Chapter 361, Controlled Nuclear Fusion

In the back garden of the Imperial Palace, Li Fu has been in a very good mood recently. With the major breakthrough in the field of atomic materials, the Empire's science and technology has developed rapidly at an unprecedented speed. The field of materials science is the foundation of all disciplines. The major breakthrough in the field of materials has naturally driven the development of the entire Imperial science field, and good news about science and technology has been heard frequently in all aspects.

"The degenerate material has been created, and the Imperial Space Research Institute has also made a major breakthrough. The warp engine can now be fully manufactured, but the degenerate material is too expensive. The cost of manufacturing a warp engine makes me feel distressed just thinking about it."

Li Fu had a smile on his face. Because of the breakthrough in material and space theory, there was no problem in manufacturing a warp engine. However, when he thought about the cost of manufacturing a warp engine, Li Fu felt extremely painful. It was too expensive.

The warp engines used on spacecraft and space battleships are very large in size and require a large amount of degenerate materials. This means that money needs to be continuously spent. It takes hundreds of trillions to manufacture a warp engine. Even Li Fu, as the emperor of the Empire, can't help but grit his teeth.

"The only unsolved problem now is the energy problem. There has been no major progress in the research of controlled nuclear fusion. Without powerful controlled nuclear fusion to provide power, even if a warp engine is created, it cannot be started at all. The current energy technology cannot provide enough powerful energy to satisfy the warp engine's appetite."

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

Everyone is naturally unfamiliar with nuclear fusion and nuclear fission, because this is the most basic principle of hydrogen bombs and atomic bombs in nuclear weapons. Atomic bombs use the huge energy generated by material fission to achieve the huge destructive power they want to achieve, while hydrogen bombs use the concentrated energy generated by material fusion to form a powerful destructive power. Nuclear fusion is more powerful than fission.

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

However, although human scientists have invested countless efforts in controlled nuclear fusion technology, it has never been successful. Even hydrogen bombs belong to uncontrolled nuclear fusion, which cannot be said to be transformed into powerful energy to serve mankind according to human needs.

Because the conditions required to achieve nuclear fusion are too harsh, it is necessary to allow the extranuclear electrons to break free from the constraints of the nucleus under high temperature or high pressure, so that the two nuclei can attract each other and collide together, and the nuclei can aggregate with each other to generate new heavier nuclei (such as helium). Although neutrons have a relatively large mass, they are not charged, so they can also escape from the constraints of the nucleus and be released during this collision. The release of a large number of electrons and neutrons is a huge release of energy.

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

Hundreds of millions of degrees of high temperature is the temperature inside a star. Hydrogen bombs need to use atomic bombs to explode first to generate enough temperature to achieve nuclear fusion of the material inside the hydrogen bomb.

At such a high temperature, any substance will be evaporated into particles. The most difficult problem that controlled nuclear fusion needs to solve is how to control the high temperature of hundreds of millions of degrees generated by nuclear fusion.

"Hundreds of millions of degrees of high temperature is really a headache."

Li Fu frowned. The warp engine can already be manufactured, but there is no way to develop controlled nuclear fusion technology to satisfy the warp engine's appetite. You can imagine how Li Fu feels now. It's like a cat seeing a fish, but it is separated by a layer of glass and can never eat the fish in the glass.

"Go to the Nuclear Research Institute."

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

...

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

Many people may think that there is nothing to study about nuclear technology for the Empire. Except for controlled nuclear fusion, which may be worth studying, nuclear fission, controlled nuclear fission and other technologies, not to mention the Empire, even the Pan-European Union, the Japanese and others have already studied them thoroughly.

In fact, this is not the case. Nuclear technology is also a very profound technology. Other than nuclear fission, the mainstream technology now is to use heavy nuclei at the back of the periodic table to produce fission and release energy, such as uranium or plutonium.

But if you can use elements like iron, gold, silver and other elements close to the periodic table for nuclear fission, what kind of reaction will it be? These technologies are also worth studying. The same is true for nuclear fusion. If you use iron elements for nuclear fusion, the energy released will definitely be more terrifying and terrible.

Of course, for the current Imperial Nuclear Physics Institute, the main research direction is still controlled nuclear fusion technology!

"Nuclear fusion is actually the use of various methods to free the extranuclear electrons from the constraints of the nucleus, so that two or more nuclei can gather together to produce new heavier nuclei."

"We have been trying to overcome the problem of hundreds of millions of degrees of high temperature generated by nuclear fusion over the years. Now we look at the problem from the 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 constraints of the nucleus at room temperature or lower temperature, or use high-intensity and high-density magnetic fields to block neutrons or direct neutron output at higher temperatures, we can use more common and simpler equipment to produce controlled cold nuclear fusion reactions, and also make nuclear fusion reactions safer."

In a conference room of the institute, a group of imperial scientists in white coats are discussing the issue of controlled nuclear fusion technology. The Empire has made significant progress in various fields. Warp engines can now be manufactured, but there is no way to provide the powerful energy required by the warp factor.

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

As scientists at the Institute of Nuclear Physics, everyone is under great pressure. Seeing the achievements of others emerge like springs, while there has been no progress on their side, it has seriously hindered the empire's centenary plan. Everyone can't sleep well or eat well.

People fight for a breath, and Buddha receives a stick of incense!

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

At this time, on the podium in the conference room, a handsome young man was talking about the technology of cold nuclear fusion. He looked very young, but in the empire, it is difficult to tell a person's size and appearance, because there are many people who have successfully cultivated their Yuanli, even if they are very old, but they still look very young.

"Recently, our empire has developed rapidly in the field of materials 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 can also control neutrons using high-density and high-intensity magnetic fields and successfully achieve nuclear fusion reactions."

"The above is just my personal opinion. Please give me more advice."

Li Wanzhou bowed slightly to the crowd, and then slowly walked down the podium. As the eldest son of the empire and the eldest son of Li Fu, Li Wanzhou has been the focus of attention since he was born. Of course, Li Wanzhou himself is also very outstanding. He became a scientist at the Imperial Academy of Sciences at a very young age. The main research direction is controlled nuclear fusion technology. Now he is one of the top scientists in the field of nuclear physics research in the empire.

The cold nuclear fusion technology he mentioned is also a technology guessed by scientists. Unlike thermonuclear fusion technology, cold nuclear fusion technology does not require hundreds of millions of tons of high temperature during nuclear fusion. The principles of nuclear fusion are the same. Thermonuclear fusion technology is achieved by high temperature and high pressure, while cold nuclear fusion technology is achieved by non-high temperature and high pressure technology.

It is still difficult to make a conclusion about which of the two technologies is better. Now the scientists of the empire cannot come up with a way to overcome the high temperature of hundreds of millions of degrees generated by human nuclear fusion, so the cold nuclear fusion technology is now in front of everyone. Especially with the emergence of magnetic energy technology, the cold nuclear fusion technology that was originally just a guess does not seem to be out of reach and has the possibility of realization.

"Cold nuclear fusion technology?"

No one noticed that at the end of the conference room, Li Fu came in quietly. Listening to his son Li Wanzhou talking about cold nuclear fusion technology, Li Fu could not help but nodded slightly.

Li Fu, who has the seeds of civilization, naturally knows that the Han Dynasty Technology Empire used thermonuclear fusion technology in the early days, but it took advantage of the Yuanli array to control the high temperature of hundreds of millions of degrees generated by thermonuclear fusion. However, with the development of science and technology, cold nuclear fusion technology was slowly developed later, and the principle and method are the same as what Li Wanzhou said.

PS: Please vote, all kinds of requests!