A Colossus rushes in at the start

Chapter 109 These scholars have wildly imaginative ideas

The disappearance of Mistar was to the Takar people what it was to Earthlings—the moon disappearing from their heads. The shock it caused to Takar society was self-evident.

In an instant, theories such as extraterrestrial invasion, doomsday, and secret government and military projects became rampant, and the overall crime rate in Takar society soared by 1% that day, with extremely negative consequences.

Furthermore, many cult members hold public group mating ceremonies, causing the overall social morality of the Takar people to regress by fifty years.

In an effort to quell the anxiety in Tajik society, the governments of various countries collaborated on a joint science popularization program.

A radio channel was chosen as a dedicated science popularization channel, and scholars were selected to explain the reasons for the disappearance of Maistar.

As for the language barrier, this can be resolved by hiring a highly professional translator. In any case, for the government, the cost of hiring a translator is not expensive at all.

……

The science channel spoke on the radio.

"Thank you for listening to this channel. I am your host, Haina."

The speaker was a female Tatar, chosen by the channel because female Tatars are more approachable than males.

Hena was certainly aware of these things, so she tried to speak slowly and deliberately, like telling a story, to the listeners of the science channel: "Last night, a major astronomical event that shocked the world occurred in the sky."

"That means the star Mai, which has existed in the sky for countless years, has disappeared."

"Listeners of this channel are shocked and puzzled, and I, Haina, as the channel host, am also deeply shocked and puzzled."

"When I saw Maixing disappear, the first question that popped into my mind was—is this really the end of the world?"

As she spoke, Haina paused, and seeing the two guest scholars enter the radio broadcasting room one after the other, she continued into the microphone: "To answer our questions, the channel team has invited two scholars in the field of astrophysics: Lin Han Titiru, a scholar working at the International Astronomical Bureau, and Coria Fern, a scholar working on the Maryland Plains Observation Matrix."

"Mr. Lin Han, Mr. Coria, could you please explain to our channel listeners the cause of this phenomenon? How exactly did Maixing disappear?"

Before Coria could speak, Lin Han spoke first into the microphone: "Currently, the mainstream hypotheses discussed in the scientific community are mainly divided into two types: the ground-state particle hypothesis and the light-speed black hole hypothesis. I support the former hypothesis, while Mr. Coria supports the latter."

Haina asked, "What exactly are the ground-state particle hypothesis and the light-speed black hole hypothesis?"

Lin Han explained, "The ground-state particle hypothesis refers to the fact that a certain particle in the universe came into contact with matter on the star Mai, causing the entire star to decay and thus leading to the slow, gradual disappearance that we observe."

The "light-speed black hole hypothesis" suggests that a small-mass black hole moving at near the speed of light collided with the Mink Star, causing it to collapse and disappear without a trace.

After giving a brief introduction, Lin Han glanced at Koria beside him, but did not hand over the conversation to Koria. Instead, he continued speaking into the microphone in front of him.

"Here I need to add a statement: the light-speed black hole hypothesis does not match our observations. If a black hole with extremely small mass were to collide with Maistar at near the speed of light, causing Maistar to collapse into a black hole and leave our star system at near the speed of light, the disappearance of Maistar would be extremely rapid and instantaneous, and could not possibly be the slow disappearance we see."

Haina nodded. She wasn't offended by Lin Han's eagerness to express his opinion, because the channel team had invited them over precisely to allow them to share their views.

This was done both to enhance the show's entertainment value and to allow them to explain the reasons for Mistard's disappearance to more Turks during the debate.

Taking the opportunity, Haina asked Lin Han, "So, according to your view, what caused Mai Xing's disappearance was some kind of more fundamental particle in the universe?"

Lin Han admitted, "Yes, the transition from the excited state to the ground state is a fundamental rule of physics. This... well, host, you know about gasoline, right?"

"I know," Haina replied, gesturing for the other person to continue.

Lin Han continued, "This physical change is similar to that of gasoline combustion."

"Even a tiny spark in gasoline can cause a large-scale fire. After the fire is extinguished, the gasoline is gone, leaving only some byproducts of the combustion. These byproducts do not have the chemical properties of gasoline and will not undergo any further combustion."

"If there were a special kind of creature that could only see flammable materials and not non-flammable materials, then in the eyes of these creatures, gasoline would appear to disappear into thin air after being burned by flames."

In Lin Han's description, the Taq were likened to creatures that could see flammable materials but not non-flammable ones, a metaphor that made the disappearance of Mai Xing much easier to understand.

Mai Star wasn't some 'god' in the universe who suddenly reached out and snatched it away from the planet orbiting the Turks' home planet. Instead, it was ignited by 'sparks' that appeared out of nowhere, and after burning out, it became invisible and intangible.

Henna was captivated by this ingenious physical concept.

Haina asked as if suddenly realizing something, "Oh, is that so? So that means that Star Mai is still orbiting us normally in the sky, we just can't see it, right?"

However, to Haina's surprise, Lin Han denied her statement.

"No, that's not the case. Mai Star has already disintegrated. Otherwise, we could still see the gravitational effects of Mai Star on the mother planet. Tidal forces would tell us that Mai Star is still in that location."

Realizing she had misunderstood, Haina simply threw the question back to Lin Han, asking him to explain it clearly.

"Could you please explain in a more specific way?" Haina asked.

Lin Han said, "That's right. I think that after the atomic matter of Maixing transitions from the excited state to the ground state, these ground state matter particles are similar in properties to photons, having only dynamic mass and no rest mass."

"This means that the particles that have completed their transformation on the planet Mai must disperse into the universe at the speed of light, because they cannot be in a static state. If they are in a static state, they have no mass, and no mass is equivalent to no energy, so it is equivalent to non-existence. The only way for such particles to exist is in motion."

"This explains why the disappearance of Mai Xing was a slow process of shrinking in size."

In Lin Han's hypothesis, the unknown ground-state particle is defined as another type of light particle, with properties similar to light particles, moving at the speed of light, and having no rest mass.

Unlike light particles, these ground-state particles do not participate in electromagnetic interactions in the universe, so the Turks cannot observe them and therefore cannot know of their existence.

(End of this chapter)