The first and greatest challenge facing the scientists of the Empire is to create materials that can be used in warp engines, to build materials from an atomic point of view. Pen ~ fun ~ pavilion www.biquge.info

The development of science and technology has made it possible to synthesize materials at the atomic scale, such as atomic clusters, cluster materials, linear chains, multilayer heterostructures, ultrathin films, etc., which are characterized by low dimensionality, reduced symmetry, and significant geometric features.

But it is only possible, when it is really actually operated, it is difficult to really say that the material you need from the perspective of the atom, the unit of the atom is too small, and the current science and technology can only achieve the nanometer level at most, and the atom is much smaller than the nanometer.

First of all, we have to understand their size, nanometer is nanometer in English, abbreviated as nanometer, nanometer is a unit of length, 1 nanometer is one billionth of a meter, recorded as nm.

1 nanometer is equal to the length of 10 hydrogen atoms lined up one by one! Because the diameter of each atom is different, 1 nanometer may be equal to the length of the arrangement of atoms of dozens of other elements.

20 nanometers is equivalent to almost 1/3000th of a hair!

What we usually call nanotechnology refers to the technology that studies the specific phenomena and functions of substances in the nanoscale (100 nanometers to 0.1 nanometers) and creates new material materials by directly manipulating and arranging atoms and molecules!

The emergence of nanotechnology is first due to the invention of scanning tunneling microscope (STM), which can magnify tens of millions of times, which allows scientists to observe the microscopic world from a nano perspective.

Since the early 90s of the 20th century, nanotechnology has been developing rapidly, such as nanoelectronics, nanomaterials, nanomechanics, nanobiology and other new disciplines are emerging, nanotechnology is one of the nine major sciences that will change human history in the future of scientists' language!

In fact, today's scientists are able to observe information at the atomic level through STM technology and have a certain impact on the structure of atomic arrangement.

For example, in April 1990, two scientists from IBM in the United States used STM to observe the xenon atoms on the surface of nickel metal, inspired by the movement of the probe and xenon atoms, and tried to use the STM tip to move the xenon atoms adsorbed on the nickel metal, and arranged 35 xenon atoms on the surface of the nickel to form an "IBM" structure with a height of 5 atoms!

Scientists from the Chinese Academy of Sciences have also used nanotechnology to create the world's smallest map of China, less than 10 nanometers in size, by moving carbon atoms on the surface of graphite!

Since then, scientists have been very interested in moving atoms in various patterns, such as silicon atoms, sulfur atoms, iron atoms, carbon monoxide molecules, iron-based molecules......

From here, we can know that what scientists can achieve at present is to move some atoms a little and pose various patterns on the surface of the object, which cannot really create and construct the atomic structure in a three-dimensional sense, and at the same time, there is no way to create new materials from the atomic perspective on a large scale and quickly.

But even so, it is only very simple to move some atoms and arrange some atoms on the surface, scientists have also created a variety of complex nanomaterials, and the structure of copper atoms on the surface of copper can also increase the strength of copper by 5 times!

We all know that diamond is diamond, graphite, and coke, and the atoms they make up are actually the same, that is, carbon atoms! However, the properties of these materials vary widely, with diamond being the hardest material in nature in terms of hardness alone, while graphite and coke are very low.

The reason for this difference is the structure of the carbon atoms, the atomic structure of diamond, each carbon atom forms a covalent bond with the other 4 carbon atoms in the SP3 hybrid orbital, forming a tetrahedron. Because the C-C bond in diamond is very strong, the diamond has high hardness and extremely high melting point; And because all the valence electrons are confined to the covalent bond region and there are no free electrons, diamond does not conduct electricity.

In the graphite structure, the carbon atoms in the same layer are hybridized by sp2 to form covalent bonds, and each carbon atom is connected to three other atoms with three covalent bonds. The six carbon atoms form a regular hexagram ring on the same plane, which stretches into a lamellar structure.

Here the bond length of the C-C bond is 142pm, which is exactly in the bond length range of atomic crystals, so for the same layer, it is an atomic crystal. The carbon atoms in the same plane each have one p orbital left, and they overlap each other. Electrons are relatively free, which is equivalent to free electrons in metal, so graphite can conduct heat and electricity, which is the characteristic of metal crystals.

To put it simply, the carbon atom structure of diamond is three-dimensional, and all carbon atoms directly form a tetrahedron with each other, which is a three-dimensional structure!

