Ming Dynasty: Ask Zhu Yuanzhang to abdicate at the beginning

Chapter 503 The Great Ming Dynasty's Cutting-Edge Technology: A Historic Moment!

Zhu Yunwen personally used materials such as iron cans, magnets, and copper wires from the Ming Academy of Sciences to handcraft a simple loudspeaker and microphone device.

He then arranged for personnel to connect the battery and wires to the line and conduct a long-distance communication experiment over a distance of 100 meters.

When the researchers in the distance could clearly hear the sound coming from nearby, the scene immediately erupted in excitement.

The crowd's eyes were filled with barely concealed excitement and amazement.

Although you can shout at each other from a distance of 100 meters, the transmission of sound through wires is fundamentally different from the shouting of a human voice.

The sound is transmitted through the wire, so there is no need to shout loudly for it to be easily received.

It was as if it were magic.

More importantly, this experiment allowed researchers who previously had a vague understanding of "electricity" to finally intuitively experience the practical applications and unlimited prospects of electricity.

Previously, they had many doubts and felt quite lost.

If this were not a "research and development project" personally assigned by His Majesty the Emperor, many people would probably have already doubted its purpose and value.

Today, facts speak louder than words!
Taking advantage of the crowd's high spirits, Zhu Yunwen began to speak:
"The current device is still rudimentary, and the communication range is limited."

"You must continue to study and continuously improve."

"In the future, it is for communication distances to increase by a thousand times, ten thousand times, or even a hundred million times!"

"At that time, all that will be needed is to lay communication cables so that people in Nanjing can communicate directly with people in Beiping."

"Going even further, it will be possible to communicate wirelessly without even needing to lay cables!"

After he finished speaking, the entire room fell silent for a moment, then erupted in a low murmur of amazement.

The researchers looked at each other, their hearts filled with turmoil.

How can two places, thousands of miles apart, be able to communicate directly?

Isn't that a method only gods could use?
Even among the legendary gods, very few possess such abilities.

Only extremely special "professional immortals" possess such abilities.

Can the ability to hear everything, like "having super hearing," also be achieved by humans using electricity?
If anyone else had uttered such arrogant words, they would have scoffed at them.

But the one who spoke was none other than the Emperor of the Great Ming Dynasty.

They consider him the "true god of science and technology"!
Every "incredible project" he proposed in the past has become a reality.

Faced with such a figure's "vision," how could they dare not believe it?
Recently, the Daming Academy of Sciences established a new Department of Astronomy, which works in collaboration with the Imperial Observatory to be responsible for observing celestial phenomena and deciphering the mysteries of the stars.

The universe is vast, and the sun, moon, and stars all hold endless mysteries.

"The Earth is a sphere, like a star. The Sun is much larger than the Earth, and most of the vast celestial bodies are fixed stars..."

One novel astronomical discovery after another, like a storm, impacted the cognitive world of the scientists at the Ming Academy of Sciences, overturning their old views on the universe.

At the same time, after proposing calculus and the three major physical laws, Zhu Yuntong personally taught the law of universal gravitation.

By using universal gravitation, one can calculate the weight of celestial bodies and their orbital trajectories.

Besides these groundbreaking theories, there are countless other forms of guidance and scientific inspiration.

For example, Zhu Yunwen proposed the cell theory.

Today, the microscopes made by the Daming Academy of Sciences can clearly observe the existence of cells, confirming his statement and revealing a previously unseen microscopic level of the living world.

In addition, countless small inventions and new theories emerged one after another.

Science is radiating an unprecedented and magical charm across the land of Ming.

Almost every few days, there is a new breakthrough.

Every new achievement expands our understanding of the world.

Behind this series of miracles, Emperor Zhu Yunwen of the Ming Dynasty was always a guiding light leading the way.

He always accurately predicted the future direction of development, leading everyone to overcome obstacles and explore unknown territories.

Now, inspired by him, the grand vision of electric power communication is about to take a crucial step forward.

The researchers were filled with lofty aspirations.

If the ability to transmit sound over long distances could be realized, it would be considered a divine artifact!

Compared to the steam engine, electricity is even more mysterious and wondrous.

