Voyage of the Stars

Chapter 74 Room Temperature Pressure Superconductivity

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Time passes slowly in the midst of great development and construction.

Two years later, humans once again built two nuclear fission power stations on the surface of the planet. Since then, the problem of power consumption in factories has been completely solved, and human construction speed has once again increased to a higher level.

Five years later, mankind's first battleship Callisto was completed, and the space dock has since entered the construction stage of the second battleship.

Against this background, mankind, which has been holding back for thousands of years, blew the horn of big industry.New energy architecture, new materials, new artificial intelligence algorithms, information technology, biotechnology, chemical technology. Scientists use their imagination to show off their talents in their respective fields.

The technology of small nuclear fission devices was broken by humans in such a large environment.

Correspondingly, the original powered exoskeleton technology has also been updated, and the industrial sector has proposed replacing traditional batteries with small nuclear fission batteries and then integrating them with space suits.

The emergence of this technology will greatly reduce the difficulty of humans' early landing on the planet.

Yue Yuan was overjoyed to see various technological advances, but what excited him most was the breakthrough in material technology.

So as soon as he heard the news, Yue Yuan immediately put down other work at hand and rushed to the research institute of Xu Zhenyi's team like flying.

"Professor Xu, has room temperature superconductivity really been realized?" As soon as Yue Yuan entered the institute, he went directly to Xu Zhenyi's office.

"Mr. Yue, it's a normal temperature and pressure superconductor." Xu Zhenyi put down the document in his hand, turned around and corrected it meticulously.

Seven years have passed, and Xu Zhenyi looks a little older, but his mental outlook is still very good.

"Yes, yes! Let's go take a look!" Yue Yuan said and was about to drag Xu Zhenyi to the laboratory to see what this room temperature superconductor looks like.

Although Yue Yuan knew about the phenomenon of superconductivity, he still couldn't help but want to see it with his own eyes.

"No need, I have it right here." Xu Zhenyi said, opening the desk drawer and taking out a piece of something with a dark surface but a metallic luster.

"This is the superconducting material synthesized in the laboratory. Take a look, sir."

Xu Zhenyi took out a large permanent magnet from another drawer. After placing the magnet on the table, he slowly placed the superconducting material in his hand on the magnet.

As he let go, the piece of thick black material was suspended on the magnet just as Yue Yuan had imagined. However, because Xu Zhenyi gave it some strength when he raised it, the piece of material was not completely still now, but It's spinning.

Yue Yuan, who was in a good mood, stretched out his hand and tried it a few times.

Everyone knows that according to the principle of electromagnetic interaction, when the external magnetic field changes, a conductor will generate an electric current.Superconductors have no resistance so these currents do not become smaller.

According to Lenz's law, the magnetic field generated by these currents will prevent the magnetic field from changing. The effect is that the magnetic flux of the superconductor will never change.

At this time, if a magnet is placed next to a superconductor with no current and no magnetic field, the superconductor will in turn make the magnetic flux inside the superconductor zero.At this time, the superconductor will generate a magnetic field of its own to offset the magnetic field of the magnet. If the magnet is a permanent magnet, then the two magnets will repel each other.

In the case of a superconductor, the ring current inside it will generate a magnetic field, which will then repel the magnetic field of the magnet. Macroscopically, the superconductor is suspended on the magnet.

Yue Yuan played with the superconductor a few times, then looked at Xu Zhenyi, "Professor Xu, was this thing synthesized by accident or..." "Don't worry, Chief." Xu Zhenyi seemed to know what Yue Yuan was going to say, and immediately replied: "The whole process of the experiment is fine. We have tried it many times and there is no problem.”

"That's good." A long-lost smile appeared on Yue Yuan's face.If the experiment can be reproduced, it means that it was not made accidentally by opening a blind box like "alchemy".

It seems that next year I can change my name to Academician Xu.

"How ductile is this thing? How big is the fluctuation of the environment in which superconductivity occurs? Is it possible to produce it on a large scale?" Yue Yuan asked a series of questions.

"It's not as good as copper, but better than aluminum, and it's somewhere in between. Its superconducting properties exist in a wide temperature range, about -269°C to 76°C, and the pressure is between 0.1 and 1.6 standard atmospheres. Time, beyond this range, the conductor will produce resistance, these are the specific parameters." Xu Zhenyi answered while clicking on the computer file on his desk.

He knew why Yue Yuan asked about ductility. Metals or alloys with good ductility can be used as wires. The ductility of this superconducting material is between that of copper and aluminum, which perfectly meets this condition.

Xu Zhenyi turned the computer screen to Yue Yuan and continued: "Theoretically, this material already has the potential for mass production, because our laboratory already knows its precise molecular formula, as well as the specific parameters of each process to prepare it, but most After all, large-scale production cannot be compared with laboratories, so the director-general should ask the Ministry of Industry for more clarity."

Yue Yuan nodded, he understood what Xu Zhenyi meant.

For something to be prepared from the laboratory to large-scale production, there must be a process. Even if the laboratory provides parameters for each step, real industrial production does not simply enlarge the laboratory equipment and materials. OK.

"Although it is a matter for the Ministry of Industry, Professor Xu has to take the position of production consultant. After all, no one is more familiar with superconductivity than you." Yue Yuan confirmed Xu Zhenyi's words and incidentally proposed that he be given the position of production consultant.

He is now beginning to think about the future.

The emergence of normal temperature and normal pressure superconductivity will bring about a scientific and technological revolution in all fields.

After the application of superconducting materials, Hope will inevitably undergo a major overhaul, including various circuits, original components in various equipment, and thruster coils.The recently completed Callisto ship also needs to be upgraded, at least all of its heat-producing parts must be replaced with superconducting materials.

There is no transmission loss of electric energy. What a wonderful thing. In the future, the energy loss of Hope will be reduced to almost zero. The most direct and intuitive manifestation is that the power of the thruster will be increased again. Humanity will be expected to break through 1% of the speed of light. Speed ​​Limit.

Moreover, with the advent of superconductivity, can controllable nuclear fusion be far behind?
You must know that in terms of controllable nuclear fusion, humans have been close to success as early as the Earth Age. As long as humans can bring this technology back to the level of the Earth Age, controllable nuclear fusion can be realized.

Of course, humans still need some time.

"By the way, Professor Xu, do you still remember Yinwu?" Yue Yuan suddenly looked away from the computer screen and said to Xu Zhenyi.

"I will never forget it in this life!" Xu Zhenyi's face showed a little fear when he talked about the 'Silver Mist', and he sighed: "Do you want to talk about the thermal imaging of the 'Silver Mist'?"

Yue Yuan nodded.

The success of superconducting reminded him of that scene back then.

When humans used thermal imaging to scan the silver haze, they found that the silver haze did not generate any heat at all, whether in flight or latent state.

At that time, he was wondering what the reason was. Now that he thought about it, it must be superconducting.

"It should be superconducting, and the temperature and pressure range is much larger than our material, but I would rather believe that it is not caused by superconducting." There was a trace of fear in Xu Zhenyi's eyes, and he let out a long sigh. He calmed down and continued, "Because I really can't imagine how superconductivity works at the nanometer level, no. It should be at the picometer level. Can you imagine that kind of technological strength is really disappointing !”

(End of this chapter)