The Project Underway

The days that followed were filled with experiments. Double-Base Propellant was a remarkable substance. Compared to traditional Black Powder, it required neither charcoal nor sulfur. Saltpeter also had to be converted into nitric acid before it could be used, while its main ingredient was actually cotton!

This was astonishing.

The first step in making Double-Base Propellant was producing guncotton, and making guncotton required large quantities of Absorbent Cotton. Luo Chong's materials explained this clearly, and the researchers understood it as well. Based on the principle that Grease reacted with Sodium Carbonate to produce saponification, they could simply use Sodium Carbonate to degrease the cotton.

The two members of the Guncotton Group first heated and soaked the cotton in alkaline water, then rinsed it repeatedly with clean water. Finally, after drying it, they obtained pure Absorbent Cotton.

They then mixed dilute sulfuric acid with concentrated nitric acid and placed the mixture in a water bath, stirring it slowly while it was chilled with ice. At last, they put in the Absorbent Cotton and soaked it. They carried out this step with the utmost caution—even Qu Bing, who was watching from the side, did not dare make a sound and disturb them.

Next, they scooped out the cotton that had been soaked in the acid solution and washed it repeatedly, finally drying it in an oven or leaving it out to dry.

The Guncotton Group tried several different ratios of sulfuric acid to nitric acid, as well as different soaking times for the cotton. In the end, they produced six different varieties of guncotton. Altogether, the process took several days.

In the eyes of ordinary people, such a life was undoubtedly extremely boring. But to the people at the research institute, nothing was more interesting than conducting experiments every day while receiving