1900: A physics genius wandering around Europe

Chapter 644 Improved Experiment! Incredible! Electromagnetic Waves Propel Protons! "An extraordinary thing!"

Inside the Atomic Research Institute.

The atmosphere at this large group meeting was extremely lively due to Li Qiwei's arrival.

His speech just now was very beneficial to everyone.

Experimental results may be obtained by chance, but experimental analysis must be based on rational logic.

The students applied what they learned immediately, attempting to re-examine their experimental results from a higher perspective.

The mentors increased the difficulty of their questions, specifically asking some extremely tricky and detailed questions.

For a time, the two sides engaged in a heated verbal battle, with neither side giving an inch.

This is nothing like the previous one-sided massacre where the perpetrators would shake their heads and say they knew nothing when asked.

Li Qiwei listened to everyone's reports and said with a smile:

"It seems the quality of students admitted to the research institute is constantly improving."

Yu Yin explained:
"It's mainly because you, teacher, have very high standards for textbook writing."

“I heard from He Yujie that many universities in Europe and America are now referring to the textbooks of Whampoa Polytechnic.”

In this era, standardized teaching materials, the kind that would become common in later generations, were not yet widely available.

Many textbooks are written by experts themselves.

For example, Rutherford wrote many books on radiology and atomic science.

When Fermi switched to experimental physics, he made a point of studying all of Rutherford's books carefully and even translated them into Italian so that his students could read them as well.

This raises a problem.

Many ordinary students are not as brilliant as Fermi, who could fully understand and comprehend the books written by such a master.

Furthermore, there are significant differences in textbooks between different universities.

Therefore, the effectiveness of school education largely depends on students' individual comprehension abilities.

However, Li Qiwei insisted on standardized teaching materials from the very beginning, and after twenty years of development, its power has finally begun to show.

Using textbooks from Whampoa Polytechnic University as the gold standard, its influence extends throughout the entire mainland.

In a vast country like China, millions of students learn from the same textbooks, and the ease with which they learn and communicate is unimaginable in other countries.

More importantly, when Li Qiwei raises his arm and calls for action, hundreds of thousands of talents with similar science and engineering backgrounds will flock to respond.

What can't be done?
Thinking of this, Li Qiwei's gaze toward the crowd became even more loving.

Soon, Yu Yin stood up and said:

"Dear teachers and students, I will now share my recent research work. Please feel free to ask questions."

Wow!
Everyone was shocked!
This is big news!
"My God! Professor Yu actually gave a report in person?"

Do I deserve to listen here?

Listening to a big shot give a speech and listening to a big shot give a professional presentation are two completely different things.

The former is general and directional, and there is no question of whether one can understand it or not.

The latter, however, is genuine research content; if you don't understand it, you simply don't understand it.

Rao Mintai and the others were equally surprised, but they could roughly guess the reason.

"The teacher is acting this way because the principal is here."

Amidst everyone's anticipation, Yu Yin stepped forward and began to share.

"The research I'm sharing today is about beryllium rays."

"Previously, an article written by German physicist Professor Botte was published in the radiology sub-journal of Nature."

"He discovered a new type of ray while bombarding beryllium with alpha rays."

"These rays are not caused by artificial radioactivity, but by the radiation produced by bombardment."

"In his paper, Professor Bott argued that this ray was a high-energy gamma ray."

Many people in the audience immediately started discussing it, clearly indicating that some had read the paper.

However, they were very puzzled.

"Why would a big shot like Professor Yu Yin repeatedly study other people's work?"

"Besides, this paper is only published in a sub-journal, so there shouldn't be anything special about it."

"."

Rao Mintai frowned slightly. As Professor Yu Yin's student, he knew his mentor very well.

The other party will absolutely not do research on topics that lack innovation, even if it would lead to more publications.

He had also read the paper on beryllium rays; it was just an ordinary bombardment experiment.

Therefore, he did not understand why his teacher wanted to study beryllium rays.

Seeing the puzzled looks on everyone's faces, Yu Yin explained:
"Strictly speaking, this project was not my original work, but rather commissioned by my teacher."

"Because the teacher thought that this kind of radiation might not be so simple."

"So he hoped I could study the nature of the ray more deeply."

Wow!
The whole audience was shocked!

Everyone stared wide-eyed in disbelief.

The teacher Professor Yu Yin mentioned could only be Professor Li.

It turned out to be his request.

At that moment, everyone suddenly understood.

