cosmic hegemony

Chapter 361, Controlled Fusion
In the back garden of the Imperial Palace, Li Fu is in a good mood recently. With the major breakthrough in the field of atomic materials, the technology of the empire is developing at an unprecedented speed. The field of material science is the basic field of all disciplines, and a major breakthrough in the field of materials , naturally led to the development of the entire empire's scientific field, and good news from all aspects of science and technology spread frequently.

"The degenerate material has been created, and the Imperial Space Research Institute has also made a major breakthrough. The warp engine can now be manufactured, but the degenerate material is too expensive. To manufacture a warp The engine, the cost, makes my heart ache just thinking about it."

There was a smile on Li Fu's face, because of the breakthrough in materials and space theory, there was no problem at all in manufacturing the warp drive, but when thinking about the cost of manufacturing the warp drive, Li Fu felt extremely painful, it was really too expensive.

The warp speed engines used on spaceships and space battleships are very large in size and require a large amount of degenerate materials, which means that it takes tens of billions of dollars to create a warp engine. Even Li Fu, as the emperor of the empire, couldn't help gritting his teeth.

"The only unsolved problem now is the energy problem. There has been no major progress in the research of controllable nuclear fusion. There is no powerful controllable nuclear fusion to provide power. It can't be started at all, and the current energy technology simply can't provide enough powerful energy to satisfy the voracious appetite of the warp drive."

Thinking of this, Li Fu couldn't help but frowned.

Nuclear fusion and nuclear fission are naturally unfamiliar to everyone, because this is the most basic principle of hydrogen bombs and atomic bombs among nuclear weapons. The atomic bomb uses the huge energy generated during material fission to achieve the huge destructive power it wants to achieve, while the hydrogen bomb It uses the accumulated energy generated during the fusion of matter to form a powerful destructive force. The energy generated by nuclear fusion is greater than that generated by fission.

As early as the 20th century, humans have been able to use nuclear fusion and nuclear fission to create terrifying nuclear weapons. With the development of nuclear technology, humans have gradually mastered controllable nuclear fission technology, the most widely used of which is nuclear power plant.

However, the controllable nuclear fusion technology has always been unsuccessful even though human scientists have devoted countless efforts to it. Even the hydrogen bomb is an uncontrollable nuclear fusion, and it cannot be said to become powerful according to human needs. energy to serve humanity.

Because the conditions required to achieve nuclear fusion are too harsh, it is necessary to free the extranuclear electrons from the shackles of the nucleus in a high-temperature or high-pressure environment, so that the two nuclei can attract each other and collide together, and the nuclei will polymerize with each other. , to generate new heavier atomic nuclei (such as helium). Although the neutrons have a relatively large mass, they can also escape from the shackles of the atomic nucleus and be released during this collision process because the neutrons are not charged. A large number of electrons and neutrons What release manifests is a huge release of energy.

To what extent does this high temperature and high pressure have to be to achieve nuclear fusion? According to the calculations of scientists, to achieve nuclear fusion, the temperature must reach hundreds of millions of degrees.

The high temperature of hundreds of millions of degrees is the only temperature inside stars. Hydrogen bombs need to explode with atomic bombs to generate sufficient temperature to achieve nuclear fusion of the materials inside the hydrogen bomb.

At such a high temperature, any substance will be evaporated into particles. The most difficult problem to be solved in controllable nuclear fusion is how to control the high temperature of hundreds of millions of degrees generated during nuclear fusion.

"The high temperature of hundreds of millions of degrees is really a headache."

Li Fu frowned. This warp engine can already be manufactured, but there is no way to develop controllable nuclear fusion technology to satisfy the appetite of the warp engine. It is conceivable that Li Fu is in a mood now. This is like It was the cat who saw the fish, but it happened to be separated by a layer of glass, and it was as crazy as it could not eat the fish in the glass.

"Go to the Nuclear Research Institute for a walk."

Thinking of this, Li Fu immediately set off to see the latest progress of the Imperial Nuclear Research Institute.

……

Also somewhere in the space of the Centaurus galaxy, a huge space city is brightly lit. The Imperial Institute of Nuclear Physics, one of the many branch research institutes in the Imperial Academy of Sciences, is a research institute specializing in nuclear fission and nuclear fusion technology.

Many people may think that this nuclear technology has nothing to study for the empire, except for a controllable nuclear fusion, which may be really worth studying. As for nuclear fission, controllable nuclear fission, etc., let alone the empire Yes, that is, the Pan-European Union, the Japanese, etc. have already been thoroughly studied.

