The Sage of Einar

Chapter 262: An explosive combination

In a room in the great hall adapted as a small laboratory, Einar was proudly staring at the glycerin he had made using sugar obtained from beets.

Along with some vinegar, although it was natural glycerin, it worked perfectly to demonstrate to captive Vikings, as it was combined with alcohol to form a very primitive antibacterial gel.

But this was only the beginning, as Einar had managed to create sulfuric acid a few weeks ago, which is a strategic material that is easy to produce.

The only thing he did was burn sulfur in a container until it was consumed, due to the danger from the smoke.

This had been done abroad, and by slaves who had received training from Einar.

After the sulfur was completely consumed, the slaves emptied it into a large glass container that had a small platform so that the black sulfur would remain in that place.

At the bottom of the glass container there was distilled water, so after this a lid was placed and they waited for the water and the sulfur vapor to work their magic.

In just a few minutes, the water had turned into a completely dangerous but necessary sulfuric acid.

Although the acid production was small, Einar could proudly stare at the jars filled with sulfuric acid.

But having sulfuric acid was only the beginning, as he had to get something even more important which was saltpeter.

Due to the weather conditions, producing saltpeter should be impossible, so Einar used round glass containers which were filled with poop and ashes.

They were then placed in a controlled environment, which was a heated house so that the saltpeter could form.

Urine was placed in the containers so that the reaction could work, due to this in just two weeks he was able to obtain the first amount of saltpeter.

Although he was tempted to produce gunpowder, he knew that it would be a useless endeavor as production was very low, almost 100 kilograms of material and urine.

He only obtained 1 kilogram of saltpeter, which would not be enough to make gunpowder, but Einar at this time did not plan to create gunpowder.

But a substance whose value was much higher, which was nitric acid.

As a military engineer, he had received classes on how to make these materials, as many explosives used them.

Among them the most important and the one that would mark a before and after in the tribe’s history as it would facilitate the construction of roads and the getting of resources from the mines.

But first he had to make the nitric acid, so he put on his leather gloves. Although in the event of an accident they would be almost completely useless, it was better than having skin without protection.

In addition, the gloves had small steel plates to provide a more complete protection, but without hindering the movement of the hand.

Unlike sulfuric acid, which created a dangerous gas, the process for obtaining nitric acid was more stable as a distillation flask was used.

In any case, it had on its side an iron tray with water to make a water bath in the glass container where the combination of sulfuric acid with saltpeter would take place.

The first thing Einar did was place two measures of purified saltpeter in the glass container. The process to purify the saltpeter was quite simple.

Like sea salt, it was placed in water and dissolved in this way, only the water was strained, leaving behind impurities. Later it was left to dry and in this way the saltpeter was purified.

Although to ensure high purity, Einar repeated the process twice.

After placing the saltpeter, he took a measure of 98% high purity sulfuric acid and emptied it into the glass container so that nitric acid began to be created.

Due to some impurities that had not been eliminated from the saltpeter, a foam began to be created, so with the iron tray that had water.

A water bath process began so that the foam did not get out of control. With great care, it was then that I connect the glass container to the distillation tube.

Using a alcohol candle, he heated the glass container so that the two substances will continue the process of creating nitric acid.

In a few minutes, all the saltpeter had been completely consumed and a golden liquid could be seen in the other container below the distillation tube.

“At last a high quality nitric acid, it is a pity that I do not have a measuring scale to know the milliliters that I produced but I do remember my classes.

It should be 30 or 40 milliliters of nitric acid, very little but enough to be able to create an even more dangerous substance. “

After pouring the nitric acid into a glass bottle, Einar closed the wooden windows and took a bottle with sulfuric acid and another with nitric acid.

He checked them very well to see if they had no leaks, and later placed them in a cooler that contained snow from the mountain. In that same place, he put a glass cup with water.

That would be his measurement to know if the temperature had already reached 0 degrees Celsius because the acids needed to be at that temperature.

After this, he sat down and began to clean his work area, as he had to wait until the acids were cold.

After finishing and even having a meal with the family, he returned to his laboratory and checked the glass of water that was already frozen, so a smile formed on his face.

