1900: A physics genius wandering around Europe

Chapter 695 The meeting is open to the public! The academic world is shaken! Project Pangu is launched! The name of the atomic bomb is revealed!

Inside the venue.

Everyone was engrossed in the explosive news brought by Hahn.

"An incredible and massive fission occurred in the uranium nucleus!"

"Uranium, element 92, was transformed into barium, element 56, and krypton, element 36, by neutron bombardment."

"This overturns the current understanding of nuclear fission in the physics community!"

This news will absolutely shock the physics community.

A heated discussion erupted in the meeting room in an instant.

Hahn, Meitner, and Strassmann, a previously unknown trio, suddenly became the center of attention.

Their discovery was a major breakthrough in the field of nuclear physics.

However, Fermi soon raised a question.

This is the question everyone wants to ask.

"According to the droplet model, how could a neutron's energy possibly break apart a uranium nucleus?"

Hahn smiled slightly at this, clearly having been prepared.

“I would like to ask Ms. Meitner from our team to answer this question.”

"Her unparalleled imagination provided a solid theoretical foundation for uranium nuclear fission."

Wow!
Everyone was shocked!
I never imagined that Maitner was so important to the team.

This conference was practically a showcase for female scientists.

First Maye, then Elena, and finally Maitner.

Women don't let the eyebrows!

Under the watchful eyes of the crowd, Meitner walked onto the stage.

She said gracefully:

"According to Professor Bohr's liquid drop model, the atomic nucleus is like a liquid droplet that can be stretched or split in two."

"But the latter requires a lot of energy."

"Using knowledge of quantum mechanics and electromagnetism, the required energy can be calculated to be 200 MeV."

"This is a very large energy for a single particle."

"Currently, cyclotrons can only achieve about half of that."

"Therefore, the energy of the neutron itself alone is not enough."

"However, a phenomenon was discovered as early as when Kokrauf first achieved artificial nuclear fission."

That is, the mass of the atomic nucleus is different before and after fission.

"That is, after an A nucleus splits into a B nucleus and a C nucleus, the mass of the A nucleus is not strictly equal to the mass of the B+C nucleus."

"This is an inherent property of the atomic nucleus."

"Because the combination of protons and neutrons requires a huge amount of energy to maintain."

"According to the mass-energy equivalence equation, this lost mass will be released as energy during the reaction."

"And this portion of energy just meets the 200MeV requirement mentioned above."

"Therefore, neutrons do not explode the uranium nucleus into two larger fragments like cannonballs."

"It's more like a fuse; the uranium nucleus is the real bomb."

"The role of the neutron is to trigger the release of energy!"

"Therefore, theoretically speaking, it is entirely possible for neutrons to cause uranium nuclear fission!"

quiet!
The entire venue was eerily quiet!
Everyone was stunned by Meitner's theory!
The other party reinterpreted Bohr's droplet model from the perspective of the mass-energy equivalence equation, which was truly enlightening!

This makes it easy to explain the smaller fragments that were created.

The energy required for a uranium nucleus to split into smaller fragments is certainly less than that required for a larger fragment.

Therefore, anything is possible.

A few minutes later, Bohr slapped his head in frustration.

"Oh!"

"We're such fools!"

"This idea is absolutely brilliant!"

"That's exactly how it should be!"

As the founder of the droplet model, Bohr quickly recalculated the data based on Meitner's experimental data.

He even pointed out a minor flaw.

Everyone was shocked!

Even Bohr acknowledged Meitner's theory.

"My God!"

"Uranium nuclear fission really exists!"

A thunderous roar erupted in the hall.

Everyone was shocked by this result!
Fermi seemed completely stunned.

Meitner's calculations were well-founded, and combined with Hahn's experimental results, the conclusions about uranium nuclear fission were irrefutable.

This means that his transuranium element was just a huge blunder.

"There are no transuranic elements, only uranium nuclear fission."

Fermi suddenly gave a wry smile.

I shouldn't have been so happy so soon; I've made a huge blunder.

He couldn't even imagine what Colbino's expression would be when he heard the news.

That's too embarrassing.

For Fermi, being wrong is being wrong.

No scientist is perfect; even Professor Bruce made a mistake.

However, Italy's previous grand promotion resulted in a complete reversal, which is somewhat unsettling.

For a moment, Fermi didn't know what to say.

Yu Yin and Deng Huaining exchanged a glance, their hearts filled with turbulent emotions!