"No wonder Professor Yu is giving a report today."

Immediately, the atmosphere in the venue became even more enthusiastic.

Everyone wanted to know what was so special about the experiment that Professor Yu Yin personally conducted after being singled out by Professor Li.

Yu Yin continued:

"The beryllium rays that Professor Bot discovered travel very fast and are not easy to detect."

"So I devised a method to reduce the speed of the rays."

"As shown in the figure."

“I placed a piece of paraffin between the beryllium rays and the Geiger counter.”

"After passing through paraffin, some of the energy of the beryllium rays is absorbed, and their speed is greatly reduced before they enter the Geiger counter."

"This makes testing easier."

Wow!
Everyone was shocked!

"Professor Yu Yin truly deserves to be a Nobel laureate."

"He did not simply repeat other people's experiments, but added his own design."

"Is this the power of the big shots?"

Using paraffin to slow down the speed of radiation is a very ingenious design.

Most of the students present had never heard of it, nor had they seen it in any papers.

It would be hard for anyone but a seasoned experimental expert to come up with this idea.

Yu Yin immediately revealed his profound strength upon making his move.

He is truly deserving of the position of director of the Institute of Atomic Energy!

"Under normal circumstances, the rays I measured with the Geiger counter should be decelerated beryllium rays."

"However, the result was far beyond my expectations."

"The original beryllium rays, after being slowed down by paraffin, have actually transformed into a new type of ray!"

"According to the Geiger counter, this ray was actually a stream of particles composed of protons."

"In other words, when beryllium rays strike paraffin, they are not simply slowed down, but rather protons are produced."

boom!
The audience was stunned once again!

Many people looked on incredulously!

how can that be!

Beryllium rays are high-energy gamma rays, which are electromagnetic waves, while proton rays are clearly a flow of matter.

These two types of rays are completely different.

Everyone was surprised to find that this seemingly simple experiment was indeed not simple at all.

There's more to it than meets the eye!

Yu Yin did not directly offer his analysis, but instead took the opportunity to ask:

Can anyone guess what the reason might be?

Everyone looked at each other, then their faces showed reluctance.

Most people are not familiar with this experiment.

Moreover, it's not something anyone can easily identify problems with the level of a Nature sub-journal.

At this moment, Rao Mintai thought for a while and said:
"Teacher, I have an idea."

Everyone turned to look at him.

Yu Yin nodded and smiled:
“Speak freely.”

Rao Mintai analyzed:

"Since beryllium rays are a type of high-energy gamma ray, it means that their energy is very high." "Paraffin is a very soft mixture of hydrocarbons."

"When beryllium rays collide with carbon or hydrogen atoms in paraffin, they eject protons."

"This is similar to how Professor Rutherford used alpha particles to bombard nitrogen nuclei to produce protons."

Yu Yin asked:

"But electromagnetic waves have limited energy and should not be used to bombard protons."

Rao Mintai replied:
"However, in the photoelectric effect, electromagnetic waves can knock electrons out."

"In the Wu-Compton effect, X-rays can also collide with electrons and change their trajectory."

"Therefore, electromagnetic waves have enough energy to affect matter."

Yu Yin said:

"This is different."

"The mass of an electron is only 1/1800 that of a proton."

"Moreover, most of the electrons that escape during the photoelectric effect are outermost free electrons, which are inherently unstable and therefore easily ejected by photons."

"Furthermore, the photoelectric effect only occurs in metallic materials because electrons can move freely."

"But paraffin is different; its atoms form carbon-carbon bonds, which are very stable."

"Moreover, the proton is also bound within the atomic nucleus."

"Therefore, the difficulty of electromagnetic waves knocking out protons in carbon atoms and electrons in metals is not on the same order of magnitude."

After saying that, Yu Yin immediately began to calculate.

He hypothesized that beryllium rays have energies tens of times greater than those of conventional gamma rays.

Even so, according to calculations, it cannot produce protons.

Because beryllium rays are electromagnetic waves with zero rest mass, even if they have dynamic mass, it is very small compared to particles.

It's important to understand that even when Cokrowf used a linear accelerator to accelerate protons and gain energy, nuclear fission was not easily achieved.

The difficulty of breaking down an atomic nucleus and releasing protons using only electromagnetic waves is unimaginable.

Wow!
Everyone was so excited watching this.

The clash between Yu Yin and Rao Mintai, master and apprentice, was truly spectacular!
The issues discussed by both sides are definitely at the forefront of nuclear physics.

