Industrial Cthulhu, starting from the island lord

Chapter 464 Faraday Cage Induced Electromotive Force and Evil
Hughes was truly dumbfounded.

Is there evil in electricity? Does that mean this world's technology is stuck before the electrical age?
Was the use of energy limited to the steam engine?
Without electric motors and circuits, there would be no possibility of developing various chips, let alone computers. The pinnacle of the mechanical age was Babbage's Difference Engine, a steam-powered, purely mechanical mechanism that looked quite impressive, but in terms of computing power, it couldn't even compare to a cheap electronic watch sold on a street stall.

Without electricity, there is no magnetism. No matter how hard he tries to develop, the upper limit of this world is stuck there. He can't even touch the edge of the speed of light. All he can do in his life is bully the natives in this world.

The stars and the sea? Don't even think about it.

The prince's words were like a bucket of cold water poured over Hughes's head, and he was truly sobered up.

He took several deep breaths to calm his unease.

After the restlessness subsided, reason returned to this body.

"Wait a minute, I did some simple experiments and successfully generated electricity, didn't I?"

Hughes had considered making electric motors before, but this required a certain level of machining precision. Castells was unable to solve the tolerance problem between the rotor and stator. If the precision was insufficient, the dynamic balance would be poor, which would not only shorten the lifespan of the motor but also make it prone to speeding and injuring people.

The steam engine is much simpler; as long as the tolerance isn't too extreme, and it doesn't require coal to burn wood, it's easy and convenient.

But that didn't stop Hughes from building a hand-cranked generator. He also tried to make chemical batteries and plans to build an electrolytic aluminum plant in the future.

However, all of these remained in the laboratory and never went down to the production line, so Hughes really wasn't sure what this "evil thing" in the electricity was.

The prince shook his head: "Your experiment must not be large-scale, right? Some organizations have been researching this kind of trendy stuff before, but they all encountered a lot of trouble soon after. The most famous one should be the accident caused by the Fire Moth."

Hughes' eye twitched. Why is it that every experimental accident seems to attract a moth drawn to a flame?

The prince also looked at Hughes's expression with some caution. Of course he knew that this border count was in cahoots with the Fire Moth, but—who cared?
As long as he can provide weapons and help Bloodharbor industrialize, he won't say a word, let alone have an ambiguous relationship with cultists, or even if he admits to being the Prince of Evil God.

Besides, it seems he would never admit it, no matter what.

"In the past, the Fire Moth has conducted many experiments related to electricity and has developed a series of materials that can prevent electric shock, but I am not sure what they are specifically."

"Insulators?" The prince was unsure, but Hughes was very familiar with them and even knew the electrical conductivity of many materials.

"An insulator? Is that what it's called? Never mind, that's not important. Anyway, they used these materials to make a suit of armor, which, according to their calculations, was strong enough to withstand the power of lightning, and then..."

"They went to get struck by lightning while wearing this armor?"

The prince nodded: "Yes, it turned out that it was impossible to defend against!"

Hughes covered his face, looking both amused and exasperated: "I thought it was something else, but it turns out it's this kind of thing—it's not that the materials aren't insulating, it's that they're treating high-voltage and low-voltage electricity as the same thing."

The "insulation" of any insulating material is only relative. All insulating materials have a breakdown voltage, and lightning could very well directly penetrate the armor and electrocute the person. Moreover, even if the armor withstands the lightning strike, the person inside might not survive.

Even if the armor itself is not penetrated, the huge current generated when lightning strikes the armor may produce current inside through electromagnetic induction or capacitance effect. The high voltage at the moment of the lightning strike may create a potential difference between the inside and outside of the sphere, causing an electric arc inside.

The people inside are not insulated.

"They chose the wrong material—quite the opposite. They should have used a conductor, which is a non-electric material, to make a full-body suit of armor to enclose the person completely. That would have been the real way to deal with lightning."

This is actually the principle of the Faraday cage.

A Faraday cage is a conductive closed structure. The metal cage forms an equipotential body, and the internal electric field strength approaches zero. When lightning strikes, the current flows along the outer surface of the cage and does not penetrate the internal space.

Modern houses are essentially Faraday cages, with interlocking steel bars in the walls. Therefore, there is generally no safety problem if you take shelter indoors during a lightning strike. In an emergency, taking shelter in a car is also safer than being outdoors.

Hughes knew a bit about this and had even considered whether he could do it if he were to pass through the tribulation of lightning.
"So there's no need to worry. They just don't have enough understanding of lightning. There are significant differences between different magnitudes of electricity."

In fact, most physics has this problem. Classical physics is not applicable in a large number of situations such as high-speed motion, microscopic conditions, and strong gravitational fields. To put it simply, it is only applicable to phenomena that can be seen in daily life.

This has happened in many disciplines: after researching to a certain point, you suddenly find that all the formulas no longer apply, all the previous research becomes worthless, and many people's worldviews collapse.

After all, this is a personal discovery that "physics no longer exists."

But science is a methodology for understanding the world. We should just analyze the material world objectively. The fact that physics no longer exists only means that physics could only go so far in the past, and the door to a new world is right in front of us.

Hughes spoke at length to the prince, explaining that while it might be difficult for people to understand the history of scientific development, many of the underlying concepts were universal. The prince, not being one to cling to the old ways, listened with rapt attention.

“I see. This angle is truly wonderful. It allows one to see the world as it truly is. It’s truly captivating.” The prince held Hughes’s hand and laughed heartily. “Now I can somewhat understand the thoughts of the Moth that chases the flame. The pursuit of knowledge is indeed very interesting. Well then, farewell, Lord Hughes. It’s getting late, and I plan to go back and study electricity.”

Hughes smiled and nodded: "Electricity is dangerous, please be careful."

"Don't worry, I will mobilize the port guards to surround the test site."

"Hong Kong Guards?"

Hughes' smile froze for a moment; he suddenly realized that he seemed to have overlooked something.

With so many organizations in the world, would they really completely halt research on electricity because of a single experimental accident?
As for those fire-chasing moths, do they just give up obediently after failing?
Hughes swallowed hard and asked, "Why are you mobilizing the port guards?"

"That's because those who get electrocuted turn into evil beings—don't worry, my port guards can handle those monsters without much trouble."

(End of this chapter)