Chapter 16 Copycat is also a technical job (I)

Among the many advanced technologies in the Marvel world, the most coveted by the modern Chinese government is Iron Man's Ark reactor: safe, cheap, and small, but it can provide an endless amount of energy, a new energy source that can trigger the next industrial revolution!

Its great historical significance to the progress of human civilization is no less than Watt's invention of the steam engine!

So, how much energy can an Ark reactor in the Marvel world output?

Let's not talk about those large Ark reactors, which are the captured Tony in the plot of "Iron Man 1". In the prison of the terrorist organization in Afghanistan, Stark put together the first Iron Man armor energy core from various weapon parts, the rudimentary version of the miniature ark reactor installed in his chest to drive the electromagnet, and its output power reached a terrifying three billion joules per second!www.biquge.info

This figure is equivalent to about 3 million kilowatts of power generation. In the real world of China, what is the total installed capacity of the Three Gorges Dam, the so-called "project of the century"? That's about 22.5 million kilowatts! In other words, the total installed capacity of the entire Three Gorges Project is only equivalent to seven and a half of the earliest version of the Iron Man power source! Moreover, considering that the water level of the Three Gorges Reservoir will change from surplus to dry, it is impossible to maintain the ideal state of full power generation all the time, and the actual power generation can drive the three Iron Men is good. Imagine that, Tony. Stark was able to build a portable energy source equivalent to one-third of the Three Gorges Hydropower Station by tinkering in a small illegal workshop alone for two or three days......

So, since there is such a powerful and exaggerated energy core, Iron Man Tony. What Stark wants to play with supersonic flight, vertical lift, palm cannon, diving, and laser weapons is just a drizzle worth mentioning! Don't talk about Tony. Stark, the Iron Man, is unscientifically tough, but Tony is using enough energy to power an aircraft carrier to drive a small iron man, can he not be tough? What does it matter if the appearance of the Iron Man armor is not aerodynamic? Haven't you heard that as long as the power of the engine is large enough, then even the bricks can go to the sky?!

――Don't say that Iron Man's reactor is so small in size and so powerful, it is certainly not scientific. In fact, the degree of technological progress of mankind is increasing by orders of magnitude. For example, the early Watt steam engine, which was also a power machine, was generally only three to five horsepower, but it was as large as a house. Later, it was improved to make even the most powerful marine watt steam engine only reach about seventy-five horsepower (the steam turbine used on modern aircraft carriers is a completely different kind of thing). And the modern car engine, which is slightly better, has to start at 200 horsepower...... If you take the engine of a modern car and move it to Watt through time and say that such a small thing has 200 horsepower, then poor Mr. Watt will probably either think you are crazy or shout "This is not scientific......

In short, if you can master Iron Man's Ark reactor technology, then just build a palm-sized reactor to meet the daily power supply needs of a city, and the cost of power generation can be reduced to almost zero: users only need to bear the daily maintenance costs of the power grid! For Chinese, who need to import huge amounts of fuel oil and natural gas every year, such an endless supply of cheap energy is simply an irresistible temptation!

With such a clean and pollution-free, portable and miniaturized energy power, not only can China's manufacturing industry get rid of the bottleneck of energy shortage, but also many of the current science fantasies, such as space travel, space cities, orbital elevators, alien colonies, etc., will also have the possibility of realization.

※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※

So, how does such a breathtaking, artifact-like Ark reactor work?

In simple terms, it's how the sun burns: nuclear fusion – nuclear fusion has been considered the main solution to humanity's energy problems since the Cold War. One kilogram of fusion raw material produces the equivalent of 11,000 tons of coal. Compared to the nuclear fission reactors of existing nuclear power plants, nuclear fusion produces less nuclear waste and the radioactivity disappears in a short period of time, making it a wonderful clean energy.

There are two types of nuclear fusion: cold nuclear fusion and thermonuclear fusion. The application of the latter was the hydrogen bomb, but the former remained in science fantasy until the advent of the Ark reactor, whose operating principle was not complicated, but was just a practical application of the cold fusion theory that had existed for a long time. It is significantly different from the vast majority of nuclear fusion reactors being tested, mainly in terms of reaction mechanism.

First of all, the Ark reactor does not use light elements from the periodic table to achieve fusion. At present, the vast majority of fusion experiments around the world use hydrogen and its two isotopes "deuterium" and "tritium" as the ignition fuel of the reactor core. When using these light elements as fuel, both ignition and control of fusion are relatively easy to achieve. In the process of reaction, no harmful substances will be produced, and the end product is water, which is a clean fusion method, so it will be favored by many scientific research institutions. The Ark Reactor is the opposite, a nuclear reactor that uses heavy element fusion, Howard who invented it. Stark is a fuel that uses metallic palladium as the core of fusion. Because it is one of the heaviest elements known, palladium metal is the easiest to ionize compared to several other platinum-based heavy elements, making it an ideal core fuel.

But the problem is that the fusion process of heavy elements such as palladium is much more complex than the fusion of light elements. The formulas for the changes in physical and chemical properties involved in a reaction alone can fill a blackboard. Each reaction step in the reactor must also be controlled very precisely during the actual production and use, otherwise it is likely to explode directly after igniting the core.

Of course, if these technical problems are solved perfectly, then the Ark reactor is a very practical and reliable energy source. After the start-up of a mature Ark reactor, it only takes a very short time to output a large amount of energy, and can maintain the core burning for a long time.

In contrast, popular hydrogen reactors in the real world, although they are easy to ignite, are difficult to sustain long-term fusion reactions.

However, even with the above advantages, the Ark reactor cannot be said to be a perfect fusion reactor. Because unlike traditional nuclear fusion reactors, which rely on hydrogen fusion to produce energy, the Ark reactor, which relies on heavy metal fusion, is not a clean energy source. Because palladium is highly toxic, and the treatment of heavy metal poisoning is a medical problem, Tony initially installed the Ark reactor directly in his chest, and it is impossible to avoid the damage of palladium poisoning (during the bombing attack in Afghanistan, there were many small shrapnel left in his veins, and an electromagnet must be placed on his chest at all times to suck the shrapnel and prevent it from entering his heart, resulting in Tony's death.) And the Ark reactor is powered by electromagnets).

Moreover, he also has to be an iron man flying around all day long, punishing evil and promoting good, and the consumption of palladium is naturally more and more serious, and the poisoning is more serious.

Therefore, in the early stage of the plot of "Iron Man 2", Tony, who found that his poisoning was already very serious and estimated that he would not live for a year, once gave up on himself, was extremely decadent, and did many ridiculous things...... However, before Wang Qiu and the others entered the Marvel world, Tony had already successfully solved this problem - relying on his father Howard. As a clue left by Stark, Tony geniusly used a particle accelerator to create a safe and non-toxic new element to replace the palladium that would poison him, thus allowing him to successfully overcome the life crisis of palladium poisoning.

Next, the civilian version of the Ark reactor sold by Stark Industries also uses this new element instead of palladium.

However, the discovery and application of this new element is important for Iron Man Tony. Stark, of course, is good news, but it's a nightmare for real-world Chinese scientists who want to reverse-map these civilian versions of the Ark reactors for copycat replicas......