1900: A physics genius wandering around Europe

Chapter 566: The first mythical beast! Zeno's tortoise! ​​The concept of limit! Is space really continuous?
In this era, information is far less developed than in later generations.

Many familiar concepts or common names in later generations had not yet taken shape at this time.

Moreover, people were more serious and did not like to use various "gimmicks" to attract attention like later generations.

Obviously, the concept of a physics beast is an instant gimmick.

In real history, the concept of the four great beasts of physics is very famous.

It is no longer possible to determine when this name appeared and became popular.

But no matter what, its purpose has been achieved.

The popularity and mystery of the four mythical beasts are even stronger than the theory of relativity and quantum mechanics.

The four great beasts of physics are: Zeno's tortoise, Laplace's beast, Maxwell's demon, and Schrödinger's cat.

Just hearing the name can make people feel like they are looking up to a mountain.

“Scientific, magical, and profound.”

But now, Schrödinger's cat has not appeared.

Li Qiwei could only propose the "three great divine beasts".

Looking at the confused expressions of the people in the audience, he knew that at this moment there was no concept of the gimmick of mythical beasts.

Even Lang Zhiwan, de Broglie and others didn't know what it meant.

"Physics beast? What does that mean?"

"I'm not sure. I've never heard of this concept."

"Could it be"

Of course, as long as Li Qiwei tells them what the three sacred beasts are, these physics masters will definitely understand immediately.

As for the students who were the majority at the scene, they were not only confused but also very excited.

At their age, they are in the impulsive period when science and fantasy are intertwined.

Due to the limitations of the times and outdated textbooks, many students do not even know the original meaning of the three mythical beasts.

But this novel name immediately made people in the venue excited.

"Hi! The Physics Divine Beast, this name sounds awesome!"

"Professor Bruce said they were conjectures, so they must be mysterious!"

"Hurry up and tell me, I can't wait!"

Under the eager and expectant gazes of many students, Li Qiwei smiled slightly and continued:

“The three great beasts of physics are concepts I summarized myself.”

“I borrowed three physics-related conjectures from history and combined them together.”

"Since the themes of these conjectures are all related to animals, I call them the three great mythical beasts."

“They are:”

"Zeno's Tortoise" was proposed by the ancient Greek philosopher Zeno in 464 BC;

"In 1814, the French mathematician and astronomer Laplace proposed the Laplace beast;"

"In 1871, British physicist Maxwell proposed the Maxwell Demon."

Wow!
Everyone was shocked!
Then their expressions changed.

Physics giants such as Lang Zhiwan and de Broglie suddenly realized it.

"Oh! So these are the three guesses."

"Professor Bruce is so thoughtful."

"These three concepts are very classic in physics."

"It's very suitable for today's occasion."

Obviously, the three mythical beasts are not unfamiliar to the big guys.

They have all heard of these three famous conjectures.

But this does not mean that they can face it with a condescending attitude.

Because one of the conjectures has not been perfectly explained to this day!

Therefore, even Lang Zhiwan and others began to look excited.

"Is Professor Bruce going to solve the most difficult conjecture?"

The best students such as Oppenheimer and Anderson had bright eyes and looked thoughtful.

Given their talent and knowledge, they have obviously been exposed to these three conjectures outside of class.

Although they haven't studied it in depth, they know what's going on.

"So the three great beasts refer to these conjectures!"

"If I remember correctly, Zeno's tortoise is related to calculus, Laplace's beast is related to classical mechanics, and Maxwell's demon seems to be related to the second law of thermodynamics."

Suddenly, Wang Dezhao said affirmatively: "That's right!"

His expression was excited.

It turned out that he had personally consulted Zhao Zhongyao, a big shot in the previous Olympiad, hoping that he could share his experience in solving Olympiad questions.

During the conversation, Zhao Zhongyao mentioned these famous historical conjectures and asked Wang Dezhao to go back and look into them carefully.

Wang Dezhao did not let Zhao Zhongyao down and specially looked up a lot of information.

Therefore, he was probably the student most familiar with the three sacred beasts among all the students present.

