shook his head: "There is nothing special. Your Highness, in fact, most of them are painted according to traditional habits."

What he calls "traditional habits" is actually alchemy. In the early days of research on chemical elements, many concepts even came from alchemy, such as "phlogiston", which was falsified by Lavoisier, and the "wind element". Therefore, it is very logical to directly use the elemental symbols from the alchemical era.

Joseph looked thoughtful and said: "If there is no special meaning, why draw them so complicatedly?

"It might be much more convenient if we directly use Latin letters to represent elements. Ah, do you have paper and pen here?"

Lavoisier hurriedly gestured toward the study: "Over there, Your Highness."

Joseph followed him to the study room on the second floor, picked up a pen and wrote a "C" and an "O" on the paper: "For example, these represent carbon and oxygen respectively.

"So, carbon dioxide..."

He recalled the chemistry knowledge he had learned in the 18th century. Today's carbon dioxide seems to be called carbonic acid, so he changed his words: "Then carbonic acid can be written like this."

He immediately wrote "CO2" and added some symbols between the letters to become "C+2O= CO2".

Lavoisier's eyes widened immediately: "You, your way of writing the reaction process... is indeed very clear and concise!"

He glanced at the "Wizard's Spell" he had written on the manuscript next to him, and couldn't hide his excitement: "I dare say that if you teach students according to your writing method, the time they spend in each class will be reduced by half!"

Joseph added: "We can use the first letter of the Latin word for each element as the symbol of the element. If there are repetitions, use the first two letters. This not only makes the writing concise, but also makes it easier to remember."

"That's right! Your suggestion is so creative!"

Lavoisier took out a piece of paper and quickly wrote 33 letters on it. It took less than 20 seconds. He immediately seemed more excited: "Your Highness, you are simply a genius... Oh, no, your mind must be... Kissed by God!

"If we write it according to the previous way, we can't even finish half of it in such a short time, and it is far less clear than the letters, especially when used to express the reaction process. This will definitely greatly improve the efficiency of chemical research! Your Highness, may I ask? Will I use this writing method in my "Basic Discussion of Chemistry"?"

"Of course." Joseph proposed alphabetizing element symbols in order to complete "Basic Discussion of Chemistry" faster.

Seeing that Lavoisier was already immersed in sorting out new symbols, he was about to say goodbye and leave, but when he turned around, he caught a glimpse of a document on the corner of the table - "Proposals on Length Standards".

He casually picked up the three-page document and found that it was written by Lavoisier and the mathematician Monge to the French Academy of Sciences. The content is to recommend the use of "meter" as the standard unit of length and urge the Academy of Sciences to establish a "standards committee" as soon as possible.

Only then did Joseph remember that Lavoisier seemed to be a core member of the future "Standards Committee".

I am trying to promote the unification of measurement standards in France, and the most suitable person to preside over this matter is right in front of me!

Lavoisier looked up and saw the Dauphin reading his "Proposal", and explained: "Your Highness, the current use of measurement units in academia is very confusing. This has brought a great negative impact to everyone's research. For example, Scholars in Paris and Marseilles who want to discuss a problem have to waste half an hour deciding what method of measurement to use.”

Joseph nodded: "You are right! And not only in academia, but also in actual production, the lack of unified measurement standards will also cause many problems."

He put the document back on the table, looked at Lavoisier and said: "I heard that the preparations for the 'Standards Committee' of the Academy of Sciences are very slow. If necessary, I may be able to promote this matter.

"For example, I will solve the funding problem and the royal family will form a committee."

"That's great!" Lavoisier was delighted. He had long been fed up with the dilly-dallying of the Academy of Sciences, and the reputation of the Dauphin as young and capable had long spread throughout Paris. If the Dauphin could preside over this matter, France would surely soon have its own standard length unit.

"You have brought a ray of hope to French academia!"

Joseph continued: "Moreover, I hope to not only establish units of length, but also mass, temperature, heat, etc., and use this opportunity to unify all their units."