The structure of graphite is that the carbon atoms form a regular 6-sided ring on the same plane, forming a layered structure, that is, layers of carbon atoms, but there is no connection between the carbon atoms between the layers, which is a planar structure!

A three-dimensional tetrahedral structure and a planar hexagonal structure have caused a huge difference in the material properties between diamond and graphite, and their value is also different! The selling price of diamond is calculated by carats, and the price of graphite is calculated by tons, and the difference in value is hundreds of millions of times!

If the Empire wants to develop materials for warp engines, it is necessary to build materials from the perspective of atoms and stereoscopic objects, turning decay into magic! For example, if the atomic angle of iron is also like diamond, and it becomes a three-dimensional structure of a tetrahedron, what kind of material will be obtained?

The person in charge of researching materials is the chief scientist of the Imperial Academy of Materials Sciences, the head of the Academy of Materials Sciences in the era of Qingquan Science and Technology, Mo Qingming!

At this time, Mo Qingming was also in his 50s, because of the perennial cultivation of Yuan Li, he looked very young in his early 50s at this time, and there was no difference between him and his 20s, but a scientist of his age, if it was by the standards of the earth, it was the peak moment of a scientist's life!

Before cultivating Yuan Li, the average life expectancy of a person was about 80 years old, and the first 30 years were basically in the learning stage, and then it took more than ten years to explore and accumulate on the road of science, and the peak stage was when he was in his 40s and close to 50 years old.

With experience, accumulation, and foundation, people's energy can still be very abundant, the brain is agile and active, the body is good, and can fight for a long time, and once this age is passed, whether it is the body or the brain, there will be a large decline, and the value of scientists will be greatly reduced at that time!

This is also the reason why many people are complaining about Yang Zhenning now, the country has cultivated you for decades in front of you, but fortunately, you have worked for Americans for decades at the most brilliant and effective age, and when you are old, your brain, thinking, and body are no longer good, and you run back to all kinds of mixes!

The scientists of the empire have been cultivating Yuanli as early as the Qingquan Science and Technology period, and the younger generation has gone to the Yuanli Warrior Hall to receive the cultivation of Yuanli since they were young, so they all look like weak scholars, but they are actually masters of Yuanli, humanoid nuclear bombs!

Of course, their value is countless times higher than that of nuclear bombs, and the cultivation of Yuan Force has made these scientists have a long lifespan, and the time that they can be used for scientific research has greatly increased, and at the same time, their brains have been developed by Yuan Li, which is even more terrifying, with amazing learning ability and very active thinking!

On the one hand, it shortens the time for scientific learning and accumulation, and of course, with the development of science and technology, a scientist needs to learn more and more things; On the other hand, it can greatly prolong the golden age of scientists.

Scientists who have not cultivated Yuan Li may only have a golden period of ten years, but scientists who have cultivated Yuan Li have a very long lifespan and a very healthy body, and their golden period can be hundreds of years or thousands of years......

Mo Qingming, who is in his 50s, is at the peak of his official life at this time, and at this time, he is presiding over a materials science conference, bringing together all the great scientists from all walks of life who study materials in the empire.

The empire is based on science and technology, the importance of science and technology is unprecedented, the status of scientists is also very high, basically the nobles are scientists, engineers, politicians are rarely able to obtain the title of noble, unless it is made some special contributions, or the level of the official to the cabinet minister, otherwise if you want to get the title of nobleman, the best way is to be a scientist and engineer!

Materials science is a very important branch of science, there are many people who choose this subject, after decades of development in the empire, a large number of genius scientists have also emerged, among which there are also many scientists in materials science, including many geniuses who are already level 3 scientists at a young age.

Mo Qingming looked at the many young faces below, eh, of course, many old people looked very young because of their cultivation of Yuan Force, and couldn't help but sigh in their hearts: "This Nima, these young people are too good, their positions are shaking, and if they don't work hard to find the materials to make the warp engine, no one will mix with those old guys!" ”

The many young faces below naturally didn't know what the Mo University scientist on the stage was thinking at this time, and they were all quietly waiting for him to speak, in the field of materials, Mo Qingming was a well-deserved giant, and everyone here could be said to be brought out by him and the scientists of the original Qingquan Institute of Science and Technology Materials.

"Don't talk nonsense, if the empire wants to enter the universe and sea, the warp engine is indispensable, and the biggest problem of the warp engine at the moment is the material problem, this is the moment for us to show our wisdom!"

PS: The second chapter is delivered, all kinds of begging, rolling begging~ (to be continued.) )