Republic of China: Ace Pilot

Chapter 831 Particle Acceleration Experiments, Relativistic Effects

Because they were going to conduct an experiment in the afternoon, none of the team members left the laboratory building. Instead, they sent two student assistants to the cafeteria to bring food.

Soon, the assistant returned with boxes of hot dogs and coffee, placed them on the table, and let everyone take them.

Although Fang Wen had just joined the team, he blended in naturally and picked up a hot dog to eat.

After lunch, there is an hour for a lunch break. After all, students are resting at this time, and conducting experiments could lead to unexpected intruders.

Lawrence also took this opportunity to allow Fang Wen to communicate with the rest of the team.

"Everyone has heard me talk about Mr. Fang's extraordinary abilities. Now, if anyone doesn't believe me, we can ask him to prove it to everyone."

The team members all looked at Fang Wen.

Without needing anyone to question him, Fang Wen took the initiative to speak out.

As the finger moved, a gold pen flew out of the jacket pocket of Robert Wilson, the team's experimental physicist, and circled around Fang Wen.

Then, Milliken White's wedding ring also started to dangle.

“It’s leaving me!” Milliken White exclaimed in surprise.

"Probably not, it's too tight," Fang Wen replied with a smile.

“Thank God, your magic is amazing,” Milliken White said, clutching the ring.

“This isn’t magic; long ago, it was called the power of the gods.” Fang Wen raised his right hand, showing everyone the Viking rune ring. “It’s this that gave me this peculiar ability. Besides it, I also possess some other magical items. That’s why I was able to join your experimental team.”

In order to integrate into the team, Fang Wen revealed some secrets.

This successfully piqued the curiosity of the research team members.

During their lunch break, Fang Wen told them about his adventurous life.

And the mysterious items obtained during the adventure.

The four-faced golden Buddha that can heal and the amber cross that inspires greater piety have astonished these scientists.

This kind of interaction successfully helped Fang Wen integrate into the team, and no one questioned him anymore.

After all, the ability to control the movement of objects through electromagnetic force is also very useful for their experiments.

An hour passed.

The experiment is about to begin.

Fang Wen stood beside Lawrence, his gaze fixed on the device that embodied the cutting edge of the technology of the era.

Lawrence, unusually meticulous, announced loudly, "Prepare to start up. All personnel, report your status."

"The ion source has been debugged and the hot cathode is heating normally, which can stably produce uranium ions."

After inspecting the equipment, the researcher in charge of the ion source looked up and reported loudly that the instrument in his hand showed that the thermionic emission capability had reached a stable value, which was sufficient to produce an ion beam that met the experimental requirements.

Fang Wen pressed the switch on his belt, activating his sensory abilities and simultaneously channeling energy into the Viking Rune Ring and the Eye Gem.

When his powers were activated, he saw a completely different scene.

On the core component of the ion source is a dumbbell-shaped device, which is the key to generating charged particles. He could vaguely see a faint red light inside, which was a sign of the heating of the hot cathode.

"The magnetic field system is ready, the electromagnet is energized, and the magnetic field strength is stable at 1.0T, which meets the experimental parameters." Another researcher stared at the magnetic field monitor, his pen tip sliding quickly across the notebook. "The electric field of the gap between the D-shaped boxes has been adjusted, and the alternating electric field frequency has been calibrated correctly, which can meet the conditions for ion resonance acceleration."

Lawrence's invention of the cyclotron accelerator is based on the synergistic effect of magnetic and electric fields, which allows charged particles to move in a spiral motion within a D-shaped box and be repeatedly accelerated. It can obtain sufficient energy without an excessively long orbit, which is its biggest advantage over traditional linear accelerators.

"The vacuum system is operating normally, and the vacuum levels in the deflection chamber and acceleration chamber meet the standards."

The vacuum chamber design prevents ions from colliding with air molecules, ensuring stable motion trajectories.

"The collection system is ready, and both collectors have been calibrated."

Two collectors, corresponding to the deflection trajectories of uranium-235 and uranium-238, respectively.

"The monitoring system is fully online, and the mass spectrometer and Geiger counter are working normally."

These monitoring devices can record the intensity, energy, and radiation values ​​of the ion beam in real time, providing a quantitative representation of the experimental data.

Reports came one after another, and Fang Wen simultaneously began to analyze the device's capabilities.

Lawrence nodded slightly, his gaze sweeping across the room before finally settling on Fang Wen: "Mr. Fang, you have demonstrated extraordinary abilities. I need your effective and truthful judgment. Now, I will explain the content of this experiment. After powering on, the ion beam will be injected from the center, accelerated in the D-shaped box, and then deflected in the magnetic field region. When the velocity reaches a certain level, it will separate, forming two different uranium isotopes, which will be collected by the collector. However, so far, we have had very few successes. I hope you can be of assistance."

