There is an ancient saying that "real gold is not afraid of fire refining", which seems to be quite reasonable, but it may not be the truth, at least "gold absorbs water" can be proved; speaking of this, some people may criticize "Is there a little common sense, how can gold absorb water?" "This brings us to a story.
On October 5, 1970, construction was underway on the southern outskirts of Xi'an, Shaanxi Province, when a worker dug up a "large urn" and was followed by a similar object.
"Shaanxi" this place, digging out things is not strange, to say that "one step and one ancient tomb" is a bit exaggerated, but there are many excavated cultural relics; this time there are discoveries, which were also reasonable, but "fifty or sixty" urns, this number is really a bit surprising.
The workers did not dare to be idle, and hurriedly reported it to the local Revolutionary Committee, and then the news reached the newly established Shaanxi Museum; an archaeological team composed of experts rushed to the scene, including "Han Wei", which was a key point.
The expert team rushed to the scene and found that some of the pottery urns had been broken, and a large amount of liquid flowed out of them, thinking that this was water; sure enough, even if there was no broken pottery urn, it was filled with water, which showed that the "cultural relics" found this time had been buried in the ground for at least a thousand years.
What is even more surprising is that the urn is not only filled with water, but also filled with gold and silver utensils, such as gold bowls, gold pots, various gold jewelry, etc. A total of more than a thousand pieces; in 1970, although many precious cultural relics were unearthed in Shaanxi, so many "gold" were found for the first time, and some cultural relics were still "orphans" at that time, and their value was self-evident.
So much "gold and silver", which prince and nobleman in ancient times will leave it? This is not the point, the "focus" is on 4 pieces of gold leaf; just say this "4 pieces of gold leaf", the expert carefully took it out of the urn, wiped it clean and weighed it, the mass was 5500 grams, just 11 pounds.
The excavation was very fruitful, and the "4 gold leaf" was also registered; it was not until January 1971 that the archaeological team officially prepared a report and needed to re-weigh the "4 gold leaf".
This time it was "Han Wei", who participated in the archaeological excavations, and after weighing the "4 gold leafs" again, a layer of sweat instantly appeared on his forehead; because the last time he weighed, the weight of the "4 gold leafs" was 5500 grams and 11 pounds.
But this time weighed, "4 pieces of gold leaf" is only 4400 grams, less than 2 pounds. This is "gold", not to mention the precious cultural relics of a thousand years ago, less than "2 pounds", which was a serious problem in 1970; fortunately, Han Wei was an "expert", and his character is often a model in the museum, so he did not arouse great suspicion after reporting the situation.
Four months after the museum's "self-examination", someone weighed 4 pieces of gold leaf again, and actually lost 400 grams, leaving only 4000 grams; this time the frying pan, the gold relics of a thousand years ago, inexplicably less "3 pounds", if this continues to be "less", will it "disappear"?
This is a bit of an exaggeration, "gold" is not the evaporating water, how can it "disappear"; but the cultural relics are "lost", which can not be explained, ah, is there someone in the museum who guards and steals?
The problem had risen to the level of "theft", and in 1970 it was not known what height to rise; the museum did not dare to be idle, and quickly called the police, for which a special investigation team was set up.
After some investigation, the amount of gold leaf is still "4 pieces", theoretically "not lost", but the weight is less than "3 pounds", this case is quite strange; the public security police gave two inferences, one is that there are "thieves" inside the museum, and the other is that professionals commit crimes.
Needless to say, "Han Wei" became the primary object of suspicion, for the simple reason that he had the most contact with the "4 pieces of gold leaf"; and he was also an expert, very familiar with the characteristics of cultural relics, and theoretically he was also a "professional".
Hey, this time "Han Wei" cried bitterly, not to mention the problem of "professional or unprofessional", if he stole gold, how could he take the initiative to report it? This is not a self-imposed net.
Fortunately, "Han Wei" has a good reputation on weekdays, so there are many people who speak for him; some people have put forward an idea that "4 pieces of gold leaf" were still soaked in water when they were found, maybe it has been soaked for thousands of years, will this "4 pieces of gold leaf" absorb water?
If "gold leaf absorbs water", then the initial weight of "5500 grams" also includes the weight of water; after that, the gold leaf is taken out of the water and treated, and the internal moisture gradually evaporates, and the weight naturally becomes lighter.
At first glance, this seems to make sense, but if you think about it, it doesn't make sense at all, "gold" is not a sponge, how can it absorb water? Here are two sentences inserted, "gold" is not only a precious metal, but also a metal with very stable properties; the "stability" of gold is beyond almost all metals, neither reacting with oxygen nor acid, and even sulfuric acid can not be gold.
"Real gold is not afraid of fire refining" This is common sense, "not afraid of water" is even more reasonable; therefore, this speculation cannot be established, and the suspicion of "Han Wei" is still very large; do not believe it or not, but in order to solve the case, the investigation team still invited experts in chemistry and physics from Northwest University to test the "4 pieces of gold leaf" on the spot.
Chemistry and physics experts were initially confused, "the stability of gold" for them is beyond doubt, and it is impossible to "absorb water" no matter how experimented; there is no way, you have to restore the "crime scene", that is, put 4 pieces of gold leaf in the water, and then send someone to guard it for 24 hours.
For a week, 4 pieces of gold leaf were fished out of the water, wiped clean and weighed, a strange scene appeared, and the gold leaf became "11 pounds"; this does not make sense at all, is gold really like a sponge "absorbing water"?
The experiment is not over, the "4 pieces of gold leaf" have been placed in the natural environment for a period of time; moreover, the weight of the gold leaf is actually less, which is to "subvert cognition"; the stability of gold has long been widely recognized by the scientific community, how can "experts" easily overturn, so more detailed experiments began.
After that, experts used a high-power microscope to carefully examine the surface of the "gold leaf", and the case came to light; it turned out that the "4 pieces of gold leaf" were uneven under the beating and forging of the ancients, although it was invisible to the naked eye, in fact, there were still many "cavities".
4 pieces of gold leaf and soaked in water for a long time, the "cavity" is naturally filled with water, the weight of the weighing also includes the weight of the water; the next thing is simple, although the surface of the gold leaf has been wiped, but the water in the "cavity" is still there, after natural evaporation, the weight of the gold leaf is also reduced.
The case was solved, but there was no "murderer".