"The dean's prediction has come true once again!"

"Uranium did indeed undergo nuclear fission!"

"Project Pangu can finally begin!"

The two suppressed their excitement and dared not show anything unusual.

And this is not the final moment yet.

According to the dean's conjecture, after uranium undergoes nuclear fission, it must also be able to produce excess neutrons in order for a chain reaction to occur.

However, Yu and Deng were full of confidence in this.

After today, uranium nuclear fission will undoubtedly become the most important topic in experimental physics.

Countless people will conduct in-depth research on this.

Furthermore, there are already too many neutrons in uranium atoms, enough to produce excess neutrons.

Soon, many of the bigwigs present started asking questions.

Hahn and Meitner handled it with ease.

Uranium nuclear fission can explain all currently known nuclear physics phenomena.

It wouldn't be an exaggeration to say that it brought an end to neutron bombardment experiments.

At the end of the meeting, Fermi walked onto the stage with indescribable feelings.

He was about to say something, but then gave a bitter laugh.

However, thunderous applause erupted from the audience.

Although Fermi was wrong, without his inspiration, Hahn would not have been able to discover uranium nuclear fission so quickly.

In a way, he himself accelerated the scientific process.

Fermi sighed and said:

"I am both unfortunate and fortunate today."

"Unfortunately, I did not discover transuranic elements; fortunately, I learned of this before I received the Nobel Prize."

Wow!
Everyone burst into knowing laughter.

Fermi's humor successfully defused his embarrassment, instead making the atmosphere in the room even more lively. "For physics itself, today is definitely a lucky day."

"The phenomenon of heavy nuclear fission, which we once thought was impossible, is actually happening right before our eyes."

"I believe this may be another great breakthrough in the field of nuclear physics!"

"Thank you, Professor Hahn, for your excellent presentation."

"Thanks to Ms. Meitner and Dr. Strassmann in his team, their work has taken another step forward in physics."

The audience erupted in enthusiastic applause once again.

Fermi's magnanimity earned him the admiration of everyone.

This young man has a limitless future!
The names of the Hahn trio resonated in everyone's hearts.

Everyone knew that after today, the three of them would be famous.
-
The three-day meeting ended quickly.

The news of uranium nuclear fission spread like wildfire throughout the physics community.

It shocked countless people!
"My God!"

"Did transuranic elements not originally exist?"

"Can such a heavy atomic nucleus undergo fission?"

While everyone was astonished by the phenomenon of uranium nuclear fission, Italian Education Minister Corbino found himself in a rather awkward position.

It doesn't feel good to be slapped in the face.

But politicians are not scientists, and they quickly adjusted their mindset.

"Fermi may have lost, but he was still glorious!"

"His failure was due to his successful discovery of uranium nuclear fission!"

"Without Italy, there would be no uranium nuclear fission!"

However, only Colbino himself cares about how to make amends.

The first thing the experimental physicists did after returning to China was to begin verifying the phenomenon of uranium nuclear fission.

Borneo, the Boundless Pavilion.

Qian Wushi, Yu Yin, Deng Huaining, and Qian Huzhou were sitting in Li Qiwei's office.

Deng Huaining is reporting on the latest progress in uranium nuclear fission.

After the first nuclear physics conference, he and Yu Yin declined invitations from many prominent figures and immediately returned to China.

Because something big is about to happen!
"Dean, from the end of the meeting until today, December 31st, the progress of uranium nuclear fission is as follows."

"First, there are a total of 10 research teams worldwide, all of which have proven the phenomenon of uranium nuclear fission."

"Furthermore, a team has detected the energy released during fission, which proves Meitner's theoretical analysis of the droplet model."

"There is currently no further disagreement regarding the hypothesis of heavy nuclear fission."

"Second, Hahn's team proved that only the isotope uranium-235 undergoes nuclear fission, while uranium-234 and uranium-238 do not undergo nuclear fission."

"Because the abundance of uranium-235 is very low, the content of various products is also very low."

"Third, the paper that was just published yesterday, in which Elena's team proved through experiments that uranium nuclear fission releases two or more neutrons at the same time."

As Deng Huaining spoke, he felt his voice trembling.

The dean's prediction has come true once again!

Chain reactions could indeed exist!
After returning, Bohr published an article stating that the energy released by uranium nuclear fission is greater than the energy required for fission, so the excess energy can be used to bombard more neutrons.

These tiny neutrons, however, have changed the fate of humankind.

