"Mr. Wells, Professor Huxley, since you have found the Royal Institution today, don't just stay in this small reception room. Why not come with me to the laboratory upstairs to see for yourself Take a look and see what this so-called superconductor is."
Chen Muwu kindly invited two people to the laboratory to observe the superconducting experiment, hoping that they could help him bear witness.
"Dr. Chen, is this appropriate?"
Huxley raised his own questions.
He is a professor of zoology at King's College London. In his impression, laboratories, important places for scientific research, should be off-limits.
Outsiders entering the laboratory at will can easily trigger various strange and unstable factors, thus affecting the results of the experiment.
"Professor Huxley, of course there is no problem. I know what you are worried about, but in fact, there is only a small refrigeration machine in that laboratory. All our experiments are conducted in that machine, and it is affected by There is little outside influence.
"I only have one request for you two, and that is to leave the cigarettes, matches and other things that may ignite the items you are carrying here. All sources of fire are prohibited from entering our laboratory."
Wells and Huxley followed Chen Muwu's request and left all the fire sources they carried in the reception room, and then followed the latter up the stairs to the laboratory upstairs.
"These two are my assistants," Chen Muwu, as the host, introduced each other to the four people in the room. "This is Mr. Wells, the famous British writer who wrote "The Time Machine," and this is Mr. Wells, a professor at King's College London. Professor Huxley, his grandfather was Sir Huxley who wrote "On the Evolution of Heaven."
When introducing the two visitors, Chen Muwu focused differently on different students.
For Oppenheimer, who liked poetry and literature, Wells should have been more attractive to him.
As for his Chinese compatriot Shi Ruwei, the name of Huxley who wrote "On the Evolution of Heaven" is well known among intellectuals.
"I'll take two guests to visit the laboratory. I'll have a half-day off this afternoon, so you can have free time."
In fact, what Chen Muwu was going to say next was not going behind anyone's back, it was just to brag to Wells, but he still invited the two students out, lest the speaker was unintentional and the listener was interested.
"Look, you two." After Shi Ruwei and Oppenheimer left, Chen Muwu held up a piece of gray-white metal and demonstrated it to the two people present.
Niobium metal is extremely stable, does not react with air under normal circumstances, and is non-toxic and harmless, so he dared to touch it directly with his hands.
"This is the niobium metal that's been all over the newspapers lately."
"Dr. Chen," Wells interrupted, "what is the relationship between the name of this metal, niobium, and Niobe, the goddess of tears in Greek mythology?"
"You are right, Mr. Wells, the name niobium comes from this figure in Greek mythology.
“Before this metal was discovered, people first discovered a metal called tantalum, whose name comes from Tantalus, the son of Zeus in Greek mythology.
“Niobium was separated and discovered in tantalum ore, so it was named after Niobe, the daughter of Tantalus in mythology.
“But in fact, Americans were the first to predict the existence of the element niobium.
"An American long ago believed that a certain mine contained a new element, and named it after Columbus, who discovered the American continent. He called this new element columbium.
“It’s just that he failed to provide strong evidence to prove that this is a new element, so his discovery was not convinced by others.
“Later, European scientists discovered two elements, tantalum and niobium, and named them after two characters in Greek mythology.
"Now in the world, only Americans still stubbornly call this element columbium. Apart from them, scientists from other countries call it niobium."
In fact, in the current Republic of China, many chemists and mineralogists call this element columbium as it is called in the United States, and have created a special Chinese character for it, columbium.
This is mainly because of the Boxer Indemnity, which caused most people to study in the United States. Naturally, they received American education. It is not surprising that they continue to use American academic vocabulary.
"First, he announced the existence of new metal in advance without finding conclusive evidence. After it was actually discovered by others, he still insisted on his previous name and stubbornly refused to change it to be in line with international standards. This is indeed like a bunch of hotheads. This is something only an impetuous and arrogant American can do."
Huxley on the side made precise remarks, and Welles also smiled after hearing this.
During the First World War, French men fought bloody battles, and those beloved breast-feeding jokes had not yet been born in this world.
The British have long disliked the nouveau riche cousin on the other side of the Atlantic, so they teased him mercilessly and without any psychological burden.
But not only Americans, but also British people have eyes on the top of their heads and look down on everyone. After all, they are still bathing in the afterglow of the sun that never sets.
After the three of them laughed, Wells continued to ask the question he had asked in a salon before: "Dr. Chen, this must be the refrigeration machine you were talking about. The experiment about superconductivity was done here. Is it done in an instrument?"
"exactly."
"But I see that the wires connected to the back of this machine are not thin. When it is running, the power must not be low, right?
"Even if you say that the resistance of this niobium metal will become zero at low temperatures, and there will be no loss when transmitting electrical energy, isn't the energy consumed by the refrigeration much larger than the loss?"
In the reception room on the first floor, when Huxley relayed the reason for their coming to the Royal Institution, Chen Muwu heard Wells's question.
He found the problem right away. With this terrifying scientific acumen, Wells was worthy of becoming a science fiction master of the generation.
This is why he invited two people to the laboratory, intending to play a trick.
"Mr. Wells, you can't say that. Although it is indeed the case as you said in the laboratory now, the electricity consumed by refrigeration is more than the electricity saved by using superconducting properties for transmission. But if in the future Can we find materials with higher temperatures? If a material can achieve superconductivity within the range of minus 20 degrees Celsius, then we can achieve loss-free power transmission in the Arctic Circle.
“And if the superconducting critical temperature of a certain material reaches zero degrees, we can even transmit in winter.
