If it had been a few years earlier, the discovery of a new isotope might have been a Nobel Prize-winning discovery in chemistry.

At the end of last year, the Nobel Prize jury of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences not only awarded the Physics Prize to Einstein and Bohr in 1921 and 1922, but also to the Chemistry Prize.

The two winners of these two years are Frederick Sodi and Francis Aston.

The merits of both of them are related to isotopes.

The former, who was Rutherford's assistant at McGill University in Canada, proposed the isotope hypothesis.

The latter, the one that was previously lent to Chen Muwu's vacuum pump, used a mass spectrometer to discover more than 200 natural isotopes.

In Rutherford's vision, the carbon-13 that a nitrogen atom bombarded by an alpha particle would emit a proton was discovered by Aston in a mass spectrometer three years ago.

These two scientists basically blocked the way to win the Nobel Prize in chemistry using isotopes.

According to Fan Zhongyan's "The Story of Yueyang Tower", this is called the predecessor's account.

Even though the first isotope of oxygen, oxygen-17, was captured in the photo on the table in front of Chen Muwu, Blackett, as the first discoverer, estimated that if he only relied on this merit, he would not have a chance to win the Chemistry Prize.

If you want to win the Nobel Prize in Chemistry by discovering an isotope, the forced grid of either oxygen-17 or oxygen-18 is not high enough, at least you must find the isotope deuterium-2 of hydrogen.

If you want to find deuterium, there are only two ways at present, either to separate the heavy water DO from the sea, and then electrolyze the heavy water to obtain deuterium D; Alternatively, the vaporization temperature of liquid hydrogen and liquid deuterium is different, and the liquid hydrogen H is vaporized in a low temperature environment, so as to separate the liquid deuterium D.

Thinking of this, Chen Muwu glanced at Kapitsa, who was concentrating on fighting with the magnetic field and alpha particles, should he be able to expose him to low-temperature physics in advance?

Unlike Chen Muwu, who is calm and light-hearted, after listening to him say this conclusion, Blackett, who has always been calm, seemed very excited.

Whether it was the first photographic recording of nuclear transmutation or the discovery of the first isotope of oxygen, oxygen-17, it was a major breakthrough in academic research for him.

"Chen, are you, what you said true?"

"Of course it's true! You can look through the rest of the photos to see if there are any such thin and straight tracks; If you don't believe that this is oxygen-17, you can also put it in the mass spectrometer and take a look at it again. ”

Chen Muwu sits firmly in the Chinese military tent, if a few strands of ink hair grow out of thin air on his chin, and he holds a feather fan in his hand, then he will be like a Zhuge Liang who came out of the Peking Opera "Grass Boat Borrowing Arrows".

However, Lu Su, who was sitting opposite him, oh no, Blackett was still very excited: "You're right, Chen!" Please take a look at my photos here, I, I'm going to borrow a mass spectrometer! ”

Blackett, who has always been unhurried, rushed to the equipment warehouse of the Cavendish laboratory like an arrow off the string.

Chen Muwu didn't expect that he didn't want to continue to look at these boring photos, so he pointed out the final result of the experiment, but he still couldn't escape the fate of continuing to look at the photos.

Knowing that the experiment had made significant progress, Rutherford also heard about it.

Because he was the first to do this experiment, and now that he heard that the whole process of the nuclear reaction was captured in the photo, of course he wanted to come and see it himself.

"Chen, are you saying that during the reaction, the alpha particles are melted into the nitrogen nucleus?"

After listening to Chen Muwu's explanation, Rutherford asked in his trademark loud voice.

Chen Muwu replied with an oath: "Director, I think that's it, this nuclear reaction left only two trajectories in the cloud room.

"The first trajectory is thin and straight, which is significantly different from the trajectory of the alpha particle in the cloud chamber, which I think should be a proton.

