"Mr. Wells, Professor Huxley, since you have all found the Royal Institute today, then don't stay in this small reception room, why don't you go with me to the laboratory upstairs to see for yourself what this so-called superconductivity is."

Chen Muwu kindly invited two people to the laboratory to observe the superconductivity experiment, hoping that they could help him testify by the way.

"Dr. Chen, is this appropriate?"

Huxley raised his own doubts.

He is a professor of zoology at King's College London, and he has the impression that laboratories should be an important place for scientific research.

Outsiders can easily trigger all kinds of strange and unstable factors when they enter the laboratory at will, thus affecting the results of the experiment.

"Professor Huxley, of course it's fine. I know what you're worried about, but the truth is that there is only a small refrigeration machine in that lab, and all our experiments are conducted in that machine, which is very little affected by the outside world.

"I have only one request to you, and that is to leave the cigarettes, matches, and other things you are carrying that might ignite objects here, and all sources of fire are forbidden to enter our laboratory."

Wells and Huxley complied with Chen Muwu's request, leaving all the fire sources they were carrying in the reception room, and then followed the latter up the stairs to the laboratory upstairs.

"These two are my assistants," Chen Muwu, as the host, introduced each other to the four people in the room, "This is Mr. Wells, the famous British writer who wrote The Time Machine, this is Professor Huxley of King's College London, and his grandfather is Sir Huxley, who wrote "The Theory of Heavenly Evolution". ”

When introducing the two visitors, Chen Muwu's focus was also different for different students.

For Oppenheimer, who loved poetry and literature, Wells should have attracted him a little more.

As for his Chinese compatriot Shi Ruwei, Huxley's name who wrote "The Theory of Heavenly Evolution" is known to everyone among intellectuals.

"I'll take two guests to visit the laboratory, and this afternoon I will have half a day off, and the two of them can be free to move."

In fact, Chen Muwu didn't have anything to say next, he just wanted to brag with Wells, but he still invited the two students out, lest the speaker had no intention of listening.

"Please look at the two of you," After Shi Ruwei and Oppenheimer left, Chen Muwu held up a piece of off-white metal and demonstrated it to the two people on the scene.

Niobium metal is extremely stable, it will not react with air in normal environments, and it is non-toxic and harmless, so he dares to contact it directly with his hands.

"This is the kind of niobium metal that has been in the newspapers lately."

"Dr. Chen," Wells interrupted, "what is the relationship between the metal's name, niobium, and the goddess of tears in Greek mythology, Neob?" ”

"You are right, Mr. Wells, the name niobium is derived from this figure from Greek mythology.

"Before the discovery of this metal, a metal tantalum was discovered, and its name was derived from Tantalus, the son of Zeus in Greek mythology.

Niobium was isolated and discovered in tantalum ore, so it was named after the mythical daughter of Tantalus, Niob.

"But in fact, the existence of niobium was first predicted by the Americans.

"An American thought a mine contained a new element a long time ago, and named it after Christopher Columbus, who discovered the American continent, and called this new element coltan.

It's just that he didn't give strong evidence that this was a new element, so his discovery was not convincing.

Later, European scientists discovered two elements, tantalum and niobium, and named them after two characters in Greek mythology.

"Now in the world, only Americans still stubbornly call this element coltan, except for them, scientists in other countries call it niobium."

In fact, in the current Republic of China, there are many chemists and mineralogists who call this element coltan according to the American name, and specially created a Chinese character for it, coltonium.

This is mainly because of the Gengzi indemnity, so that most people go to the United States to study, and naturally receive American-style education, it is not surprising that American academic vocabulary is used.

"First of all, without finding conclusive evidence, announced the existence of the new metal in advance, and after being really discovered by others, still insisted on his previous name, stubbornly not changing to the international standard, this is indeed like a group of frizzy and arrogant Americans, this is indeed like a group of frizzy and arrogant Americans, can do."

Huxley on the side complained accurately, and Wells smiled after hearing it.

In the First World War, the French men fought bloody, and those favorite milk jokes were not born in this world at this time.

The British have long seen that the little cousin of the outburst on the other side of the Atlantic is not pleasing to the eye, so they are merciless when they make fun of it, without any psychological burden.

But it's not just the Americans, the British have eyes on the top of their heads, and they look down on anyone, after all, they are still bathed in the afterglow of the sun.

After the three of them had laughed, Wells continued with the same question he had already asked at a salon: "Dr. Chen, must this be the refrigeration machine you are talking about, and the experiment on superconductivity was done in this instrument?" ”

"Exactly."

"But when I look at this machine, the wires attached to the back are not thin. When it's running, the power must not be low, right?

"Then even if you say that the resistance of this niobium metal will become zero at low temperatures, and there will be no loss of electrical energy, but the energy consumed by this refrigeration is not much larger than the loss?"

Just in the reception room on the first floor, when Huxley relayed the reason why they had come to the Royal Institute, Chen Muwu heard Wells's question.

Hit the nail on the head to find the problem, this terrifying scientific sensitivity, Wells deserves to become a generation of science fiction masters.

That's why he invited two people to the lab, planning to come up with a plan.

"Mr. Wells, you can't say that. Although it is true that in the laboratory now, as you say, refrigeration consumes more electricity than it can be saved by using superconducting transmission. But what if you can find a hotter material later? If a material can be superconducting in the minus 20 degrees Celsius range, then we can transmit electricity without loss in the Arctic Circle.

"And if the critical temperature of superconductivity of a material reaches zero degrees, we can even transmit it in winter.