"As expected, my brother Zhao has a wide range of knowledge."

"I believe he will shock the physics community in the future!"

At this moment, Wang Dezhao suddenly felt like he was the only one sober while everyone else was drunk.

He smiled and explained to everyone:

"Zeno's Tortoise Paradox Has Been Solved."

"The Laplace beast can be explained by Professor Bruce's latest uncertainty principle."

"As for Maxwell's demon, it is still a conjecture for now and has not been proven or disproven."

"Moreover, it is also the most complex of the three sacred beasts."

Wow!
Everyone around was shocked!
Most people haven't even heard of a conjecture.

Now this big guy even knows which conjecture has been proved and which has not been solved.

“The Physics Olympiad is indeed a place where crouching tigers and hidden dragons are hidden!”

"Fuck, you guys are too cocky!"

"There's no exam, so why study so much?"

"."

The young men felt the crisis instantly.

They are the pride of their own country, but they are not as good as expected on the international stage.

Oppenheimer couldn't help but glance sideways at the ordinary Chinese youth next to him.

The conversation just now is still vivid in my mind.

He didn't expect Wang Dezhao to be so awesome!
Oppenheimer suddenly felt a little embarrassed about his aloof attitude.

After all, it shouldn't be the case that the more powerful a person is, the cooler he or she is.

Wang Dezhao didn’t think so much about it. At this moment, he was recalling the details of the three sacred beasts in his mind.

At this time, Li Qiwei's voice came.

"I know that some of you here may be familiar with the three great beasts."

"But today, I will re-explain the three mythical beasts from another perspective, hoping to bring you some inspiration."

Wow!
At this moment, not only the students, but also Lang Zhiwan, de Broglie and others were extremely looking forward to it.

The three mythical beasts may contain deeper truths!
Li Qiwei smiled and said:

"I will analyze them one by one in chronological order."

"First, Zeno's turtle."

He looked at the students present and asked:

"Can any of you help me describe this conjecture to everyone?"

As soon as he finished speaking, everyone around him, with Wang Dezhao as the center, instantly focused their eyes on him.

This scene made everyone on the field unable to help but look over, not knowing what was going on.

Wang Dezhao was proud in his heart, but looked a little embarrassed.

Seeing this, Li Qiwei, although he didn't know what happened there, he could roughly guess.

So, he smiled and said, "De Zhao, it seems that everyone trusts you."

"You tell me about it."

Wang Dezhao's expression became firm when he heard this.

He stood up confidently and spoke fluent English, which made Li Qiwei nod slightly with great satisfaction.

"Zeno's Tortoise is a conjecture about motion, time, and space."

"It's about an amazing athlete in ancient Greece named Achilles."

"He was strong and powerful, and was considered an Olympic athlete by everyone at the time."

"However, the wise Zeno made a shocking statement: Achilles will never catch up with a tortoise."

"Everyone thought it was incredible, like a fairy tale."

"A child can outrun a tortoise, let alone Achilles."

“So, everyone asked why.”

"Zeno said: Let us imagine such a thought experiment."

"Suppose now that Achilles and the Tortoise start a race."

"To be fair, let the tortoise run 100 meters ahead, and then Achilles starts chasing."

“Everyone agreed and thought it was reasonable.”

"At this point, Zeno continued: When Achilles ran to 100 meters, the tortoise had already run another 10 meters."

"When Achilles has run 10 meters, the tortoise has moved forward another meter."

"So, if Achilles wants to catch up with the tortoise, he has to run this 1 meter again."

"And so on."

"When Achilles wants to catch up with the tortoise, he must first run to where the tortoise was just now."

"But during the time that Achilles was chasing the tortoise, it had moved forward some distance."

"So the tortoise will always be a short distance ahead of Achilles."

"And no matter how small this distance is, it will not be zero."

"So, theoretically speaking, Achilles will never catch up with the tortoise."

"Everyone looked at each other when they heard this."

“Although everyone knew that Zeno’s view was definitely wrong, they could not explain why.”

"This is [Zeno's Turtle]."