"And the reason why we think that the other trajectory is oxygen-17, and not the other nitrogen atoms and carbon atoms, is because in this reaction in this picture, there is no third bifurcation, which not only means that there are no alpha particles being reflected, but it also means that there are no neutral, uh, new electrons being struck out, so according to the law of conservation of charge, this conclusion can be obtained."

The reason why Chen Muwu stuck in his words was because he almost said "It also means that there are no neutrons that undergo beta decay and radiate electrons outward and transform into protons."

If you don't pay attention, you almost leak the secret again.

Fortunately, the first syllable of neutron (neutron [njutrn]) is about the same as the first syllable of new (new [nju]), which makes him change his words wittily.

"Blackett is already looking for a mass spectrometer, whether it's oxygen-17 or not, just put the nucleus in it and try it.

"If it's true that nitrogen becomes oxygen, then can oxygen also become fluorine? If that's the case, Director, I think we might have found an alchemy that can 'turn stones into gold', and in the future, the Cavendish Laboratory will no longer be afraid of running out of money to do experiments!" ”

At the end of this sentence, Chen Muwu did not forget to make a little joke with Rutherford, and by the way, in the joke, he slightly revealed some complaints about the lack of money for him to do electron diffraction experiments in Cavendish Laboratories.

Rutherford should have also heard Chen Muwu's implication, because he was the first to lose, he could only smile awkwardly.

Rutherford took out his pocket watch to look at the time, and looked left and right to him: "Chen, you are really a lucky star, every time I come to you, I will definitely come across good news."

"On the way here, I happened to run into Blackett, and he was thrilled about it. I asked him what he was going to do, and he said he was going to borrow a mass spectrometer.

"But how long has it been, and why hasn't that young man done this yet? I'll go to the warehouse and take a look, Chen, you stay here and see if you can find a few more traces of this reaction from the photos! ”

Chen Muwu smiled bitterly helplessly, and watched Rutherford, who was picking up his pipe, turn around and leave.

……

Shortly after Rutherford left, Blackett returned to the lab with a borrowed mass spectrometer.

But he doesn't plan to start the next step of the experiment today to see what the new nucleus will be after this reaction.

Instead, he was thinking in his heart that he must invite Chen Muwu to the restaurant outside for a meal today.

After all, Chen Muwu has become his lucky star again this time, if he didn't come to the experimental results, maybe Blackett would still have to bury his head in those desperate photos, looking for a trifurcation trajectory that can never be found, and miss, or waste a long time, to find the truth behind this nuclear reaction.

Of course, the meal will not leave behind the third person in the KBC trio, Kapitsa.

In fact, this guy was uninvited, and even after learning that Oxygen-17 had been successfully discovered, he was even more excited than Blackett and Chen Muwu.

Rutherford was able to get the information at the first time, and it was the letter that Capitsa sent when he rushed out of the open laboratory to ventilate the first time.

As we all know, there is usually a fourth person in a three-person squad.

So after getting off work at six o'clock in the evening, the three of them left from Cavendish together, thinking about going to Magdalen Academy again and calling Ye Gongchao to have dinner together.

After meeting, everyone found that Ye Gongchao, who had always been personable, was no longer radiant this time.

His face was painted, a dark fist mark was obvious in the depths of his eyes, and unwiped blood could be seen at the corners of his mouth.

This is, a fight with someone?

"George, what's the matter with you? Who bullied you? We'll get your revenge! ”

Kapitsa, the youngest, was the first to jump out.

Looking at his anxious look, Chen Muwu felt that if he was given a bottle of vodka at this time, then Capitsa's combat effectiveness should not be a problem to directly eliminate the puppet army of a class of Vichy France.

Seeing the situation in front of him, Chen Muwu already had a faint guess in his heart, but he still planned to listen to Ye Gongchao talk about the ins and outs of the matter.

Sure enough, as Chen Muwu expected, Ye Gongchao got into a fight with others because of racial discrimination.

He has been studying in Europe and the United States since he was a child, and it stands to reason that Ye Gongchao should have seen a lot of this kind of discrimination scene, and he should have formed a strong "immunity" a long time ago.