"When it reaches twenty or thirty degrees Celsius where the room temperature is, then human beings will not have any loss in power transmission in the future."

Hey, why does this sound familiar? It seems that the same thing that Rahman from the University of Kolkata said the same thing.

"And Mr. Wells, the effect of this material, when it enters superconductivity, becomes zero in resistance, not only does it not have any loss in the transmission of electricity, but it also floats in the center of the magnetic field, like this."

Chen Muwu did not explain too much theory, but held the niobium piece and a magnet in the other hand, placed it under the clay piece, and started to simulate.

"Why don't I show you now, but before that, I need to turn on the machine and lower the temperature below the critical temperature to let the niobium metal enter the superconducting state."

After Chen Muwu said this, he "naturally" stacked the niobium sheets in his hand on the magnet, and then put the two into the refrigerator together, and then started the machine after all kinds of insulation measures were done.

"Two, the cooling process of the machine will need to wait for a while, please come here and take a little rest," Chen Muwu invited the two of them to another corner of the laboratory, and concocted the previous liquid nitrogen frozen banana and pineapple, "Afternoon tea time, it's just that there are no conditions for boiling tea in the laboratory, so I can only invite you to taste the summer ice products that I have recently developed with local materials." ”

"Dr. Chen, you're still going to enjoy it." Huxley, a gourmet, commented with a satisfied look on his face after eating a banana, "It's just a pity that you don't have any cold beer here." A cup in the hot summer is a real treat. ”

Wells still insisted on the question: "Dr. Chen, even if you say that this superconducting material will float in a magnetic field, what is the use?" ”

"It can be used to make trains, cars, and transportation! If superconducting technology can be realized, the future vehicles will be suspended on the ground, and there will be no friction caused by contact with the ground, and when moving forward, it will only be affected by air resistance, so the speed of traffic will become faster in the future. ”

"You mean like airplanes and airships?"

"Yes and no, while these traffic materials are only affected by air resistance, the reasons that make them float are very different.

"Airplanes rely on the lift generated by aerodynamics, airships rely on the buoyancy of the filled gas, and the superconducting levitation in the future depends on the magnetic properties of superconductors.

"And the fact that this means of transportation is lower from the ground than airplanes and airships, so there are no daunting aerial disasters."

"Dr. Chen, if it is really like what you said, then I would very much like to see it in the future. When did you study time machines? When you succeed, I will be the first to apply to travel on it in the future. ”

Wells made a joke, after all, Chen Muwu in front of him was the first person to theoretically propose that time travel was feasible.

"The future may not be better than the present, Mr. Wells, and perhaps you will feel even more disappointed when you arrive in the future!"

"Dr. Chen, it will take some time for your machine to be refrigerated anyway, can you imagine from the perspective of a physicist, what do you imagine the future to look like with the development of science?"

Chen Muwu was worrying about how to delay the time, so that after the refrigeration temperature of the machine reached below 10 Kelvin, the niobium that entered the superconducting state would suddenly float in the magnetic field, and Wells sent him a topic.

What does the future look like?

Wells, which future are you asking?

Is it that the British colonies overseas are basically all independent or returned, and even Scotland, which has been united for hundreds of years, has begun to become independent, the invincible Great Britain has become Little Britain, and the Indians have ridden to the future of the master as the prime minister?

Chen Muwu really felt that if Wells returned to the future in a time machine and saw all this kind of thing, this old gentleman might have blood pressure and roll his eyes and be angry to death.

Forget it, let's talk about it.

But what to say?

Internet, Robotics, Artificial Intelligence, Medical Technology, GMO......

Chen Muwu thought about it, and from the perspective of a physicist, it was not suitable for any of the particles above.

However, the topic just mentioned the heavenly things such as airplanes and airships, so why don't you talk about heavenly things?

"Mr. Wells, do you believe it or not, that people will fly into the universe in the future?

"Sir Isaac Newton had conceived the idea of a cannon hundreds of years ago, erecting a cannon on top of a high mountain, and if the cannonball was fast enough, the cannonball would fly forward forever and not fall to the ground.

"In his time, this kind of cannon could only exist in fantasy, but with the development of science, people find stronger and stronger materials, find more efficient fuels, and maybe they can really reach the speed that allows cannonballs to rotate around the earth without falling.

"If it were faster, maybe the shells would break away from the gravitational constraints of the Earth and get farther and farther away from the Earth!

"It's not a whim on me, for ten years a Russian named Konstantin Tsiolkovsky has calculated that if the speed of a shell reaches five miles per second, then it will circle the earth.

"And if the cannonball reaches a speed of seven miles per second, it can escape from the gravitational restraint of the Earth.

"If its speed is higher, maybe it will escape from the solar system, or even the entire galaxy, and go deeper into the universe to explore!"

"I have seen Mr. Tsiolkovsky's paper before, and there should be no problem with his calculations. It's just that humans can really make objects reach such incredible speeds? ”

"I think it's possible, there was an idea in Chinese martial arts that a person pushed his right instep with his left foot, and then his right foot kicked his left instep, and if the two feet borrowed from each other, he could get up from the spot.

The idea is naturally ridiculous and will not make any difference other than to get two kicked red insteps.

"But when you put it on that shell, it's different. If you can go through layers of acceleration, it should be easy to get the shell to reach a speed of five miles per second...... Hell, how did this niobium metal piece float in the magnetic field by itself! ”

Chen Muwu performed the last exclamation very realistically.

(End of chapter)