Alien paradise

Just as everyone was whispering, the third expert, Professor History, came to the podium.

"Hello everyone, my research direction is superconducting energy storage, the application prospects are new energy, and tokamak devices."

He did not open the PPT like the first two, but asked his assistant to bring up a square box. "I am very grateful to Professor Fu for his new discovery. When I learned that room-temperature superconducting materials really exist, my research suddenly changed from seeking light through a slit to a broad road. The progress in these days is even greater than in the past twenty years. need more."

There was a burst of good-natured laughter at the scene.

"I'm not exaggerating on purpose. The model in front of me is proof." Professor Shi said while removing the black cloth covering the model.

Everyone exclaimed in unison.

There is nothing too special about the model body. Its outline is a square metal frame, with an oval sphere fixed inside the frame. The sphere is also wrapped in a metal shell, but is surrounded by black glass windows. Through these windows, people can see the bright light shining inside the sphere!

It was a ring made of light flow, rotating at high speed around the axis in the center of the sphere. It was obviously light, but it was as thick as a solid object! The dark glass of the window seems to be to block the brightness of the light flow, but even so, it is still quite dazzling, and it will feel dazzling if you stare at it for a long time.

Fu Jiangshui realized that this was by no means an effect achieved with LED light strips, because the flow of light, apart from being consistent in direction, had irregular trajectories.

"Is the outer glass a polarizer?" someone raised their hand and asked.

"Yes, and it is a special polarizer, so that people can easily capture the flow of electricity in the superconducting coil with the naked eye."

"Can electricity be seen?" Gao Wei asked puzzledly, "My impression is that it has no body."

"Normally not, but if the sphere is filled with something else, such as an inert gas, we can see the fluorescence it emits when it is ionized." Fu Jiangshui raised his hand after explaining.

"Professor Fu, please ask." The other party nodded very politely.

“How much power can this model store?”

He already had a feeling the answer would be astonishing.

But the other party's answer was far beyond his expectation.

"Currently it only has 3,000 kilowatt-hours of electricity, because it takes time to charge it, but judging from my test results, this value can be increased by another 10,000 times."

Ten thousand times? Fu Jiangshui took a breath, and after a while he nodded and replied, "I understand...thank you."

"Professor Fu, can't other superconducting materials do this?" Gao Wei asked quickly.

"Do you still need to ask? Don't say it's done. You can't even touch the exhaust from other materials..." Halfway through, he suddenly remembered that the other party was not engaged in scientific research, and quickly changed his words, "You know about nuclear magnetic resonance machines, right? The core. The component is also a superconducting energy storage device, which is generally made of niobium-titanium alloy, and the cooling medium is liquid helium, which is only about 50 kilowatt-hours of electricity when fully charged. This is the property of the material itself and cannot be improved by technology."

As an expert in research materials, he naturally knew how shocking Professor Shi's conclusion was. Since the resistance of a superconductor is zero, current can flow through the superconducting coil without attenuation, but there is an upper limit to the amount of electricity injected. Its limit is also called the critical current of the superconductor.

In fact, ordinary superconductors are not only affected by low temperature and pressure, but also by current and magnetic field intensity. Once the critical point is exceeded, the superconductor will lose its superconductivity. Therefore, if another room-temperature superconducting material appears, its critical current will be very low, and it will also have little practical value.

Seeing that Director Gao still seemed to understand, Fu Jiangshui simply continued, "Three thousand degrees multiplied by ten thousand equals 30 million degrees, and the Three Gorges Hydropower Station generates more than 200 million degrees a day, that is to say, ten Such a thing can store all the electricity generated by the Three Gorges in one day! Similarly, just one ball can power a modern city, which is definitely something that subverts common sense!"

"Carrying such a large amount of energy away?" Gao Wei was also shocked, "Isn't that equivalent to a small nuclear bomb?"

"It might not be practical to run with it. I can't imagine how big a magnetic field that thing would generate." Fu Jiangshui shook his head. The square metal frame outside the elliptical sphere should be a device used to destroy the magnetic field, lest it turn into a machine. The portable NMR machine absorbs all surrounding iron-based objects. But a 30-million-degree superconducting energy storage ball? He didn't think a few simple shielding devices could still be effective.

"If my proposal is approved, then my team will start with large-scale superconducting energy storage devices to provide strong magnetic core components for the new tokamak that perform far better than before." Professor Shi obviously has the same view. "If it is only used as a mobile energy source, it is undoubtedly a waste of the potential of the Yao Stone. Compared with the past superconducting coils, the new coil does not require a cooling medium, the current criticality is greatly increased, and the intensity of the magnetic field it generates will also increase exponentially, which is very important for controllable This is obviously a huge step forward for nuclear fusion projects."

He finally said, "Today we are facing severe energy challenges. Both oil and natural gas rely on imported transportation. If nuclear fusion can make a breakthrough, then we will usher in truly vast energy!"

The audience burst into warm applause again.

There is no more suspense, Fu Jiangshui said in his heart.

The energy revolution has always been an eternal theme in all industrial revolutions, and the project proposed by the other party is also very suitable for the use environment of Yao Shi - nuclear power plants can only be national projects, and they are also highly confidential, so there is no need to worry about the leakage of superconducting materials. question. If it succeeds, the economic benefits will be immeasurable.

And in terms of feasibility, it's also quite promising. Domestic research on magnetic confinement nuclear fusion has always been at the forefront of the world, and at least one tokamak experimental reactor has been built. After replacing it with Yao Shi superconductor in the future, it will basically be equivalent to replacing a shotgun with a cannon. There is no reason why it cannot achieve results. In addition, this kind of project does not require a large amount of Yao stone, and the superconducting coil will not be consumed if the test fails. It can be said that it is better than the other two options in every aspect.

A space elevator that is not limited by capacity is also very attractive. After all, the expectation of human beings to walk in space is always romantic. However, despite being romantic, Fu Jiangshui also agrees with the statement of a domestic academician - there are still so many uninhabitable places on the earth. The place has not been fully developed, and blindly developing space seems to be putting the cart before the horse.

The voting session went quickly.

Votes are registered and can be multiple-choice. If they are in the mood, voters can also write down their personal reasons and suggestions.

In less than thirty minutes, the host calculated the results - the votes for the three project plans were 15:9:31 respectively.

The research direction of superconducting energy storage has achieved an overwhelming victory.

This means that starting today, the researchers gathered at the Comprehensive Prevention and Control Center have a new goal.