In fact, this is not the case. Nuclear technology is also a very esoteric technology. It is not just about nuclear fission. The current mainstream technology is to use the heavy nuclei at the back of the periodic table to generate fission and release energy, such as uranium. Or plutonium.

But if we can use elements close to the periodic table such as iron, gold, silver, etc. to carry out nuclear fission, what kind of reaction will it be? These technologies are also very worthy of research.The same is true for nuclear fusion. If iron elements are used for nuclear fusion, the energy released will definitely be more terrifying and terrifying.

Of course, for the current Imperial Institute of Nuclear Physics, the main research direction is still controllable nuclear fusion technology!
"In the final analysis, nuclear fusion is actually using various methods to free the extranuclear electrons from the shackles of the nucleus, so that two or more nuclei can come together to produce a new heavier nucleus."

"We have been working on how to overcome the high temperature of hundreds of millions of degrees generated during nuclear fusion over the years. Now we look at the problem in essence. In fact, it is not necessary to use high temperature and high pressure to achieve nuclear fusion."

"If we can free the extranuclear electrons from the shackles of the nucleus at room temperature or at a lower temperature, or use a high-intensity, high-density magnetic field to block neutrons or direct neutrons to output at higher temperatures, we can use more common Simpler equipment produces controlled cold fusion reactions while also making fusion reactions safer."

In a conference room of the research institute, Imperial scientists in white coats are discussing the issue of controllable nuclear fusion technology. The Empire has continuously made significant developments in various fields, and warp speed engines can now be manufactured. came out, but there was no way to provide the powerful energy that Warp Cause needed.

So during this period of time, Emperor Li Fu, President of the Imperial Academy of Sciences Chen Bin, and veterans of the Imperial Academy of Sciences have also come to the Institute of Nuclear Physics frequently.

As scientists at the Institute of Nuclear Physics, everyone is under a lot of pressure. Watching other people's achievements spring up like a spring, but there has been no progress on my own side, which is a serious drag on the empire's century-old plan. Everyone is also I can't sleep well, and I can't eat well.

People fight for one breath, Buddha receives one stick of incense!

They are all engaged in research, and no one is worse than the other. The scientists here at the Institute of Nuclear Physics are also holding their breath, and they are bound to research the technology of controllable nuclear fusion.

At this time, on the podium in the meeting room, a handsome and extraordinary young man is talking about the technology of cold nuclear fusion. He looks very young, but in the empire, it is difficult to tell by looking at a person's size and appearance, because there are many elements. People who have achieved success in physical strength cultivation still look very young even though they are very old.

"Recently, our empire has developed rapidly in the field of material science. The creation of atomic materials relies on powerful magnetic energy technology. Since this magnetic energy can be used to create atoms, why can't we use it for cold nuclear fusion? We use high-density, High-intensity magnetic fields can also control neutrons and successfully achieve nuclear fusion reactions."

"The above is just a little bit of my humble opinion, please give me more advice."

Li Wanzhou bowed slightly to the crowd, and then slowly walked off the podium. As the eldest son of the emperor and Li Fu's eldest son, Li Wanzhou has attracted much attention since he was born. Of course, Li Wanzhou himself is also very good. He became a scientist at the Imperial Academy of Sciences at a very young age, and his main research direction is controllable nuclear fusion technology. Now he is one of the few top scientists in the field of Imperial nuclear physics research.

The cold nuclear fusion technology he mentioned is also a technology conjectured by scientists. Unlike thermal nuclear fusion technology, cold nuclear fusion technology does not require hundreds of millions of tons of high temperature during nuclear fusion. The principle of nuclear fusion is the same. , thermonuclear fusion technology is realized by using high temperature and high pressure, while cold nuclear fusion technology is realized by using non-high temperature and high pressure technology.

It is still difficult to make a conclusion about which of the two technologies is better. Now that the scientists of the empire cannot figure out a way to overcome the high temperature of hundreds of millions of degrees generated by human nuclear fusion, cold nuclear fusion technology is also on the table. In front of everyone, especially with the emergence of magnetic energy technology, cold nuclear fusion technology, which was only conjectured at first, does not seem to be out of reach, and it is possible to realize it.

"Cold nuclear fusion technology?"

No one noticed that at the back of the conference room, Li Fu came in silently, listening to his son Li Wanzhou talking about the cold fusion technology, Li Fu couldn't help but nodded slightly.

Li Fu, who possesses the seeds of civilization, naturally knows that the early use of thermonuclear fusion technology by the Dahan Technological Empire is opportunistic and opportunistic. With the development of science and technology, the cold nuclear fusion technology was slowly researched later. The principle and method are the same as what Li Wanzhou said.

PS: Ask for tickets, all kinds of requests!

(End of this chapter)