Although the steam engine is great, its principle is simple and easy to understand. Even an old farmer can understand it if someone explains it to him properly.

It's just that it's a bit complicated to manufacture.

However, the mysteries of electricity are difficult for even many senior scientists to fully grasp, let alone ordinary people.

The more this is the case, the more it ignites the burning passion deep within the hearts of researchers.

They aspired to be pioneers who could "create divine artifacts and usher in the future," leaving their names in the annals of history.

Now, with the Emperor himself providing guidance, their blood is pumping, they are eager to fight, and each of them secretly makes a vow in their hearts:

We must forge a new path in the research of electricity!

Just as everyone was getting excited, an official from the Academy of Sciences stepped forward to report:

"Your Majesty, in addition to this battery, we have also developed an electromagnetic induction device following Your Majesty's instructions, and have successfully generated a trace current!"

Upon hearing this, Zhu Yunwen immediately perked up, a glint of light flashing in his eyes.

This has a much brighter future than generating electricity using chemical batteries.

"it is good!"

He immediately said, "Take me there to observe immediately!"

……

In another laboratory, Zhu Yunwen saw another rudimentary power generation device.

Made of natural magnets and copper coils, it generates an induced current by manually rotating the magnets.

When Zhu Yunwen watched the researchers conduct experiments and verify the weak current generated by electromagnetic induction, he was so excited he almost jumped for joy.

He originally thought that the Academy of Sciences had only developed chemical batteries, but he never expected that they had actually successfully crossed the threshold of electromagnetic induction!
This means that the Ming Dynasty is about to truly enter a new era of mechanical power generation.

Zhu Yunwen was overjoyed and immediately began to explain the principles of electromagnetic induction to the scientists present in detail.

And tell them that there are two types of electricity: alternating current (AC) and direct current (DC).

"The electricity generated by hand-cranking is still too weak, even weaker than that from a battery. You can try using a steam engine to drive the wheel. That way, the rotation speed will be higher, the electricity generated will be more powerful, and the steam engine can provide a continuous and stable supply."

"In addition, we should try to create stronger magnets based on natural magnets."

"The magnetism of natural magnets is too weak; we must find a way to improve it."

"By the way, electricity itself can create strong magnets, but you'll have to try it step by step to figure out how."

He wasn't particularly clear on the technical details of these things; he only knew the principle of electromagnetic induction, and that increasing the rotation speed and using a strong magnet could generate a larger current.

More specific technologies can only be explored by these researchers themselves. Changing the subject, Zhu Yuntong mentioned the future application scenarios of electricity: "Many materials emit light when an electric current passes through them, which can be used to develop electric lights to illuminate the darkness of the night."

He paused briefly, silently weighing the current level of craftsmanship in his mind.

Zhu Yunwen was certainly aware of the working principle of tungsten filament light bulbs, which is common knowledge in later generations.

However, the Ming Dynasty has not yet mastered the refining and application of tungsten.

After all, tungsten has an extremely high melting point and its smelting process is extremely complex, and cannot be accomplished overnight.

Fortunately, the Ming Dynasty had already mastered high-temperature furnace technology, and various experiments at the Ming Academy of Sciences were being carried out intensively. The discovery and refining of tungsten was just around the corner.

Zhu Yunwen pondered for a moment, then offered his suggestion:
"You can try using carbonized bamboo filaments as filament material and conduct experiments."

"Of course, this is just a suggestion from me. You can try out the specific materials yourselves."

His memory of this thing was a bit hazy, and he wasn't entirely sure.

However, this is not important.

It's simply a matter of trying different materials one by one.

If Edison could complete an experiment by himself, the Ming Academy of Sciences, such a large institution with so many researchers, could easily test ten thousand materials.

Not to mention, they're not short of money.

Zhu Yunwen also reminded them to pay special attention to safety.

"You must remember that while the power of electricity can benefit the world, it can also take lives in an instant if you are not careful."

"Just as lightning can take a person's life."

"When the steam engine drives the electromagnetic coil to generate electricity, the current will not be as weak as it is now, but will have extremely terrifying energy and power. You must be on high alert."

Subsequently, Zhu Yuntong explained in detail the basic concepts of conductors and insulators, emphasizing that copper wires must be wrapped with a rubber insulation layer for safety.

