The birth of truth is often not achieved overnight, and the same is true of the acceptance of truth.

For example, the law of conservation of energy, which was proposed in 1842, was not recognized by physicists until last year.

And it is not an absolute approval, the voice of doubt still exists, far from the well-known basic law of physics in later generations.

Another example is the understanding of "heat".

This is one of the most well-known debates in physics, comparable to the battle between light waves and photons.

In this era and even earlier, many scientists believed that heat was a specific substance called "thermal matter".

Other scientists believe that heat is the embodiment of motion, and history has shown that this is closer to the truth.

Joule is a staunch supporter of the "Heat Theory" and a die-hard fan.

Not surprisingly, hearing Ma Whistle's words, Joule felt a little incredulous: "You...... You're an Indian, right? ”

No one is free from prejudice, and neither is Joule.

In the subconscious minds of the vast majority of white people, Indians and science are two concepts that have nothing to do with each other.

Even those who were willing to be genuinely friendly to the Indians would not have thought that there were Indians who understood science.

"That's right, the Apache of the plains." "Just a few days ago, when I arrived in England, I had nine feathers tied to my head, and I had to change into this outfit. ”

"I'm an Indian, but who says Indians can't understand physics? Mr. Joule. ”

Mayo smiled and said, "Joule, don't underestimate the Great Chieftain, he knows at least more about science than I do. In fact, he came to Manchester to visit you just to talk to you about physics. ”

"I'm sorry for the faux pas." Joule's attitude was much friendlier, and then a hint of embarrassment appeared on his face, and he looked up at the horse whistle, "Hmm...... What's your name? ”

"Horse whistle."

"Oh, Mr. Whistle." Joule nodded, then said, "Sit down first, and you can try my beer later." ”

"Thank you."

After the two sides were seated, Ma Whistle and Joule chatted about physics.

After a brief conversation, Joule confirmed that the Indian in front of him was not some ignorant barbarian.

As Mayo said, his understanding of physics is quite deep.

At the same time, Ma Whistle's recognition of theories such as the hot theory also made him feel close.

He was questioned a lot, even Faraday, so he was willing to reciprocate with his supporters.

The more the two talked, the more topical they became.

“…… In my opinion, Renford's barrel experiment is enough to disprove the thermal mass theory. Ma Whistle said.

"Proponents of the theory of heat mass argue that heat is a substance and is conserved. But when the gunsmith bores the barrel, the heat is constantly generated, and as long as the boring is in progress, the heat output will not be less than that. ”

"Obviously, heat can't be a substance, otherwise the gunsmith would be making matter and breaking conservation."

Quantum mechanics allows for something to happen out of nothing, but it is clearly out of place to talk about quantum mechanics in this day and age.

The horse whistle only needs to talk about the classic conservation is more than enough.

Joule was so fond of this that he couldn't help but put down the beer glass in his hand and said with admiration: "That's right, that's right, I think so too!" ”

"Conservation should be the most basic law of the universe, the prerogative of the Creator, and it is undoubtedly absurd that heat and mass are not even conserved!"

"It's hard to understand why anyone still believes in this theory." With that, he took another sip of his beer and sighed, "They have no reverence for the Creator." ”

Joule has a particularly strong adherence to conservation, and one of the main reasons for this is his faith.

Of course, he didn't believe in the strange myths and legends, but he believed that there was a supreme creator in the universe who held the privilege of creation and destruction.

No one but the Creator can break the law of conservation.

Such ideas are not uncommon among Western scientists.

There are few and fewer religious scientists, and the legends of ghosts and gods with little imagination are hard to convince them.

But theistic scientists were common, especially in this day and earlier.

Ma Whistle: "Yes, conservation should be the most basic law of physics. ”

"Matter is conserved, charge is conserved, energy is conserved...... These should all be immortal, and can only be transformed from one form to another. ”

"Compared to the conservation of heat and mass exposed under the Renford experiment, the conservation of energy is undoubtedly the truth."

"The so-called heat of an object is actually the average kinetic energy of its molecules."

"The average kinetic energy of a molecule!" Joule's eyes lit up.

Although the theory of heat has been around for a long time, to a large extent, it is still a philosophical cognition, which is very vague.

Euler was the first to make a quantitative analysis of this, but Euler did not do good things to the end, and put aside some calculations casually, and did not have a big impact.

So today, although more and more scientists believe in the theory of thermal motion, there is still no clear idea of how motion is reflected as heat.

And Ma Whistle's words have been quite specific, which makes Joule feel a little abrupt.

"The law of conservation of energy is already known, but IMHO, I don't think it's perfect enough. ”

Joule was about to say something, but when he heard this, he couldn't help frowning: "Oh? ”

"First of all, its name." "I don't think it should be called the 'Law of Conservation of Energy,' or rather, it shouldn't just be called that. ”

Joule: "What should that be called?" ”

"The First Law of Thermodynamics." Ma Whistle said slowly.

"Thermodynamics......" Joule muttered the new term.

Ma Whistle: "That's right, the theory of thermal mass is full of errors and omissions, it does not follow conservation, nor is it compatible with molecular kinetic theory, and the heat science about it should be withdrawn from the stage of history." ”

"Now, we should create a new branch of physics, based on the theory of thermodynamics, and call it 'thermodynamics.'"

After a pause, he continued: "And the law of conservation of energy should undoubtedly be the fundamental law of this new discipline, the first law of thermodynamics. ”