Taking out the two bottles with acids, he placed them on the table and later, using a pipette and a beaker, he placed the sulfuric acid.

When finished, he placed the nitric acid, which was to a lesser extent than the sulfuric acid.

To carry out the experiment, he used all the nitric acid, although it would be completely dangerous because with that amount of acid at least 50 to 150 grams of nitroglycerin would be produced.

Einar, who already had experience due to military school, was not afraid, because he would not do something dangerous that would put his family at risk.

After placing the acids, he took the beaker to the cooler, in the same way he placed a glass of water to measure the temperature.

After a while he took out the beaker, which was quite cold, so he started putting glycerin into the mixture.

He did this drop by drop to avoid an accident, when he wiped the sweat off his forehead and began to mix the entire contents of the beaker.

When he finished mixing the contents, he carefully put the mixture in the cooler to cool it down again.

Unlike the previous times, it allowed 3 hours to pass until it was at the coldest possible temperature.

When he pulled out the beaker there was a milky substance in it, so he knew the mixing had been a success.

So he empty distilled water into the beaker and let the mixture settle so that the nitroglycerin will separate from the acids.

After a while the bottom of the flask filled with a white liquid with a high density, as it looked like oil.

For the next step, Einar used the pipette to remove the acid residue to leave only the nitroglycerin, which was not dangerous because it was at a low temperature.

When he only left the nitroglycerin, he used distilled water and baking soda to neutralize the high pH of the nitroglycerin.

After this, he did the same as with the acid residue, so with a pipette he removed the water, leaving only the nitroglycerin, which immediately agreed with sand of diatomite.

A rock formed by seaweed fossils, similar to pumice in its porosity but completely different.

Anyway, Einar combines nitroglycerin with sand of diatomite, on a scale of 3 parts nitroglycerin and one part sand of diatomite.

With this method Einar was able to make a white paste which began to form slowly, after a while and after using all the nitroglycerin.

A sigh could be heard in the room and Einar, using a towel, he began to wipe the sweat from his forehead.

He was quite tired because he had dealt with a substance that could have killed him at any moment.

“With this paste I can say that I am the father of solid explosives, thinking that I could first create a solid explosive than black powder.

In any case, nitroglycerin not only serves as an explosive but also works as a treatment to prevent heart attacks.

I should teach the slaves to make nitric and sulfuric acid in large quantities, my only regret is that it will take a while to get the sugar from the beets.

But with those elements, I think that in a remote part of this mountain, the nitroglycerin factory should be founded.

It should not be dangerous as long as the substances are kept in low temperatures, with the snow of this place throughout the year it is not something impossible to achieve.

But now I think it is time to get some rest because tomorrow I will have to create more nitric acid to combine it with the mercury to obtain mercury nitrate.

With which after combining it with ethanol, I could obtain mercury fulminate with which to make the detonator of dynamite. “

After this, two days passed so Einar gathered the entire tribe, including his family and the slaves, as he would show them the fury of Odin.

Einar who was standing in front of everyone, just cleared his throat and pointed to a small mound of dirt that was hindering the construction of Ansgar’s road.

“Today I will show you a miracle that Odin himself gave me in person.”

Looking at the slaves, he began to speak in Latin so that his words could be transmitted “What you will see next will be the fury of God, delivered to his faithful messiah to punish the infidels who are still in the hands of the power of the church.”

After this, with a signal of his hand, a slave brought Einar a container with alcohol gel and a candle. He intended to use the same trick to light his hand.

By placing alcohol gel in his hand, he used the candle to light a blue fire in his hand, with which he lit the great wick that would light the dynamite.

“You better plug your ears as the next thing is going to be a big bang.”

Laisa, who had earmuffs like the rest of the family, including the babies, did not pay attention, as Einar had already told them what he had created.

Although the fuse only lasted two minutes, when the fire reached the dynamite detonator, it exploded the nitroglycerin, creating an explosion.

Everyone was surprised to hear and see how that mound of earth flew through the air in a large exhibition.

This small demonstration caused almost everyone present to kneel before Einar, for what he demonstrated could only be something obtained by the gods.

Seeing this Einar just sighed ‘I think this will help offset the simplicity of the coronation ceremony.’