"When it reaches the room temperature of 20 to 30 degrees Celsius, humans will no longer have any losses in power transmission in the future."
Hey, why do these words sound so familiar? It seems that Raman from Calcutta University also said the same thing.
"And Mr. Wells, after this material becomes superconducting, the resistance becomes zero. Not only is there no loss during power transmission, but it can also float in the center of the magnetic field, just like this."
Chen Muwu did not give too many theoretical explanations, but held up the niobium piece and a magnet in his other hand, placed it under the clay piece, and started the simulation.
"Why don't I demonstrate it to you two now? Before that, I need to turn on the machine and lower the temperature below the critical temperature to allow the metal niobium to enter the superconducting state."
After Chen Muwu said these words, he "naturally" stacked the niobium tablets in his hand on top of the magnet, then put both into the refrigerator, and after taking all the insulation measures, started it machine.
"You two, the cooling process of the machine will take some time. Please come over here and take a short rest." Chen Muwu invited the two of them to another corner of the laboratory and followed the same method as before to freeze bananas and pineapples in liquid nitrogen. " It’s afternoon tea time, but we don’t have the conditions to make tea in the laboratory, so I can only invite you to taste the summer heat-relieving ice product that I recently developed using local materials.”
"Dr. Chen, you still enjoy it." The gourmet Huxley commented with a satisfied look on his face after eating a banana. "It's just a pity that you don't have any cold beer here. It's nice to have a glass of it in the hot summer." It’s a real treat.”
Wells still insisted on the question: "Dr. Chen, even if it is what you said, this kind of superconducting material will float in the magnetic field, but what is the use of it?"
"It can be used to make trains, cars, and transportation! If superconducting technology can be realized, future transportation will be suspended on the ground, without the friction caused by contact with the ground. When moving forward, it will only It will be affected by air resistance, so the traffic speed will become faster afterwards."
"You mean like airplanes and airships?"
“Yes and no, although these transportation materials are all affected only by air resistance, what makes them float is completely different.
“Airplanes rely on the lift generated by aerodynamics, airships rely on the buoyancy of filled gas, and the superconducting levitation in the future will rely on the magnetic properties of superconductors.
"And compared with airplanes and airships, this kind of vehicle is lower from the ground, so it won't happen those daunting aerial disasters."
"Dr. Chen, if it's really like what you said, then I really want to take a look in the future. When will you study the time machine? After you succeed, I will be the first to apply to travel in the future."
Wells made a joke. After all, Chen Muwu in front of him was the first person to theoretically propose that time travel was feasible.
"The future may not be better than the present, Mr. Wells. Maybe you will feel even more disappointed when you get to the future!"
"Dr. Chen, it will take some time for your machine to cool down anyway. Could you please imagine from a physicist's perspective what the future will look like in your imagination as science develops?"
Chen Muwu was worrying about how to delay the time so that after the machine's cooling temperature reached below 10 Kelvin, the niobium that entered the superconducting state would suddenly float in the magnetic field, so Wells gave him a topic.
What does the future look like?
Wells, which future are you asking?
Is it a future in which all of the British overseas colonies are basically independent or returning, and even Scotland, which has been integrated for hundreds of years, is beginning to argue for independence, and the arrogant Great Britain becomes Little Britain, and an Indian rides on the master's head and becomes the prime minister?
Chen Muwu really felt that if Wells returned to the future in a time machine and saw all these things, the old man's blood pressure would explode, he would roll his eyes and be pissed to death.
Forget it, let’s say something nice.
But what to say?
Internet, robots, artificial intelligence, medical technology, genetic modification...
Chen Muwu thought for a while, and from a physicist's point of view, none of the above particles was suitable.
But the topic just mentioned mentioned things in the sky such as airplanes and airships, so why not just talk about things in the sky?
"Mr. Wells, do you believe that people will fly into the universe in the future?
"Sir Newton had already proposed the idea of a cannon hundreds of years ago. A cannon was set up on the top of a high mountain. As long as the speed of the cannonball was fast enough, the cannonball would fly forward forever without falling. to the ground.
"In his time, this kind of cannon could only exist in fantasy, but with the development of science, people have found stronger and stronger materials and more efficient fuels. Maybe they can really achieve the goal of making cannonballs The speed at which it keeps spinning around the Earth without falling.
“If the speed were faster, maybe the cannonball would break away from the Earth’s gravitational pull and get further and further away from the Earth!
"This is not a sudden thought on my part. In the past ten years, a Russian named Konstantin Tsiolkovsky has calculated this speed. As long as the speed of the artillery shell reaches five miles per second, then it will can circle the earth.
"With a speed of seven miles per second, the cannonball can escape from the Earth's gravitational pull.
"If its speed is higher, it might escape from the solar system, or even the entire galaxy, and move deeper into the universe to explore!"
"I have seen Mr. Tsiolkovsky's paper before, and there should be no problem with his calculations. But can humans really make objects reach such amazing speeds?"
"I think it's possible. There was an idea in Chinese martial arts. A person's left foot kicks on the instep of his right instep, and then his right foot kicks on the instep of his left instep. If the two feet borrow strength from each other, they can make the person kick. He jumped into the air from where he was.
"This idea is naturally absurd, and it will not produce any change other than getting two red insteps from being kicked.
"But after putting it on that cannonball, it's different. If you can go through layers of acceleration, it should be easy to get the cannonball to reach a speed of five miles per second... Damn it, why is this niobium metal piece on its own? It’s floating in the magnetic field!”
Chen Muwu performed the last exclamation very realistically.
(End of chapter)
