The former is at least an order of magnitude stronger than the latter, significantly increasing the difficulty.
'What should I do?' Rosen stared intently at the liquid in the bottle.
The solution, outwardly, looked no different from clear water, but to his perception, it was far from its calm surface. Various energies surged and collided within the solution, seemingly endlessly, like a pot of boiling soup.
A thought suddenly surfaced in Rosen's mind.
'Molecules are constantly in motion, which macroscopically manifests as the temperature of an object. The higher the temperature, the more vigorous the molecular motion, and the stronger the collisions. When the temperature reaches a certain critical point, the intensity of molecular collisions can even destroy molecular structure, causing chemical changes.'
Just then, as if in response to Rosen's thought,
several coincidences occurred in succession within the aqueous solution. An extremely subtle energy suddenly encountered a series of collisions with the surrounding energies. Even more coincidentally, these collisions were all in the same direction. As a result, this energy suddenly surged a hundredfold, rampaging wildly through the solution.
'Hmm~ These are high-energy particles that appear with a low probability. If this force were stronger, it would be enough to break chemical bonds... Wait, I have a way!'
This method is simple, direct, and widely applicable: the collision method!
Chemical bonds are very strong; Rosen's alchemical powers cannot directly break them, that's a fact. But if he uses his alchemical powers to accelerate nitrate ions in the solution, control their direction of travel, and turn them into projectiles to bombard the hydroxyl groups in glycerol, he might achieve his goal.
The best part is that nitrate ions are free in aqueous solution. Controlling them only requires overcoming intermolecular forces, which is exactly within Rosen's capabilities.
Rosen's eyes gleamed, and his mind began to race: 'I have the main idea, but how do I implement it? I need to study it carefully.'
The force and angle of the bombardment are crucial; it's a delicate task.
The ideal outcome is that the nitrate ion knocks the hydroxyl group away, its energy completely depleted after the collision. This allows the nitrate ion to replace the hydroxyl group without flying away again.
It sounds simple, but it's incredibly difficult to execute.
Why?
Because of quantum effects.
At the molecular and atomic scale, quantum effects are extremely pronounced. In this realm, the uncertainty principle begins to take effect. In the quantum world, there are no certainties, only probabilities; anything is possible, differing only in the magnitude of the probability.
This is why actual chemical changes are extremely complex, involving countless specific variations.
Anyone who wants to control chemical changes must first have a fundamental understanding of chemistry.
In this world, other alchemists cannot possess this knowledge; they don't even have the concept of atoms and molecules, let alone know about quantum mechanics, which governs the microscopic realm.
But Rosen from Earth is different; he happens to possess the relevant knowledge.
At this moment, Annie, seeing his blank stare, thought he had gone mad and couldn't help but comfort him, "Rosen, don't worry. If we can't think of a way right now, we can continue setting up bait."
Rosen looked up at Annie blankly, then suddenly asked, "Annie, do you know the essence of a chemical bond?"
"Huh? What's a chemical bond?" Annie was completely bewildered.
Rosen's eyes began to light up: "The essence of a chemical bond is electromagnetic interaction!"
"Huh?" Annie's rosy lips parted, completely clueless about what Rosen was talking about.
Rosen ignored her, completely absorbed in his own thoughts, his eyes gleaming with wisdom: "Any chemical change is the breaking and rearranging of chemical bonds. And the essence of a chemical bond is actually the dance between electrons and photons. In this field, there is a god-like quantum theory, namely quantum electrodynamics!"
"Quantum electrodynamics? What's that?" Annie was almost going crazy. She could understand each word Rosen said individually, but when put together, she was completely confused.
'Is this alchemical terminology? But I've studied some alchemy, and I've never heard of these terms before.' Annie's mind was a complete mess.
Rosen ignored Annie's confusion, completely absorbed in his own world, a mysterious smile playing on his lips: 'Yes, it's quantum electrodynamics!'
Quantum electrodynamics, the most mature branch of quantum field theory, primarily studies the fundamental processes of the interaction between electromagnetic fields and charged particles.
Within its applicable domain, quantum electrodynamics is near perfect; it can explain an extremely wide range of phenomena. In this world, aside from the realm of relativity and the interior of the atomic nucleus, almost every natural phenomenon can be described using it.
Chemistry, of course, is merely a part of it.
It could be said that quantum electrodynamics is one of Rosen's most powerful mental weapons, even worthy of being called a divine artifact!
With this mental artifact, Rosen could even call himself the god of chemistry!
The method was in place, the artifact was ready, so what was there to wait for?
Rosen immediately got to work.
He entered a 'dazed' state again, his thoughts completely absorbed in the solution in the bottle, his entire body motionless, like a lifeless wooden sculpture.
Annie was utterly bewildered.
After a long while, she finally came to her senses and continued rubbing the silver beads in her hands.
After about ten minutes, she felt the silver beads in her hands becoming smoother and smoother.
"Strange."
Annie couldn't help but open her hand to look, and found that each silver bead in her palm had become perfectly round, with a very shiny surface, and felt incredibly smooth to the touch—exceptionally beautiful.
'So beautiful.' Annie almost couldn't put them down.
She found this very strange and turned to look at Rosen, only to see him sitting there with his eyes closed. If it weren't for the beads of sweat constantly popping out of his forehead, she would have almost thought he was asleep.
'This little guy is really strange. Strange in appearance, strange in thought, and even stranger in what he says,' Annie thought to herself.