Chapter 524 Atomic Clock 524—Redefining the passage of time

   What time is it?

  In scientific terms, it is a parameter used by human beings to describe the process of material movement or the process of event occurrence!

  In order to understand the time represented by the day more accurately, various timers have emerged as the times require. The basic principle is to calculate the average time consumed by a certain thing during its operation.

For example, the seconds, minutes, and hours are divided by the time it takes for a drop of water to fall, a handful of sand to flow, and a candle to burn out. There are bound to be no small errors.

The pendulum clock invented by Xiao En is undoubtedly more advanced, because according to the law of simple pendulum, with the help of gravitational potential energy, the time spent by each swing of the pendulum is exactly the same, and its energy consumption is very small, only one spring is needed It can run for a long time.

  So it is only necessary to find something that is also isochronous but more accurate, and an efficient timer that is different from a pendulum clock can be manufactured.

  Listening to what Lynn said, Sean frowned. This is easy to say, but it is not so easy to find a suitable isochronism law.

   "I can tell you two things with isochronism. All you have to do is to consider how to make them into timers." Lynn said with a smile.

  Sean paused, and looked at Lynn in surprise. He didn't expect that the speaker had found other isochronism laws, and there were still two kinds.

   "First, it is a quartz crystal, which is composed of silicon dioxide. It has an interesting characteristic, that is, it will generate an electric current on the surface when it is pressed by an external force.

  If positive and negative currents are introduced on both sides of a quartz crystal in reverse, the crystal will deform and oscillate at a specific frequency..."

  Lin En briefly explained the operating principle of the quartz clock to Sean. To put it simply, it uses the characteristic of the quartz crystal to keep oscillating after being applied with an alternating current to record time.

  Because the vibration frequency of the quartz crystal is very stable, normally engineers will cut the quartz crystal and control the current to make this thing into a tuning fork, which crystal vibrates at a frequency of 32768 Hz per second.

  If each vibration is used as a benchmark, then the quartz clock made by this principle can divide the time into 327868ths of a second.

  Of course, the upper limit of the amplitude and frequency of the quartz crystal is far more than that, and it is not impossible for the technology to reach the level of 100,000 or even millions per second.

  After Lynn explained the principle of crystal vibration, Sean immediately became excited. After making the pendulum clock, he was naturally able to realize the important role of this thing in timing.

  Especially in terms of accuracy, it simply blows the pendulum clock.

   It can be expected that one's own invention will be eliminated before it is implemented.

   Sure enough, the insight and knowledge reserve of a legendary speaker is not comparable to that of an official wizard.

  The eager and excited expression on Sean's face quickly turned into a helpless look, and he said with a wry smile. "Since you already have an idea and plan, why not just make this quartz clock."

  Lin En has found the most important law of isochronism of the crystal oscillator, and there is only one problem left, which is how to record each vibration of the crystal.

  He doesn't think this question can be difficult for Lynn, who is a star of magic.

  Because of this answer, even I can think that since quartz can carry electricity, it would be good to work on electromagnetic signals!

   "I always think that professional things need to be done by professional people." Lynn said with a smile.

  If it was a few minutes ago, Sean would have happily accepted the praise of the magic star, but now he is a little dumbfounded, because Lin En has just explained the principle of the quartz clock very clearly, professionally making himself ashamed.

  Then there is only one answer left. The speaker can't spare much time to fiddle with these gadgets, so he let himself do it.

  Thinking of this, Sean didn't know what expression he should make for a moment. If he could complete the production of this quartz clock, he would undoubtedly be able to get another Morning Star Medal.

  This is another timekeeping innovation compared to the pendulum clock, which allows wizards to accurately identify very small time scales.

  However, it was such glory that the other party threw it to himself indifferently.

  It took Sean a while to adjust, and he nodded in response to the magic star's request. After all, this is a good thing no matter how you look at it.

  Most importantly, if the quartz clock was invented by someone else, then the Morning Star medal I got for making the pendulum clock will probably be questioned.

   After all, his pendulum clock looks like a clumsy toy by comparison...

   "By the way, you said just now that there is another law of isochronism besides the quartz crystal?" Sean asked curiously.

   "You should have read the paper I published [The World of Probability—Quantum Mechanics], right?" Lynn asked rhetorically.

   "I have seen it, but I haven't fully understood the probability theory and duality you proposed." Sean showed a bit of embarrassment on his face.

   "It's okay, I'm afraid no one dares to say that they can understand quantum mechanics!" Lynn said with a smile.

   "Even you can't?" Sean asked strangely.

Although he failed to fully understand the quantum theory of this magical star, he read it several times and found that the logic is very rigorous and self-contained, and it also fits with the results of the double-slit interference experiment, which can well explain various aspects of the quantum field. A strange phenomenon.

   "Of course not!" Lynn shook his head, let alone him, even the Federation in the previous life failed to really perfect the quantum theory.

  According to a friend he knows who studies phenomena in the microscopic field, the gap between the most cutting-edge quantum theory and actual observation is about the distance of a hair from the earth to Uranus...

   This is undoubtedly very small, and basically does not affect the application of its results, but since there is a gap, it means that the quantum theory has yet to be perfected, at least there are some unknown interference items that have not been found.

   "Since you have read my thesis, you should know that when the electrons inside the atom jump between two energy levels, they will absorb or release electromagnetic waves. This is also the working principle of laser magic."

   "But the atomic clock uses another characteristic of it. When the same element transitions in a specific orbit, the electromagnetic wave released has a very stable oscillation frequency and is a fixed value."