The same tools were used.

Natural rubber was already widely used in the Ming Dynasty.

For a top-tier research institution like the Ming Academy of Sciences, using them to create an insulation layer for copper wires is a very simple matter.

As for using petroleum-derived plastics as insulators...

Zhu Yunwen was well aware that although oil exploration and initial development had already begun, refining technology still needed further development, and large-scale application of oil would take time.

The technology to make plastics from petroleum has not yet been mastered and is unlikely to be used in the short term.

However, this is only a matter of time.

And it won't be long.

After all, the Ming Academy of Sciences had already gathered a large number of scientific talents.

It can be said that if you need money, you have money, and if you need people, you have people.

Knowing that oil will have great uses in the future, investing funds in research and technological breakthroughs to solve the application problems of oil will not take too long.

Then, Zhu Yuntong suddenly remembered the concept of a "telegraph machine". On a whim, he immediately gave the researchers a simple explanation of how to make a simple telegraph machine using electromagnetic induction.

First is binary encoding.

This is considered basic common sense in computer science in later generations.

Even students who are not majoring in computer science will mostly study it.

But for the people of this world, it is undoubtedly a completely new kind of knowledge.

With binary encoding, different encodings can be used to represent different Chinese characters.

The purpose of this is that when sending a telegram, it can be done simply by switching the current on and off.

For example, when the current is connected, it is recorded as "1", and when the current is disconnected, it is recorded as "0".

By repeatedly connecting and disconnecting, and using a fixed number of bits of encoding, such as sixteen or thirty-two bits, a complete binary string is formed.

Different strings correspond to different Chinese characters.

In this way, simply turning the power on and off allows you to send an article written in Chinese characters to another person as a binary string.

Once the recipient receives the binary string, they can decode it to reproduce the complete original text.

This is very simple knowledge.

However, in the early stages of technological development, Western scientists took a wrong turn on this issue in real human history.

Their initial idea was to send the 26 letters directly, instead of a binary string.

However, the special nature of electricity makes it impossible to directly send all twenty-six letters.

As a result, some people even proposed laying twenty-six independent lines to transmit signals separately for each letter, and thus conducted many futile experiments.

It wasn't until later that someone proposed using the binary encoding method for discontinuous current.

This process took nearly a century to perfect.

Now, Zhu Yunwen's simple yet profound explanation has enabled the scientists of the Ming Academy of Sciences to skip the long exploration phase, saving nearly a hundred years, and directly stand at the starting point of a mature solution!
This is precisely the immense value that his past life experience demonstrates in scientific research!
After touring the Academy of Sciences, Zhu Yunwen was in high spirits and returned to the palace with satisfaction.

Not long after, exciting news arrived.

The Daming Academy of Sciences has successfully manufactured a sustainable light bulb using carbonized bamboo filaments, and it can emit light continuously for several hours using electricity.

With continuous improvements, the lifespan of the bulbs has been further extended, and several batches of products can now work continuously for dozens of hours.

At the same time, telephone communication technology also developed rapidly.

New microphones and handsets were soon introduced, extending the effective range of wired communication to several miles.

The positive results delighted all participants.

The "telegraph machine" was successfully manufactured in a short period of time. Following the method taught by Zhu Yunwen, it used a binary encoding format of "0" "1" "0" "1" to send the world's first telegram, which was successfully received ten miles away. The test was a success.

After all, the principle of a telegraph machine is actually very simple.

In real human history, the telegraph was invented by a painter, namely Morse, the father of the telegraph.

His invention, also known as Morse code, uses the "." and "-" encoding method, which is essentially the same as "0" and "1".

However, Zhu Yunwen's method was more advanced and easier to compile.

Morse had no prior knowledge of electricity.

He only became interested by chance, conducted research, and then successfully built a telegraph machine.

Early scientific research was just that simple and unpretentious.

The Ming Academy of Sciences has countless scientists and ample research funding; its conditions are countless times better than Morse's!
Furthermore, Zhu Yunwen directly solved the most difficult "encoding" problem, and the scientists of the Ming Academy of Sciences naturally manufactured the telegraph machine very quickly.

A historic moment has arrived!

……

(End of this chapter)