Of course, Ma Whistle knew that Dalton, the proposer of the atomic theory, a famous chemist, and a physicist, after all, both physics and chemistry would involve a lot of atomic theory.

Still colorblind, Dalton discovered the disease and made himself the first to be diagnosed.

He left a last wish that he would give his eyes to study after his death to test his hypothesis that the watery fluid of his eyes might be blue.

Of course, Dalton was wrong, and people knew about it shortly after his death a few years ago. The root cause of color blindness is not this.

However, in honor of Dalton, people still did a lot, such as a song that sang "The Blue-faced Dalton Thief of the Royal Horse...... Well, that's actually a joke.

Dalton began teaching at the age of twelve and had many students. Still, Ma Whistle was surprised to learn that Mayo had been a student of Dalton.

"Since you're a student of Dalton, I think you should know his atomism well." Ma Whistle said.

Mayo was still surprised: "You also know the atomic theory? ”

Hearing him say this, the Indians in the room expressed their displeasure.

The branch said directly: "Mayo, I told you that our big chief is the greatest scientist in the world, how can he not know the atomic theory, even I know the atomic theory." ”

Another Indian also said: "In Sleeping Bear City, atomic theory is one of the courses of the advanced course in mathematics and science. Even elementary school mentions. ”

"I'm sorry, I just ......" Mayo froze.

Of course, the Indians around him boasted to him more than once about the great chieftain of Apache, but he did not take it seriously.

He admits that the Indians here are indeed different, very different, even more surprising than the most developed Indians in the east.

While other Indians were paying high prices for wine, the Indians here were paying high prices for doctors and craftsmen, and they were very active in learning and communicating with white people.

Not only that, but some of the Indians here are unusually civilized and have a wealth of common sense and opinions.

His colleagues and superiors at the hospital, in particular, were more knowledgeable than most white people, and had nearly invented ether anesthesia, which he knew to be attempted long before Morton made it public.

Behind these unusually civilized Indians, it is not an outrageous thing that there is an extraordinary great chief.

But what is the difference between words like "the greatest scientist in the world" and "I am better than Newton", no matter how you listen to it, it is bragging, and it is too outrageous and shameless.

Even his teacher, John Dalton, would never be happy to hear such praise, which was simply full of malicious praise.

Far from convincing Mayo, this made Mayo suspect that the Great Chief of Apache was a vain fellow, so much so that people liked to praise him.

"It's okay, Twig." Ma Whistle smiled, "I understand the impression that most white people have about us, and it is precisely our mission to dispel that impression with facts." ”

There was a pause: "Other...... Stop saying I'm the greatest scientist in the world. ”

Twig: "I guess that's true. ”

Whistle: "Maybe." But such strong praise will not bring me honor until it is fully proven. ”

"Yes, I see, Grand Chief." Said the branch.

Ma Whistle looked back at Mayo: "Dr. Mayo, let's talk about atomism." ”

Mayo was a little confused, and when Ma Whistle said this in a strange and skillful tone, he inexplicably felt like he was going to take the test.

He said, "Okay, but ...... What do you want to talk about? ”

"Let's talk about the law of doubling." Ma Whistle thought for a moment and said.

Atomism has existed since ancient times.

Many philosophers of ancient civilizations shared a similar view, that is, all things are made up of indivisible elementary particles, such as Democritus of ancient Greece.

But the ancient, naïve atomism is called philosophy at best, and fantasy at worst, and a bright and inquisitive child can think like that.

It wasn't until John Dalton that atomism began to be reborn and took on the character of science.

Of course, Dalton's theory is still crude, and in the eyes of later generations, there are many fallacies, and even some chemical formulas are wrong.

Atomism has changed from philosophy to science, and the law of multiplication is the key.

As soon as the connoisseur makes a move, he will know if there is one.

The whistle opens his mouth to the heart of Dalton's atomic theory, making Mayo realize that what is going to happen is really an exam.