After hearing this, Qian Wushi and the other two were all shocked!
Everything is exactly as the dean predicted!
All the conditions for a nuclear chain reaction have been met!
In their eyes, the dean was practically no different from a prophetic god.

But they knew that the dean was not a god, and all of the other party's conjectures were based on keen physical intuition.

At this moment, after listening to Deng Huaining's report, Li Qiwei was filled with emotion.

"We've finally reached this point!"

From the mass-energy equivalence equation to the discovery of the atomic nucleus, from nuclear fusion to fission of light nuclei, and now to uranium fission.

The theoretical foundation for building the atomic bomb has finally been fully established!

Li Qiwei was involved in every step of the process.

His large hands are like the hands of the Creator who manipulates the universe, guiding the course of history!
He stood up, walked to the window, and looked down at the land of Borneo.

The four disciples were filled with excitement as they looked at that domineering and awe-inspiring figure!
However, Ridgeway's joy was only fleeting.

The principle behind the atomic bomb is simple, but the manufacturing process is the real test.

In real history, although many big names at the time, such as Fermi and Oppenheimer, drew up sketches of the atomic bomb immediately.

But almost no one believed that such a weapon could be manufactured.

Because it is uranium-235 that undergoes nuclear fission, not uranium-238.

The abundance of uranium-238 is 99.2%, while the abundance of uranium-235 is only 0.7%.

In other words, there is far too little uranium-235 available for weapons development; it is simply not enough.

What does that mean.

Take, for example, the Shinklobwe uranium mine that Ridgway previously traded with the King of Belgium.

This uranium mine can yield up to 60% uranium. (Ore with a uranium yield of 0.03% already has extremely high mining value.)
In other words, if 100 tons of ore are mined, 60 tons of the material will be natural uranium.

However, this 60 tons of uranium contains its three isotopes.

The abundance of each isotope in an element is fixed; this is called abundance.

After hundreds of millions of years of evolution, the abundance of the Earth's resources has hardly changed.

Therefore, in these 60 tons of uranium, the abundance of uranium-235 is only 0.7%.

This demonstrates just how low the content of uranium-235 is.

This is why a good uranium mine is almost always blocked.

Deng Huaining had clearly also noticed this problem.

Seeing that the dean remained silent, he continued:
"If only uranium-235 can undergo nuclear fission, it will be very detrimental to our Pangoal Project."

"Isotope separation is extremely difficult."

Deng Huaining was one of the most in-depth researchers of uranium nuclear fission, and he was well aware of the difficulties in separation.

Otherwise, it wouldn't have been Hahn and others' turn to discover uranium nuclear fission.

Moreover, the products of neutron bombardment of uranium are so small that even many experimental experts are at a loss.

If it were to be used for weapon-grade development, the difficulty would be unimaginable.

The content of uranium-235 is already low, and separation is so difficult, which is why the experts are not optimistic.

When Bohr learned that the United States was going to officially develop the atomic bomb, he declared to Fermi:
"An atomic bomb cannot be built unless the United States becomes a giant factory."

However, after witnessing the progress of the Manhattan Project shortly thereafter, he exclaimed:
"The United States has indeed become a giant factory."

Bohr's words reveal just how difficult it was to build the atomic bomb, and how powerful the United States was at the time.

Upon hearing this, Li Qiwei said domineeringly:

"What you're describing is a technical issue; there's always a way to address it."

"It is enough that the physical theory of Project Pangu is now established."

"I'll figure out the rest!"

Wow!
Deng Huaining was thrilled!
With the dean's words, he was no longer worried.

Technology can be forcibly acquired by throwing money and manpower at it.

For example, technologies like electric lights and telegraphs can be invented sooner or later if you have the idea.

But scientific principles don't work.

Even if you call on the whole country to plant apple trees, you still won't produce a Newton or the law of universal gravitation.

At this moment, Master Qian suddenly smiled and said:

"Dean, the Pangu Project is about to officially launch."

"The weapon you predicted has become a possibility, and it should have a resounding name."

Wow!
The other three nodded.

This is a good suggestion and will facilitate further discussion.

Upon hearing this, Li Qiwei's deep gaze seemed to pierce through the river of time!

He saw a prosperous future ahead!
"Since this super bomb derives its energy from atoms..."

"Let's call it the 'Atomic Bomb'!"

boom!
The whole audience was shocked!
-
Next up: Project Pangu!
(End of this chapter)