The Sage of Einar

Chapter 351: Discovery of aluminum

In the laboratory of the imperial palace, Einar was using a mortar to grind up some bauxite.

This because he planned to make aluminum because many of the things he wanted to build had to occupy that element.

Although he did not remember the ancient method of obtaining aluminum, he could remember the method of obtaining aluminum that he learned in the military.

This is because he had some opportunities to visit the military factories of the Mexican army, where a large amount of minerals were used.

One of them was aluminum, so there was an exclusive aluminum factory that produced specifically for military weapons.

The process that they will use would be electrolysis, which would need to generate energy without stopping.

For that, he made a small Stirling engine for the laboratory, which worked with a small water boiler that used coal briquettes to heat the water.

The Stirling engine would generate mechanical energy, which produced electricity by a mechanical alternator.

When Einar finished grinding the Bauxite into a fine powder, he placed it on a beaker where he placed it with sodium hydroxide.

In order to make the sodium hydroxide, he used a glass container which had a lid which had two wires connected.

A positive cathode and negative anode which were connected to small graphite pillars.

Later, he added distilled water and placed two tablespoons of common salt, forming a saline solution.

In which he placed the two graphite pillars, at that moment he turned on the Stirling engine and it began to generate electrical energy.

At that moment, the chlorine that was being formed began to gather at the positive cathode, while at the negative anode sodium began to form.

This is why the bonds of common salt, which is composed of sodium chloride, were breaking.

Einar would not waste the chlorine that would be produced in the reaction either, so there was a small hole in the flask that was connected to a tube that led to a condensation flask.

Where the chlorine will be stored for later use.

When the chlorine had finished evaporating, sodium hydroxide began to form.

After combining the sodium hydroxide with the Bauxite powder, he began to heat the beaker; he had to do this process because the aluminum oxide was starting to form.

While it separated the impurities from the bauxite, like iron and other minerals, that were not useful for what Einar was doing.

After a while and after mixing Einar, I let the mixture rest for a few minutes without fire so that the chemical bonds will form.

After this, he added the sulfuric acid mixture and began to heat the beaker again.

All this was done to be able to form the Aluminum hydroxide, which was necessary to obtain the aluminum.

For that, in a stone container, molten cryolite was placed, which Einar had got from some trinkets from the Inuit tribe that had joined long ago.

Although getting aluminum in large quantities would be almost impossible if it did not have cryolite, fortunately the Inuit knew where there was a mine in Greenland which was near the coast.

So Einar decided to take the opportunity to found his first colony on the island of Greenland to get this valuable material.

That unlike uranium, if it had an important function.

When Einar placed the aluminum hydroxide in the molten cryolite, he placed a cathode and a graphite anode in the stone container.

One with a positive charge and the other with a negative charge. It was at that moment that he turned on the Stirling engine and let the electricity begin to flow through the copper wires towards the graphite pieces to do the electrolysis.

Unlike the other processes, this was quite curious because the aluminum would stick to the negative graphite anode and sink to the bottom of the mixture.

While the oxygen was attached to the positive cathode where it reacted with the carbon of the graphite to produce carbon dioxide.

This process was going on for quite some time until he turned off the Stirling engine and removing a plug from the stone bowl.

Molten pure aluminum began to come out of the bottom of the container. This formed a smile on Einar’s face.

Well, the functions that aluminum had were fantastic. Just thinking that he could do many things with it made him extremely happy.

But he knew that if he wanted to get aluminum in large quantities, he had to found the first colony to be able to obtain the cryolite from Greenland, an inhospitable place but which has an extensive amount of valuable minerals.

Perhaps many of them were not functional since obtaining them would be impossible without the correct techniques, but at least the cryolite was easy to get.

“Sia, this silver mineral is aluminum, an extremely important mineral in many things and construction projects.

It is a light metal, and it has many properties, but I want you to keep producing more sodium hydroxide and chlorine.

Remember to use your gas mask with activated carbon as chlorine is a dangerous material, but it is quite functional.

I’ll see you later, as I have to prepare everything for the creation of a colony in Greenland. “

After this Einar left the laboratory, leaving Sia alone, who looked curiously at the aluminum before going to work to produce chlorine.

Einar, who was in his office, looked seriously at Eskol, and Natukt, who had called.

“Eskol, I plan to found a new colony called Muspelheim, in the Greenland region.

I want you to gather 10 trusted warriors and 50 soldiers of your liking to send 500 slaves to found a colony.

Natukt, the colony that they founded, will be located in the mine of this white stone called cryolite. It is an important mineral for the Nordic nation.

I hope you can stay in the place for a while while the colony is being built. When it is finished building, ten ships will be used to keep it always supplied.

His only mission will be to get cryolite and try to create a habitable capital in that world of ice. Food and resources will be sent from Iceland.

So they will not suffer any kind of loss. The capital of Greenland, the city of Muspelheim, should be built by the end of the year.

There has to be a wall, a port that did not freeze and a water and sewage system. I think I am not asking for anything impossible. “

Eskol put his hand on his chest “You can be sure that I will found the city of Muspelheim in the Grenland region.”

Natukt also gave a military salute. “I will be in charge of supervising the creation of the new city.”