The great Indian chief did understand atomism, and not yet in general.

Ma Whistle did mean to test Mayo, and he wanted to see how much the halfway monk had learned from Dalton.

But it was also a test for himself.

His understanding of elementary particles is at the level of a twenty-first-century physics undergraduate, much ahead of his time.

Therefore, he needs to limit his thinking to Dalton's atomic theory, which is at most thirty or fifty years ahead, and cannot pop up concepts such as "quarks" and "electron clouds" from time to time.

This is not easy, because these things have long been deeply rooted in his bone marrow, and they are the most basic common sense and habits, just like the children's pronunciation in Beijing dialect.

In fact, Ma Whistle had already done such a thing, but so far, he had not been in contact with a white person with a deep understanding of physics, so no one was aware of the problem.

This Mayo doctor is different, he was also a student of Dalton, and the horse whistle must be taken seriously.

The two talked about the theory of atoms, starting with the law of doubling, and then moving on to the law of simple ratio of the reaction volume of gases, the Avogadro hypothesis......

And just as Dr. Mayo had a vague premonition, the conversation quickly became like an exam.

Ma Whistle's understanding of physics and chemistry is much higher than he thinks, at least far above him, and he is sometimes stumped or reminded by the horse whistle, but he cannot be stumped by the horse whistle in turn.

Although the horse whistle sometimes ponders, it looks more like thinking about how to express it in English.

The conversation became like an exam, and then it became a bit like a lecture.

"Mayo, you should give up the term 'water atoms' or 'complex atoms.'" Ma Whistle said.

At this time, most people did not have the concept of molecules, and they were more accustomed to referring to molecules as 'complex atoms', or even simply atoms.

Mayo hesitated, "Uh...... Why? That's what people call it. ”

Whistle: "Have you heard of Avogadro's view?" Italian scientist, Avogadro. ”

Mayo thought for a moment, "You mean...... Molecule? ”

"That's right." Ma Whistle nodded, then said slowly, "We already know that water is made up of two atoms - hydrogen and oxygen. ”

"Since water is made up of atoms, it should no longer be classified as atoms, and 'molecule' is a more appropriate term."

"But as far as I know, Avogadro's hypothesis is wrong, at least everyone I know thinks so. First of all, it does not meet the requirements of the 'electrochemical dualism', according to which only atoms with opposite electrical properties can combine complex atoms, but in this hypothesis, atoms with the same electrical properties are allowed to combine. ”

Ma Whistle smiled: "Avogadro's molecular hypothesis is indeed wrong, but so is Betzerius's electrochemical dualism, as well as Dalton's atomic theory. In my opinion, the error of electro-dualism is even worse than the Avogadro hypothesis. ”

Mayo couldn't help but ask, "What's wrong with atomism?" ”

The horse whistle was silent for a moment.

Dalton's atomic theory has many errors, but he can't point them all out, because as far as the current observations are concerned, many errors have no basis for judgment.

Then he said thoughtfully: "It is well known that Mr. Dalton's atomic theory is inherited from the philosophy of ancient Greece. ”

"Democritus believed that atoms were indivisible elementary particles, but this was only an assumption or belief, and people did not even separate much elemental matter, let alone divide atoms."

"It's true that we don't know much about things like atoms." Mayo was clearly not a man of strong faith and was not overly attached to the fundamentals of the indivisibility of the atom, "but the atom does seem to be indivisible, at least there is no evidence." ”

Ma Whistle suddenly asked, "Mayo, have you thought about the nature of electricity?" ”

Mayo: "Of course I thought, in this age of electricity that is being used like this, who hasn't thought about it. ”

"But like everybody, I didn't think anything of it." He was a little emotional.

"Electric ...... It's so mysterious. ”

In the era of Ma Whistle's previous life, quantum mechanics was gradually being applied, but people's understanding of quantum mechanics was still very limited.

Scientists are also full of confusion. Not to mention the people, metaphysics and scams under the banner of quantum are popular.