Their every word could potentially rewrite history!

This is what a real group meeting discussion should be like!
Someone lamented:
"After listening to Professor Yu's report, I felt that my previous work was like a pile of dog shit."

"This is real research, this is a real group meeting!"

"So that's how the experiment was improved."

“The more a place is overlooked by the public, the more likely it is to have anomalies.”

"."

Rao Mintai was filled with admiration.

Yu Yin completely convinced him with theory and calculation.

He asked excitedly:

"Teacher, according to you, isn't beryllium ray essentially an electromagnetic wave?"

If beryllium rays are electromagnetic waves, they cannot knock protons out of paraffin.

Yu Yin nodded.

"That's right!"

"Based on the experimental results, I believe it is definitely not an electromagnetic wave."

"But I don't know exactly what it is."

"However, I tend to think it is a particle."

"Because only a stream of particles can potentially collide with and produce protons."

Wow!
Everyone was stunned.

This is a remarkable achievement.

The discovery of a completely new type of electromagnetic ray is not surprising.

Because the spectrum of electromagnetic waves is inherently continuous.

In theory, electromagnetic waves of any frequency can be found.

But particle streams are different.

Each new particle is a groundbreaking development in the physics community.

However, at this moment, Hu Gangfu asked in return:

"Professor Yu, according to your calculation process, the conclusion that beryllium rays are electromagnetic waves cannot be completely denied."

"The higher the frequency of beryllium rays, the greater the energy of its photons, according to E=hv."

"So when the frequency v takes a relatively large value, the energy of the photon can be equal to the energy of the corresponding particle."

"At this point, it can also knock out protons."

Everyone was stunned.

Although Hu Gangfu's viewpoint is extreme, it is not without merit.

Since these beryllium rays can penetrate copper plates several centimeters thick, it indicates that their energy is extremely high.

It might be an electromagnetic wave with a frequency even higher than gamma rays.

It is entirely possible.

Rao Mintai frowned slightly; he had just confidently agreed with his mentor's point of view.

But now I'm wavering again.

"Old Hu's idea is indeed possible."

"Physicists have a deep understanding of visible light, but there are still many unknowns about X-rays, gamma rays, and other types of light."

"Not to mention beryllium rays, which are even stronger than gamma rays."

At this moment, Yu Yin also got stuck.

His intuition told him that such strong electromagnetic waves could not possibly exist.

However, it cannot be verified.

"Gangfu, your analysis makes a lot of sense."

"To be honest, I don't agree with your point of view."

"But similarly, I cannot refute your point of view."

Wow!
Everyone was shocked!

Professor Yu remains as carefree as ever.

If you know, you know; if you don't know, you don't know.

The other party will not feel embarrassed because of their identity and will not force an explanation.

Yu Yin remained calm. In fact, he had just finished the experiment and hadn't had time to analyze it in depth yet.

He took advantage of today's opportunity to report his progress directly to his teacher.

However, based solely on the existing data, he still leans towards the view that beryllium rays are a stream of particles.

The meeting room fell into a stalemate.

Sudden.

Yu Yin looked in the direction of the teacher.

Immediately, everyone turned to look at Professor Li.

As everyone already knows, this topic was first proposed by Professor Li.

So, what would his opinion be?
Under everyone's gaze, Li Qiwei's eyes were deep and his gaze sharp.

He stared at the data on the blackboard, a slight smile on his face.

He felt quite satisfied with Yin.

In real history, this experiment was conducted by Elena and her husband.

They became interested after seeing the paper by the German, Bot.

The Radium Institute's experimental equipment was more advanced than Bot's laboratory.

The two were genuinely shocked to see that beryllium rays could eject protons from paraffin.

However, due to her preconceived notion of electromagnetic waves, Elena was still unable to escape their shadow.

She shared Hu Gangfu's view that beryllium rays were a type of electromagnetic wave with even higher energy, stronger than Bot had anticipated.

So the two of them hurriedly compiled their experimental results and ideas into a paper and published it.

The Nobel Prize that was within my grasp just slipped away.

Later, when the British scholar Chadwick saw the Curies' paper, his first reaction was: This absolutely could not be electromagnetic waves!
Therefore, he repeated the experiment, and even made improvements, finally discovering the truth behind it.
At that moment, Li Qiwei suddenly burst into laughter and said:

"Yu Yin, I'm afraid you've discovered something extraordinary!"

Wow!
The whole audience was shocked!

(End of this chapter)