Chapter 377 - 369 Particle Accelerator_1

The speed of photons is the speed of light, and α particles travel at only about 5% of the speed of light; to use them to propel a spaceship of several thousand or ten thousand tons within a certain period of time is beyond human capability.

That is why Zhao Zongyao wrote it as an "overview"—he himself felt it was impossible to achieve in his lifetime...

For the base, the situation was even more so. Lin Ju’s newly assigned task was to research a fusion radiation thruster with a thrust of 1000 tons. Tentatively throwing in ten million, the progress was still zero, not even reaching the lowest threshold of 0.1%, far exceeding the current world’s capabilities.

However, this at least showed that radiation propulsion was feasible, especially since the base currently had no strength to conduct research on it.

Even laser-constrained inertial plasma fusion, the third-generation fusion technology achieved in that parallel world, was technically so challenging that it was beyond reach.

The year 2039 in the parallel world did not mean their scientific and technological level was the same as this timeline; their fusion reactor’s core temperature exceeded 1.5 billion degrees Celsius and was charging towards 2 billion degrees. Only then did they achieve the indicator of maintaining a reactor at low energy.

Controlling the wildly irregular plasma at 1.5 billion Celsius to react according to a predesignated route? This requirement was no different from a pipe dream to the current scientists.

After all, the higher the temperature, the more violent the movement of the particles, and the difficulty of interference increases exponentially. It’s unimaginable how chaotic the particles could become at a core temperature of 1.5 billion.

"How is it? What are our chances?"

Lin Ju flipped through the scattered draft papers on his desk and raised the question he was most concerned about.

It was only then that Ye Changsi looked up and sighed, blinking his bloodshot eyes.

"The future...the technological path of that parallel world is quite excellent, using almost all the methods humans can think of, especially weak force containment... it’s simply against common sense, but it’s not the reactor blueprints. We just have a reliable basis.

In fact, it’s impossible for us to achieve it. The prerequisite technologies alone are too many and too complex. Ten years, twenty years? Without obtaining more information, a continued investment over twenty years should be able to solve the prerequisite technologies."

Twenty years? Lin Ju was about to say something when he was interrupted by Cheng Nankai, who had stood up.

"Twenty years is just an ideal number; in reality, we would need to spend a decade researching particles first."

Cheng Nankai slowly organized a few manuscripts:

"I spent most of my time researching the Yu Qian Formula, and it indeed is correct, but it merely identifies a pattern.

If we also plan to use it to create a containment device, we must master more information. The weak force pertains to fermions, meaning particles like neutrinos, electrons, etc., and studying it requires assistance from K mesons."

In 1949, scientists saw an unusual particle for the first time in cosmic ray photographs; four years later, they artificially obtained this particle with a powerful accelerator and eventually named it the K meson.

There are four types of K mesons, two of which carry a positive or negative charge, represented as K±, and the other two are uncharged, represented as K°, K.

Thus K-24 mesons are called strange particles, originally meaning that these particles are produced in a very short time, about 10^-24 seconds; but their average lifespan is generally over 10^-10 seconds, relatively lengthy.

Cheng Nankai explained what K mesons are, then continued:

"K mesons need to be obtained through particle accelerators."

"Moreover, what’s needed is a very large, high-energy accelerator, even bigger than Europe’s LHC (the world’s largest hadron collider)," Ye Changsi added immediately after.

"We can’t skip this process unless we obtain the most direct blueprints and construction technology of nuclear fusion devices, but if we want to really master it, we still need accelerators."

"..."

Speaking of accelerators, Lin Ju immediately understood; it was beyond the base’s capability to develop.

Particle accelerators are too extravagant in terms of funding. Europe spent a total of 21 billion euros to build the LHC, and the maintenance and energy consumption of this thing are incredibly staggering, running into hundreds of millions to over a billion each time it’s started up, with power ratings comparable to a small city.

The LHC (Large Hadron Collider) has a diameter of 8.6 kilometers and a circumference of 27 kilometers; an accelerator larger than it would truly require the effort of an entire nation to complete.

That’s why Yang once advised the government not to engage in accelerator projects; they were not profitable yet extremely costly and, for the country at that time, a wasteful use of national resources with no return.

Even with lower domestic prices, at least 100 billion would likely need to be invested to construct an oversized accelerator, and aerospace and military expenditures had already increased by several hundred billion compared to the original world. Launching an accelerator project would be too much to ask.

Besides, how could they convince the higher-ups to spend such a huge cost on an accelerator?

Fortunately, Ye Changsi proactively said:

"The theoretical value of this book is very high. We do not need to rush to commence the fusion plan. Just the initial theoretical research will take a considerable amount of time and won’t require those out-of-era devices.

But I still have a suggestion, increase the number of nuclear scientists to over 100, and also see if we can participate in EAST, at least it’s not purely theoretical research and we can collect some data."

Cheng Nankai: "My opinion is pretty much the same, and frankly speaking, only Ye is capable of conducting research right now. We need at least three scientists of A level or above to proceed, and the field of high-energy physics requires exceptional talents."

"Hmm..."

Lin Ju understood very well; cutting-edge physics required not quantity but quality. A genius that comes once in a hundred years is more useful than 100 scientifically trained scientists; it needs a supremely intelligent mind and creativity, which can only be discovered by chance.

In the country... Lin Ju suddenly thought of Academician Yu he met in Qiongzhou. He was actually a super-genius in the field of fusion, and so was Yang, but they were too old to engage in intense scientific research.

He could only hope to complete a system task sometime and bring over super-geniuses like Einstein, Bohr, Fermi, or people of their caliber, which would then make it possible to explore physics that ordinary people would find hard to even comprehend.

Or perhaps the system would generously provide an A-Level Skill Card; Lin Ju guessed that the Forward Space Station or landing on the moon would definitely count as significant achievements. If there were such a reward, that would be great.

Although Ye Changsi candidly explained that the content in this book was too complex for the base, Lin Ju was still fascinated by the prospects of fusion technology. After all, only fusion could show the dawn of the vast starry seas, and he was now certain that fusion technology could succeed within this century.

"Then how do we go about joining EAST? That’s a leading international fusion project, and with our identity, it may be difficult to enter."

In the end, Lin Ju posed a question, but Ye Changsi just smiled and pointed at Cheng Nankai.

"Don’t underestimate ourselves; Cheng is probably seen as the most promising young nuclear physicist by the Academy of Sciences. If he takes the lead, there should be no problem."