Real gold is not afraid of fire. China's famous scholar "Good Luck Biography" said in the eighth time: "Who knows that real gold is not afraid of fire, ceremony is ceremony, affection is affection, and there is no heart at all." Hao Ran's Sunny Days chapter 1 15: "Dark clouds can't cover the sun, and real gold is not afraid of fire. Dongshanwu will always be the sun in the sky and the world of our people forever! " This idiom is used to mean that real gold is not afraid of fire, which means that things or people can stand any test.
The meaning of idioms is straightforward, and there is also a saying among ordinary people that "real gold is not afraid of stove fire". However, why do you say "real gold is not afraid of fire"? What kind of truth is contained in this? Facts have proved that gold has always been a valuable heavy metal and used as a currency. It has been found that gold can be distinguished from real gold by burning. Because the chemical properties of gold are very stable, it does not react with oxygen in the air when burning in the air, while the components of fake gold are medicinal gold and copper alloy (Zn, Cu), while brass and medicinal gold are more active than gold (Au), and it is easy to generate black copper oxide (CuO) and gray zinc oxide (ZnO) when burning in the air (high temperature). However, the melting point of gold is high, reaching 1063℃, and it will not melt in general flame. So if you burn it at high temperature, you can tell the true and false gold.
Historically, it has always been the pursuit of people, especially the ruling class, to seek the secret recipe of immortality. In ancient China, a special alchemy-alchemy was produced. Alchemy, also known as alchemy, alchemy, alchemy, Atractylodes macrocephala. Its content is very complicated, and its central goal is to make a magic pill that can make people "live forever" and turn ordinary metals such as copper and iron into gold and silver with a little gold. Because there was a saying of "becoming immortal" in ancient China, alchemy was first born in China. Alchemists believe that a person's body can achieve eternal life with the help of some magical medicine. "Dan" originally refers to cinnabar (that is, mercury sulfide), and later refers to all kinds of drugs considered as "longevity medicine" or "golden medicine"
Immortality is wishful thinking, of course, but in the process of alchemy, alchemists gradually accumulated some experience, and alchemy can be said to be the pioneer of ancient chemistry in China.
During the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, a hundred schools of thought contended and production reached its peak. The tripod is an instrument for cooking broth and food, but at this time people hope that something else can be refined in the tripod. Legend has it that Qin Mugong's son-in-law Shaw History is an alchemist in the palace. He once made a "flying snow pill" and rubbed it on Qin Mugong's daughter's face (actually lead powder). He may be regarded as the earliest chemist.
Because all kinds of metal minerals are mined from soil, there is a saying that gold is native in the theory of five elements. So there was an assumption that minerals in soil would change with time. For example, it is thought that orpiment will become realgar after a thousand years, and realgar will become gold after a thousand years. Cinnabar turns blue in 200 years, lead in 300 years, silver in 200 years and gold in 200 years. Can we speed up this change? At this time, the idea of seizing the power of heaven and earth came into being in an attempt to achieve "a thousand years of gas, one day is enough, the treasure of mountains and rivers, seven days of work." So I put all kinds of drugs in a tripod, sealed and heated, thinking that I could refine precious gold and silver, so alchemy sprouted at the end of the Warring States period. During the Hanwu period of the Qin Dynasty, with the support of the supreme ruler, alchemy was greatly developed. At this time, not only precious gold and silver were made from base metals such as copper and iron, but also the elixir of life was cultivated for the rulers. They compare people with their bodies and think that gold and jade are immortal, so it is best to give people the essence of gold and jade, so they have the theory that "those who give gold live as long as gold, and those who give jade live as long as jade". At this time, the alchemist hopes to extract a mysterious substance called "golden liquid", which can make people live forever after eating it, and can be turned into gold by cooperating with ordinary substances.
Liu An, the king of Huainan in the Western Han Dynasty, was the first one who was keen on alchemy. He gathered more than 1000 alchemists to practice alchemy and perform special functions in his palace, and later wrote Huainanzi, which mentioned drugs such as mercury, cinnabar and realgar. By the end of the Western Han Dynasty, Wang Mang still liked immortal thoughts and alchemy. In addition, Taoism is also related to alchemy, and Zhang Ling, the founder of Taoism, is said to be proficient in this technology.
This period is the period when alchemy rose. Although real gold has not been refined, it has been made into all kinds of fake gold that look like yellow and silver. Many chemical reactions have been discovered, mainly among lead, mercury, sulfur and arsenic, and various alchemy tools and methods for refining drugs have been created.