"Understood," Fang Wen replied.

"Power on!" Lawrence commanded.

A deep hum suddenly filled the laboratory; it was the sound of the high-voltage power supply starting up and the electromagnet beginning to spin at high speed. You could even feel a slight tremor on the ground.

Fang Wen also focused intently on observing with his special ability.

The 60-inch cyclotron accelerator, which was originally cold, heavy, and covered with pipes and metal casings, has shed its industrial exterior and transformed into an extremely precise and magnificently orderly microscopic world in his perception.

He could "see" countless electrons rushing wildly along the excitation coils inside the giant magnetic poles, which weighed two hundred tons. Like two inexhaustible golden torrents, they wound and circulated along the copper coils, weaving a dense, uniform, and stable vertical magnetic field network in the gaps between the magnetic poles.

The magnetic field was not invisible; in his perception, it was a dense force field shimmering with a soft, pale blue light. The direction of every magnetic field line and the subtle fluctuations in the strength of the magnetic field were crystal clear.

The line of sight penetrates the sealed vacuum cavity between the upper and lower magnetic poles.

As the machine runs, the ion source at the center of the vacuum chamber glows with a very faint light. A particle is stripped off, carrying a weak initial energy, and is gently held up by the magnetic field, stepping into a spiral acceleration orbit.

In Fang Wen's eyes, these particles were no longer invisible microscopic matter, but rather points of light trailing pale golden tails, spinning uniformly in circles under the constraint of the magnetic field.

Each time it passes through the gap between the D-shaped electrodes, it is given a strong push by the alternating electric field, its energy jumps instantly, its orbital radius expands slightly, and the light of its trail brightens a little.

The light spot spiraled in circles, its speed increasing, its trajectory slowly expanding from a fine spiral into a large circle covering the entire vacuum cavity. The energy accumulated layer by layer, constantly rising, from the initial weak kinetic energy all the way to a peak of hundreds of thousands of electron volts.

Exhaustion, an extreme weariness suddenly arose. Fang Wen could no longer continue this peculiar state of keen observation.

Exit directly from microscopic observation.

The equipment is still running.

Fang Wen sighed inwardly, "What a pity! I only saw part of the particle beam being generated and running, but I was no longer able to observe the subsequent process of the particle beam being collected."

That's the most crucial thing; if you can see it, you can know where the problem with the device lies.

A loud roar.

The machine power is off.

The equipment gradually stopped and returned to normal.

Wearing lead-coated protective gloves, the staff carefully removed two metal collectors from the vacuum chamber between the magnetic poles of the cyclotron and placed them flat in the center of the radiation-proof operating table, their expressions showing a hint of barely perceptible tension.

He picked up the Geiger counter and slowly brought the probe close to the surface of the first collector. The instrument only made sporadic "click" sounds at long intervals, and the dial pointer remained almost motionless, always hovering near the baseline of the background radiation. He then moved the probe to the second collector, and the situation remained the same. There were no dense pulse sounds, and the pointer occasionally wobbled slightly, but it never reached the radiation threshold after uranium-235 enrichment.

He repeatedly adjusted the probe angle, changed the detection position, and checked the calibration parameters of the Geiger counter. Only after confirming that the instrument was functioning correctly did he look up and report to Lawrence:

"Mr. Lawrence, the test results are not ideal. The Geiger counter readings remain at background radiation levels, the counting rate is extremely low, and the ionizing radiation intensity detected by both collectors does not reach the standard irradiation characteristics after uranium-235 enrichment, which is basically consistent with the test data of the blank control group."

It has been confirmed that the uranium-235 isotope separation experiment was unsuccessful. No effective concentration of uranium-235 was accumulated in the collector. It is speculated that deviations in the acceleration beam stability, magnetic field homogeneity, or separation parameter settings led to the isotope separation not achieving the expected results.

Lawrence's brow furrowed instantly, and the researchers around him returned to their respective workstations to immediately begin checking the various operating parameters of the cyclotron and investigating the cause of the experiment's failure.

He looked at Fang Wen: "We failed again this time, with a success rate of less than 10%. I hope your arrival can bring us good luck."

Despite his exhaustion, Fang Wenqiang rallied and said, "It will get better. I want to participate in the next experiment."

Lawrence thought for a moment: "You can be the monitoring and recording clerk. The next round of experiments starts the day after tomorrow. Our experiments require a lot of electrical energy and cannot be carried out every day. During this time, you can learn energy monitoring and recording from Milliken White."

Fang Wen was then assigned to work in the same group as Milliken White, an expert in radiation detection and nuclear chemistry.

Two days have passed.

Fang Wen recovered from the energy depletion of his ability to enter the microscopic world and also learned from Milliken White how to use laboratory equipment for energy monitoring.