In the nineteenth century, electricity was a similar situation.

The technology of electricity is developing all the time, and the telegraph is becoming more and more popular, but people's understanding of electricity is still hazy.

Many problems are known for what they are, but not for why.

It was not until more than ten years later, with the birth of Maxwell's equations and even the discovery of electrons at the end of the century, that this state of complete ignorance of human beings gradually came to an end.

"Have you ever thought that electric current could be a substance, such as a particle? ”

"Matter?" Mayo was stunned.

Then he blurted out, "This sounds so unbelievable, I think electricity should at least be some kind of energy, or something intangible, not that kind of real matter." ”

From the point of view of the age of relativity, matter and energy are one thing.

Stone is matter, flame is matter, electricity and light are matter, and force fields are matter.

But for people at this time, the concept of energy is still vague, and the specific relationship with matter is even less known. In the eyes of the vast majority of people, an ethereal thing like electricity can never be material.

A few people with big brains have indeed imagined the existence of charged subatomic particles, but basically no one pays attention to them.

Ma Whistle naturally didn't intend to talk about the theory of relativity, so he changed his words: "In other words, electricity has some basic material carriers, which are the structures that make up atoms, and are subatomic particles. ”

"There are positive and negative charges, and according to the dualism of electrochemistry, charge is also an intrinsic property of atoms......"

"We can imagine that the atom is actually a magnet-like structure, although each atom may exhibit different positive and negative properties on the outside, but it actually has positive and negative charges on the inside, and there are two subatomic particles, one positive and one negative, just like a magnet with two poles at the same time."

“…… In this way, as long as the opposite poles are docked, different magnets can be combined, and the same magnets can also be combined. ”

"That is, the same elements can also be combined into molecules, and the contradiction between the Avogadro hypothesis and the dualism of electrochemistry does not exist."

The above set of theories was made up by Ma Whistle in about half a minute.

This set of theories is obviously problematic and far from the true atomic structure, but given the known observations, this is a more plausible explanation.

At the very least, it could solve one of the major problems facing the Avogadro hypothesis, namely the structure of the elemental matter.

At this time, the vast majority of scientists believed that a single substance was just an atom. There is no doubt that this is wrong.

Avogadro, on the other hand, believed that a single substance is actually a pair of atoms, for example, a hydrogen molecule is made up of two hydrogen atoms, and an oxygen molecule is made up of two oxygen atoms.

This is true and common sense for people in the future.

But the problem is that Avogadro made another mistake – he thought that metals also exist in this form.

As a result, his experiments were always problematic and controversial in the academic community, and his molecular hypothesis was not accepted for a long time.

Intuitively, of course, the most serious problem facing Avogadro's hypothesis is not just metal, but the conflict with the dualism of electricity.

Electrochemical dualism does not allow the same elements to combine - opposites attract, similarities repel, the same two elements combined, what is this like!

In today's scientific world, electro-dualism and atomism have almost the same status, and Betzerius's reputation is similar to that of Dalton, and Avogadro's theory has been judged wrong by many.

Although the set of theories compiled by Ma Whistle is only a slight adjustment to the existing theories, it does solve this problem.

The connection between electricity and magnetism has been discovered, which sounds quite plausible and even natural.

Although Mayo is not a professional scientist, he can still understand the statement of this image, and after pondering for a while, he can't help but have his eyes lit up: "This is a perfect idea!" ”

Then he looked at the horse whistle and said with a little excitement: "I now believe, Great Chief, that you are indeed a great scientist!" ”

Ma Whistle smiled and didn't say anything.

After this exchange, Mayo was visibly more respectful: "Great Chief, have you considered publishing these ideas?" It should be known to the world, not buried here. ”

Ma Whistle sighed slightly: "I am an Indian, and the United States may not have the opportunity for me to publish my papers." ”

Mayo: "Europe can too, albeit a little farther away. And science is much more prosperous in Europe than in the United States. ”

(End of chapter)