By the Eastern Han Dynasty, Wei Boyang had compiled an alchemy work "The Magic Device", which was recognized as the oldest existing alchemy work in the world (the oldest existing alchemy work abroad is the manuscript of Saint Kyle, which is a transcript of the 0/0 century AD/KLOC). In fact, Shen Tong Qi is a theoretical work summarized by Wei Boyang after studying and summarizing a large number of previous alchemy books, Fire Record 600. He divided substances into yin and yang, and proposed that yin and yang must cooperate to produce new substances, and similar substances would not be combined. He also pointed out that if "drugs are not the same species, the dosage is uneven, and the discipline is lost", it is "flying turtles and dancing snakes, the more perverse they are", which is actually the explosion in the process of alchemy (this is the prelude to the alchemist's invention of gunpowder).
Wei Boyang recorded the knowledge of the combination and decomposition of lead, mercury and sulfur in his book. But Wei Boyang has a big shortcoming, that is, all kinds of argots are used in the book. For example, "prostitutes on the river are the most spiritual and fly as soon as they catch fire." If you don't see the dust, the ghost hides the dragon. I don't know what exists, but I will control it and take the yellow bud as the root. " In fact, prostitutes on the river are mercury, which will evaporate (fly) and disappear when heated. In order to fix mercury, yellow buds must be added, and yellow buds are sulfur. At this time, red mercury sulfide will be generated after heating. "If you look white, you will make it red." This magical device is the earliest theoretical work of alchemy in the world, from which we can see that at that time, fire alchemy had accumulated a lot of experience and knowledge.
The Inner Chapter of Bao Puzi, written by Ge Hong, an alchemist in Jin Dynasty, made a detailed record and summary of alchemy since Han and Jin Dynasties. His alchemy is divided into three interrelated parts:
Refine the panacea and think it is "the pole of the fairy road."
Collect and process longevity drugs. These drugs, including minerals, animal and plant drugs, are considered to have the functions of prolonging life, nourishing the body and eliminating diseases.
Huadian gold and silver company. Using common metals such as copper and iron to change into gold and silver, in fact, all kinds of alloys with similar appearance to gold and silver are made by chemical methods.
In the Tang Dynasty, almost every generation of emperors liked alchemy. At this time, China's alchemy reached its peak, and many alchemy works had more practical contents, which also spread to Arab countries and promoted the development of Arab alchemy. Arabic alchemy was later introduced to Europe, and after several evolutions, it finally formed an important category of modern science-chemistry.
Modern chemistry originated from Arabic alchemy. According to Professor Cao's textual research, this is the most important goal in China's alchemy-golden liquid. Jinye's Quanzhou language is Jinya language, and Quanzhou is the most prosperous trading port in the Tang Dynasty. And Geber (? ~ 780) once wrote an alchemy book called Mercury in the East.
It is of great scientific significance to remove the superstitious elements in ancient alchemy. First of all, I learned a lot about metals and nonmetals and their properties. For example, sulfur, mercury, lead and other elements have been thoroughly studied, purified and identified by chemical methods. The properties of metal and nonmetal elements are also comprehensively discussed in the works written by Arabs, such as Seventy Books and Secret Books.
Secondly, we know many compounds and their reactions. For example, the cheats written by alchemist Lazi divide the known substances into three categories: metal, nonmetal and mineral. At that time, people were able to understand hundreds of compounds such as iron ore, magnesium nitride, borax, caustic soda, plant ash, salt and their properties, which also had a certain relationship with gold-smelting activities. For another example, Ge Hong, an alchemist in China, can observe that lead is oxidized into lead oxide, lead tetroxide and lead dioxide under different conditions. It is particularly worth mentioning that alchemists in western Europe discovered important compounds such as sulfuric acid, hydrochloric acid, sodium carbonate and sodium hydroxide in the later period.
Thirdly, in the aspect of experimental technology, we not only invented heaters, distillation bottles, crucibles and other instruments, but also mastered various experimental operation technologies such as evaporation, filtration and distillation. In particular, the establishment of material purification technology plays an important role in studying the properties of materials.
However, due to political purposes and social ideology, warlocks always pursue immortality and turn the stone into gold as their ultimate goal. Did not get rid of the shackles of superstition, failed to advance on the road of science, and finally scientific chemistry was not born.
Heidegger said well that life is just a process, in which the dying find a place to live in this world. No one can occupy a beautiful space forever, and immortality has always been a myth. So, what can we do on the journey of death? Don't be afraid, after all-real gold is not afraid of fire, is it?