A new round of experiments has begun.

This time, Fang Wen, as an energy monitor, entered his workstation, monitoring various data while observing with his supernatural abilities.

After the cyclotron is powered on.

The first thing to start is the vacuum system. The vacuum pump runs continuously, completely extracting the air from the acceleration chamber and deflection chamber. The vacuum level gauge on the dashboard slowly climbs up and eventually stabilizes at the preset value.

Immediately afterwards, the ion source started working, the hot cathode was continuously heated, electrons were stripped away, and uranium atoms lost electrons to form positively charged uranium ions. These tiny particles were drawn out of the ion source under the action of the electric field and injected toward the center of the D-shaped box.

We've reached this point again.

Fang Wen took a deep breath and gradually distracted himself to reduce the energy expenditure of microscopic observation in order to maintain his focus for subsequent observations.

After entering the D-shaped box, the ions undergo gyratory motion.

In the slit between the two D-shaped boxes, the alternating electric field constantly changes direction. Each time an ion passes through the slit, it is accelerated by the electric field and gains additional energy.

The strong magnetic field outside the D-shaped box acts like an invisible hand, firmly binding the accelerated ions to their spiral orbit.

As energy increases, the radius of the ion's cyclotron orbit gradually increases, slowly expanding outward from the tiny circle at the center, forming an invisible spiral trajectory, like a blooming silver halo.

"The ion beam current is stable at around 24mA, and the energy is gradually increasing, currently reaching 6MeV." Fang Wen reported the data in real time and recorded it.

After this brief moment of distraction while reporting the data, he activated his supernatural ability again, entering that microscopic observation state.

He witnessed a very peculiar change.

Those ion light spots undergo minute mass changes due to the increase in energy during acceleration.

That's it! Fang Wen suddenly understood why Lawrence's team's meticulously calculated results always went wrong.

This is a relativistic effect.

During particle acceleration, as the particle speed approaches the speed of light, its kinetic mass continuously increases. This is one of the core predictions of special relativity, also known as the "mass increase effect".

It is this effect that causes the ion trajectory shift.

He looked up at Lawrence and asked, "Is the problem with relativistic effects?"

Lawrence nodded. "You figured it out so quickly. That's right, but we lack the methods for precise adjustments."

He then said, "Fine-tuning the magnetic field strength by 0.05T to correct ion trajectory deviation and ensure beam stability."

The researcher immediately turned the knob to adjust the excitation current of the electromagnet. The magnetic field strength pointer on the instrument panel jumped slightly before stabilizing at 1.05T.

Fang Wen could clearly perceive that the ion orbits shifted slightly the instant the magnetic field changed, and the previously scattered ion beams became concentrated again. This was the adjustment technique that Lawrence's team had been exploring, which compensated for the effects of relativistic effects by precisely controlling the magnetic field strength.

A few minutes later, the energy of the ion beam reached the experimental preset 10 MeV, and the speed was close to 12% of the speed of light. At this time, the spiral trajectory had extended to the edge of the D-shaped box, like a huge silver vortex.

"Ion beam acceleration complete, ready to be introduced into the deflection chamber for electromagnetic separation." Lawrence ordered in a deep voice. The researcher pressed the switch button, and the accelerated uranium ion beam was introduced into the adjacent strong magnetic field region, officially entering the separation process.

Fang Wen's gaze was fixed on the deflection chamber. With the help of his special ability, he could clearly see that the originally neat ion beam gradually split into two beams under the influence of the strong magnetic field.

Lighter ions have a smaller deflection radius and move towards the collector on the left; heavier ions have a larger deflection radius and drift towards the collector on the right. The two beams of ions are like two forked streams, flowing slowly towards their respective collection containers along different trajectories.

"Separation has begun, the collector has started capturing ions, and the mass spectrometer is monitoring the purity in real time," the researcher reported. On the screen of the mass spectrometer, two clear peak curves appeared, corresponding to uranium-235 and uranium-238 respectively. The height of the peaks represents the ion content.

Lawrence stepped forward, staring at the screen with a slightly grave expression: "The beam is still not stable enough. The purity of uranium-235 is only 8%, which is still far from our target."

Fang Wen didn't speak, but quietly sensed every detail of the equipment's operation.

He discovered the root cause of the ion beam instability: on the one hand, the frequency fluctuation of the alternating electric field caused an imbalance in the energy during ion acceleration; on the other hand, the magnetic field was not uniform enough, and there were slight deviations in the magnetic field strength in some areas, which caused the ion deflection trajectory to deviate.

These subtle problems are imperceptible to the naked eye. Even experienced researchers can only make a rough judgment based on data, but cannot pinpoint the exact cause. However, with Fang Wen's mechanical perception ability, nothing can hide from him. (End of Chapter)