376 Extra Scoops
Xue Sifu didn’t know that. He was busy weighing the saltpeter and putting it aside.
As for Xue Yifu, he took a big pot and a small pot. He used the same method as before, putting the small pot into the large pot. The large pot was 80% filled with river water, while the small pot was filled with well water, but the water level was lower than the large pot.
Seeing that Xue Yifu was done, Xue Sifu immediately poured the saltpeter into the large pot.
The saltpeter began to melt quickly in the water again, but it did not freeze at a speed visible to the naked eye like just now. Moreover, it was almost completely melted, but there was no sign of freezing.
Jiang Yue signaled Xue Yan to speak.
“Sifu, it’s probably because there’s not enough saltpeter. Let’s try and add more saltpeter.” Xue Yan said hurriedly.
Xue Sifu wasn’t st*pid, he noticed it too and was ready to add saltpeter. Now that Xue Yan asked, he became even more confident with his idea and added a big scoop of saltpeter.
Another small scoop of saltpeter was poured down.
Then another big scoop of saltpeter.
After five scoops, the small pot finally froze. Xue Sifu heaved a sigh of relief and said, “A big scoop is about one point eight kilograms, so five big scoops are seven point two kilograms. Plus the twelve kilograms that were added at the beginning, it should be about twenty-one kilograms to freeze it. Wait but why is there saltpeter on the surface? Was it too much? When I added the fourth scoop just now, it seemed like it was only beginning to show signs of freezing…”
“Logically speaking, even if the saltpeter doesn’t melt, it will sink to the bottom if too much of it is added. It’s just like how sugar water will sink to the bottom if too much sugar is added to it. There’s always little at the bottom, but the reason why there’s a little bit of saltpeter on the ice seems to be that after it freezes, more saltpeter will slowly come out from the top. Is it possible that once it freezes, a part of the melted saltpeter will come out and stay on the ice?” Jiang Yue said.
“Yeah!” Xue Sifu came to a realization. “It’s like the first pot just now!”
“I guess ice made by saltpeter will have this characteristic,” Xue Yan said.
“It should be!” Xue Sifu immediately agreed.
Liu Guixia, Xue Yifu, and the others agreed and expressed that it should be the case.
After understanding this, the next step was simple.
Xue Sifu immediately took charge, “So the saltpeter below actually didn’t melt?”
Jiang Yue and Xue Yan looked at each other and nodded, “Should be true.”
Then, he dug out the unmelted saltpeter, which weighed about 1.2 kilograms. Xue Sifu deduced, “This means that it should only take about twenty kilograms of saltpeter to make ice.”
“I see. There’s also the size of the pots,” Jiang Yue said.
Xue Sifu also thought so, so he quickly said to Xue Yifu, “Yifu, in the future, you’ll have to make big pots and small pots according to this size.”
“Okay.” Xue Yifu immediately agreed. He was very happy to be able to contribute to the family. This was also something he liked to do, and he was elated.
Liu Guixia smiled. “Then let’s try another twenty kilograms. If it’s true, then it’s great. Sixty kilograms can make three pots of ice at the same time.”
“That’s right, that’s right, ” Yu Hongyan said with a smile. “It’s been very hot recently, and the ice in the first pot has melted a little. Yifu’s crafting skills are getting better and better. The two big pots are exactly the same size, and the two small pots are exactly the same size!”
Xue Yifu’s smile widened.
In the beginning, the ice in the big pot and the small pot melted a little. The ice in the big pot had been chiseled, so it had melted more. Only the surface of the ice in the small pot had melted a little.