Chapter 552 - 541 Alien Technology_1

B-level Base.

Having learned there was a sample of the metal hydrogen battery technology, Ye Changsi and Wu Yunfeng left over a hundred new scientists and flew back immediately.

The rest needed arrangements to come to the base, as it was impossible for so many people to travel by plane. Instead, they were spread across two bullet train sets, with the Security Bureau and Traffic Management coordinating the departure times to prevent any accidents.

The two made a point of arriving at night when Academician She and several experts from the Aerospace Bureau were still at the base, to avoid unnecessary trouble by not running into them.

As soon as they got off the plane, they went straight into the basement where the "Mountain and Sea" supercomputer was stored. Pushing open the door, they saw over a dozen system engineers already gathered there.

This was an empty repair hangar, with a silver-colored metal box about the length of a person placed in the center, its surface etched with lines full of science fiction elements.

"Incredible."

Wu Yunfeng rushed to the very back and touched the metallic surface of the C172 Alpha Battery sample.

Just touching it, he felt an amazement that seemed not of this era; although it looked like aluminum alloy, when touched by hand it didn’t feel cold like inorganic materials. Despite many patterned markings resembling oxidation layers and scratches, there was virtually no friction at all. It was alarmingly smooth.

Such materials with extreme contrast between visual and tactile sensations were extremely rare on Earth. Additionally, on closer inspection, the design of the battery’s power supply head was completely foreign.

The parameters were marked with traditional Chinese characters and Arabic numerals, but their format was quite different from the marking systems on Earth, giving off an out-of-place aura at first glance.

It just sat there quietly, clearly conveying the fact that it was of alien manufacture.

Ye Changsi crouched next to the battery’s power port and pushed on it, unable to move it.

"Metal hydrogen... This might be humanity’s first time coming into such close contact with degenerate matter."

Wu Yunfeng said, "It’s hard to imagine how the humans from that timeline managed to create the pressure of an electron-degenerate state. Having reached this step, they surely must be working towards neutron-degenerate states next.

I think they might already be considering how to master gravity. What a world of extremely advanced science."

"Wait a minute."

In the corner, Lin Ju stopped flirting with Yu Man and asked, puzzled,

"Is there metal hydrogen on the surface of neutron stars?"

Wu Yunfeng: "High-density, high-energy materials formed by the Pauli exclusion principle are called degenerate matter. In the core of neutron stars, electrons are forced to combine with protons into neutrons under immense gravity, and these neutrons are tightly packed together. Lighter hydrogen elements on the uppermost layers of neutron stars would also be in a degenerate state due to this pressure.

However, the density of a neutron-degenerate state is extremely exaggerated, reaching billions of times that of metallic hydrogen. If this was neutron-degenerate matter, its weight might be close to a septillion tons.

According to our current theories, the atmospheric pressure where metallic hydrogen exists must be over 400 gigapascals, millions of times that of standard atmospheric pressure.

If there are indeed over a hundred kilograms of metal hydrogen here, I can’t think of any container that could withstand such high pressure. Even the central pressure in a hydrogen bomb explosion is only about 100 GPa."

After Wu Yunfeng finished speaking, Ye Changsi added,

"Theoretically, even if a hydrogen bomb went off inside this battery’s container, it should not be affected. Its technical level is no less than that of metallic hydrogen.

By the way... where is the documentation?"

Lin Ju pointed to Xie Liaofu’s laptop sitting on his legs in the corner, and unconsciously distanced himself from the battery. He then thought better of it:

According to Wu Yunfeng, the pressure inside this battery is several times that of a hydrogen bomb’s explosion center; if there’s an accident, flattening the base would be no problem, not to mention the power of the metallic hydrogen inside.

Wu Yunfeng approached Xie Liaofu, who was sitting and going through the computer, and noticed the four NAS drive enclosures stacked next to him, crammed full with forty-eight 32TB solid-state drives.

Xie Liaofu looked up as he approached, stood up, and vacated the seat:

"You’re right on time. I can’t understand this damn thing. The index alone for the technical documentation is over 4,000 pages, and I haven’t found a single title I can make sense of."

"..."

The technical documentation was well-organized, but the majority of the vocabulary was beyond Xie Liaofu’s field of knowledge. Only scientists who have significant accomplishments in advanced physics could understand it; otherwise, even the titles were unrecognizable.

Ye Changsi and Cheng Nankai were the only ones here who could barely make sense of the documentation. For over half an hour, they searched the laptop and first found the metal hydrogen storage method for the battery. Then they collectively gasped.

Those still studying the C172 Alpha Battery surface quickly gathered around, then saw the frightened look in Cheng Nankai’s eyes.

"There is no high-pressure container inside the battery, at least not one we understand. Instead, it’s vacuum-packed and the metal hydrogen is suspended inside. There is a device generating a powerful electromagnetic force, pressing all the metal hydrogen tightly together.

And this device’s power comes from the metal hydrogen cluster itself. It uses its superconductivity to generate repulsive forces that are then converted into electrical energy and is not a traditional chemical battery. As the electricity is used, the pressure of the metal hydrogen cluster gradually decreases, and a portion of the metal hydrogen is converted into free hydrogen ions, which are absorbed by the container wall’s material and transformed into hydrides."