But this time, Ye Gongchao rarely made a move with someone, indicating that he must have been very angry.

Ye Gongchao lit a cigarette and told the truth of what happened today in front of the three of them.

After class in the afternoon, he was walking peacefully on the way back to the academy as usual, when suddenly a drunken student dressed as an eyeless person appeared at the other end of the alley, and the two walked face to face.

Originally, as long as the two sides turned sideways to each other and gave way, they could pass each other in peace.

But this drunkard who didn't open his eyes stopped in front of Ye Gongchao, pointed at his nose and sprayed feces, and all kinds of foul words poured from his mouth onto Ye Gongchao's head.

“××！”

“×××！”

“××××！”

It is estimated that alcohol played a big role, and when it came to the excitement, the drunk suddenly reached out and waved his arm, and smashed Ye Gongchao's left eye with a punch.

Although he was temporarily overwhelmed by this sudden punch, after Ye Gongchao reacted, he immediately gave a powerful counterattack.

Don't look at this person's round head and round face, he looks harmless to humans and animals, but in fact, Ye Gongchao is also a ruthless character who has practiced martial arts since childhood.

According to Chen Xiangmei, the wife of Chennault of the Flying Tigers, Ye Gongchao practiced good swordsmanship.

Although there was no guy at hand, Ye Gongchao still relied on his good skills to knock the drunk to the ground after a scuffle.

After that, Ye Gongchao kicked a few more times hard, and let out the evil anger in his heart.

Hearing that Ye Gongchao didn't let others take advantage, the three of them finally let go of this hanging heart.

Wounding the enemy by 1,000 and self-inflicted damage by 800 is already the most perfect solution to this matter.

Of course, even if someone takes advantage of you, there is no way, whether it is to call the police or find the school supervisor to come forward, you will always be harmed.

This is the belt, it's you guys who should get out, right?

This incident sounded a wake-up call for Chen Muwu, that is, the foreigners around him are very friendly to him now, and it does not mean that the foreigners in the whole of Britain and the whole of Europe are very friendly to him.

Among acquaintances at the Cavendish Laboratory and Cambridge University, Chen was revered for his achievements and prestige in physics.

In the eyes of foreigners who don't know Chen Muwu, he is no different from his "Yellow Peril" compatriots.

Chen Muwu felt that he might have to learn some punches and kicks from Ye Gongchao, not to hurt others, but to protect himself, in case of emergency.

He also felt that it was not enough to raise his own prestige alone, should he do his part to change the image of the entire nation in the eyes of others?

But this kind of thing is easy to say, but how easy is it to put it into practice?

Blackett looked unspeakably hidden, just like Chen Muwu had told him on the train before when he was looked down upon by the group of swimmers on the edge of the Cam River.

Chen Muwu keenly captured this: "Do you have anything to say?" Patrick? ”

Blackett nodded, "Why was George stopped by that drunkard today, I think I probably know why." ”

His words made everyone instantly prick up their ears, and Kapitsa gritted his teeth and said viciously: "If I let me know who is behind the ghost, I will definitely not be able to spare him." ”

Blackett shook his head: "It's not who is making trouble, do you remember, I told you before that a certain bar outside the campus recently set up a machine that can show movies?"

"I heard that the movie that is being shown there in the last few days is an adaptation of the book of the same name.

"Chen, George, I've been with you for so long, of course I won't believe the nonsense of the people in the movie who smear the Chinese people. However, it has to be said that the film was very popular among students at Cambridge University. ”

"I think the drunk probably got drunk after watching this movie and getting drunk, so he hurt George who saw him on the road."

Fu Manchu, Fu Manchu.

Chen Muwu gritted his teeth with hatred for this name, and the author of the book, Saxon Romer, and he thought that if he could see this black dog on the street one day, he would have to beat him hard to get out of this bad breath.

But Britain is so big, it is really difficult to meet this mole hiding in the gutter.

If you want revenge, you can only find another way.

(End of chapter)