   "For example, the electromagnetic oscillation produced by rubidium atoms can reach a frequency of more than one billion times, that is to say, if the technology is sufficient, it can be divided into one billionth of a second..."

  Lin En talked non-stop, and Xiao En, who was listening on the side, was already dizzy.

   Use the vibration frequency of electromagnetic waves generated by atomic transitions to time?

  The speaker's brains really made him feel ashamed.

   It’s just a clock. Is it really necessary to make such a big battle? Is the measurement so accurate?

  Maybe seeing what Xiao En was thinking, Lynn opened his mouth to explain. "Naturally, precision at the level of one billionth of a second is not required for the macroscopic field, but it is necessary if it involves experiments and observations at the atomic level or even the quantum level."

  Considering the issue of confidentiality, Lynn did not say that the new timer will be used in the measurement of time velocity, but only uses quantum experiments as an explanation.

   "Here I recommend three elements—hydrogen, rubidium, and cesium. You can experiment one by one." Lynn suggested.

  "Speaker Lynn, I can still think of a solution for the quartz vibration detection device, but I'm afraid I don't have the ability to make this atomic clock." Sean felt that the speaker in front of him thought too highly of himself.

  He is a little official wizard, and the principle of atomic clocks involves laser emission, the internal structure of elements, and even quantum theory, which sounds confusing to him, let alone making it.

   "If you don't try hard, how do you know you can't do it? You can take my handwriting to the Academy of Magic for help. If you have any questions that even they don't understand, you can always ask me."

  Lin En said encouragingly, and then asked Sean to get out the quartz clock first, and then slowly research the atomic clock, trying to get it done within a year!

  As long as he succeeds, his name will definitely leave a mark in the history of magic, and time will be redefined because of these achievements!

Under the wonderful prospect explained by Lynn and the repeated assurances, Sean couldn't help but be moved. It is undoubtedly a very attractive condition to be able to get the guidance of the speaker at any time. After hesitating for a while, Sean agreed Give it a try, but there's no guarantee an atomic clock will ever be built.

   After watching Sean leave, Lynn couldn't help showing a smile on his face, and thus solved a necessary matter again.

  The quartz clock can be done in a few days if he wants, but the craftsmanship of the atomic clock is very complicated, and it cannot be made at the current level of craftsmanship in the Magic Kingdom.

   Fortunately, they have a miracle called magic, which can make up for the lack of materials and craftsmanship. All they need is to keep coming up with ideas and experimenting.

   This is undoubtedly a very time-consuming job.

   Lynn, who became the speaker, naturally wouldn't do everything by himself, otherwise he would be exhausted, and Sean was the one he chose.

Discovering the law of the simple pendulum is not difficult to say, but according to Sean’s description, he intuitively felt that the time of each pendulum swinging back and forth is very close, which is not as logically expected. Decrease linearly like that, and then verify it with experiments.

  This kind of keen insight is the best help for invention and creation!

  After Lin En sorted out his thoughts, he didn't stop for a moment, and asked his attendants to inform Harov, Aurora, and Vittorio that he needed to hold an internal temporary meeting.

   After several speakers arrived, Lynn recounted the information he got from Bard and the crow in detail.

   "Are the time flows of the two worlds different? This is a rare piece of good news!" Aurora said happily.

  Before they generally believed that the war might break out within three months, or even within a month in extreme cases. Now it seems that the time should be more abundant than expected.

   Then several people discussed how many people should be sent and which time and space gate should be entered for investigation.

  The number of people should not be too many, nor too few.

  Once the number is too large, it is easy to cause the lord of the dead to notice, and reveal the location of the time-space gate in advance.

After deliberation, they quickly decided to form a nine-member squad consisting of one great wizard and eight official wizards. They also excluded the two nodes of the holy city and the city of fire oil, and chose the location in The time and space gate in the north.

   There are three reasons. The first is that Bard's information made them not ignorant of the situation in that area.

  Second, if the church's expeditionary force can enter in large numbers, then they should have no problem sending people in.

  Third, the dangerous monsters there have been cleaned up by the expeditionary force, so they should be a little safer.

  In general, it is the best choice.

  …

   A week passed in a flash, and Sean's research and development speed was faster than Lynn imagined, and it took only six days to get it done.

During this period of time, as the half-year development plan of the parliament was put forward, the entire Magic Kingdom also attracted a second wave of construction. Every city was building roads and workshops, and everyone was too busy to stop. Labor alone The number of them has already exceeded one million, and many wizards are even more complaining.

  Because there is a shortage of magical technical jobs, many wizards have to juggle multiple jobs.

  Lin En had to ask the council to use part of its resources on the laying of magic signal towers. As long as the magic network can be officially operated, tens of thousands of official wizards will be added in an instant.

  The grain collection plan of the parliament is going very smoothly.

With the experience of colleagues who went bankrupt in the last food war, even those wealthy businessmen who regard wealth as their life do not dare to engage in rare goods, not to mention the very generous parliament that is 30% higher than the market. The price is more or less able to earn a fortune.

   To say that the real headache for Lin En and others is the selection of personnel who enter the time-space gate.

This group of people is called the investigation team at a good level, and the death squad at a bad level. The wizards who enter it need to be prepared for unexpected situations and cannot return. If they are discovered or captured by the Lord of the Necromancer, they have to actively trigger Backhand, kill everyone present from the material and soul level, so as to prevent the other party from obtaining too much information about this side.

   Therefore, this requires that every candidate is trustworthy, and must be alert, decisive, and brave to sacrifice. It was not until seven days later that these nine people were selected based on the principle of presumption and voluntariness.

   On the day of departure, Lynn dropped the research project in his hand and came to see off several people in person.

  (end of this chapter)