As soon as Wang Dezhaogang finished speaking, there was a heated discussion in the meeting hall.

The boys are all top students in physics and are very interested in such interesting physics problems.

It is clear that Zeno's thought experiment, although it makes sense at first glance, is definitely wrong.

Because it does not match the experimental results.

In reality, anyone can definitely outrun the turtle.

So, the key to the problem is how to defeat Zeno with scientific logic.

Li Qiwei smiled and said:

"Very good. Thank you Wang Dezhao for your explanation."

"I believe that after hearing this story, you smart people should be able to quickly figure out how to refute Zeno."

"We can now easily establish an equation for displacement and velocity to prove that Achilles can catch up with the tortoise and calculate the time accurately."

"But mathematically, all of this requires rigorous logic to explain a problem."

"That is: can we get a finite value by adding infinite numbers?"

“The distance that the tortoise leads Achilles is an infinite number.”

"If we can prove that the sum of these distances is a specific value, rather than infinity, then we can perfectly solve Zeno's paradox."

"This problem has been puzzling mathematicians for more than two thousand years. It was not until the concept of limit was proposed and calculus was established that it was perfectly solved."

"Now we know that the infinite sequence proposed by Zeno converges, so Achilles can catch up with the tortoise."

Everyone nodded when they heard this.

Everyone is very familiar with calculus.

This is arguably the most important mathematical tool in the field of physics and is a compulsory course for everyone.

Even students who had not heard of Zeno's tortoise before quickly understood it.

But it feels a bit dry.

"Why do I feel that the first mythical beast in physics is a bit bland and ordinary, and doesn't seem to be worthy of the title of a mythical beast."

"Yes, although it may have been difficult more than two thousand years ago, it is very simple now. There is no doubt about it."

“It’s actually the application of the concepts of limit and convergence.”

At this time, a brave student asked:
"Professor Bruce, I think Zeno's tortoise is more of a math problem than a physics problem."

“Why do you list it as a mythical beast in physics?”

Upon hearing this, all the students agreed very much.

They feel the same way.

It seems that no physics knowledge is needed in this problem.

Of course, if we have to say that the velocity-displacement formula can be considered physics, then it is indeed related.

However, this doesn't match Professor Bruce's style.

Oppenheimer, Wang Dezhao and others were thinking silently.

They knew very well that since Professor Bruce specifically proposed this conjecture, there must be some unknown meaning behind it.

At least, it is something that these students don’t know for the time being.

“Perhaps the key point Professor Bruce wants to make is not in mathematics, but in physics.”

"But what's the physics problem in Zeno's tortoise?"

They can't figure it out.

Physics giants such as Lang Zhiwan and de Broglie seemed to be thinking about it, and they probably guessed it.

“Is it the limit of space and time?”

Amid the confusion of the crowd, Li Qiwei smiled slightly and said:

"Yes, strictly speaking, Zeno's tortoise is indeed a mathematical problem, not a physics problem."

"But as I said before, I will think about the three beasts from a completely new perspective."

"In Zeno's Tortoise, the tortoise is always a little ahead of Achilles."

"Around the same time as Zeno, we Chinese also had a great thinker, his name was Zhuangzi."

"He once wrote in an article: If you cut off half of a one-foot-long hammer every day, it will never run out in eternity."

"It means that if you cut half of a one-foot-long stick every day, you will never finish cutting it."

"The one-foot hammer and Zeno's tortoise have similar effects."

"They all show that space can be divided infinitely, and there is no smallest limit."

"If we think about it from this perspective, we can see that there is a very clear physics problem involved in Zeno's tortoise."

“The space we live in is continuous.”

Everyone suddenly realized.

Turns out that was the problem.

But soon, everyone was very confused again.

"Isn't it natural that space is continuous?"

"Take the distance a turtle crawls as an example. There is definitely no minimum length."

“Is there anything to discuss about this physics problem?”

However, Li Qiwei's next words shocked everyone.

"but."

"I would like to ask everyone here, is space really continuous?"

“Is there a smallest scale for humans?”

Wow!
The whole audience was shocked!

(End of this chapter)