Chapter 73 No propeller? How can you swim then?
The braised pork knuckle was delicious, and the nuclear reactor was shining brightly.
Once the power issue is resolved, it's like having powerful muscles.
But muscles alone aren't enough; you also need legs.
For a submarine, the legs are its propulsion system.
Conventional submarines rely on a large propeller at the rear of their engines to rotate and churn the seawater forward.
This thing has mature technology and is easy to manufacture.
But it has a fatal flaw—it's noisy.
When the propeller spins fast in the water, it creates cavitation, which crackles and pops, sounding to the sonar operator like drums and gongs being played underwater.
You could hear it even from dozens of nautical miles away.
This is why the US Navy's "Seawolf" can be so arrogant.
As soon as our submarine went out, they heard it and followed us like they were walking a dog.
This is the generational gap, a technological barrier that makes people feel so frustrated they want to vomit blood.
The conference room was filled with smoke.
Professor Liang, along with a group of technical experts, was troubled by a "scribbled mess" drawn by Zhao Di on the blackboard.
That was a design sketch of a submarine.
The lines are very simple, even a bit ugly.
It looks like a cigar with pointed ends.
Most importantly, the back of this "cigar" is completely bare.
It doesn't have that iconic big fan (propeller).
There was only one large, empty pipe running from front to back.
"What...what is this?"
A young technician scratched his head, looking completely bewildered.
"Without a propeller, how does this thing move?"
"Do you mean by jet propulsion? That's a rocket, not a submarine!"
"Or spray water like an octopus? That's way too inefficient!"
Everyone was discussing it, but no one could figure out what was going on.
Zhao Di sat on Lin Jianguo's lap, holding a pencil in her hand, drawing eyes and a mouth on the paper for the "cigar".
She felt that a big black fish should have a smiling face to be cute.
"Girl."
Professor Liang couldn't hold back any longer and leaned closer to ask cautiously.
"You big black fish...did you forget to draw the fan on your tail?"
"How about Grandpa adds it for you?"
As he spoke, Professor Liang picked up the chalk, intending to add a few strokes to the blackboard.
"don't want!"
Zhao Di immediately shook her head vigorously.
"No big fan!"
"The big fan is too noisy!"
"Buzzing, like a big mosquito!"
"I want to be a quiet, big black fish, just like a real fish, darting away so fast that no one can hear me!"
The chalk in Professor Liang's hand froze in mid-air.
"But...without a propeller, how does it propel the water?"
"We can't just use our minds, can we?"
This is basic common sense in physics.
Forces are interactive; if you don't push the water, how can the water push you?
Zhao Di blinked her big eyes and pointed to a goldfish in the fish tank next to her.
"Look, that little fish doesn't have a fan either."
How does it swim?
Professor Liang was both amused and exasperated.
"That's achieved by wagging its tail and paddling with its fins."
"We can't make this huge iron lump, weighing several thousand tons, into a soft, limp iron tail for it to wag, can we?"
How large would that mechanical structure be? How easily would it break?
Zhao Di tilted her head and thought about what the system uncle had told her.
Then, she drew several winding lines inside the hollow tube on the paper.
Then, several circles were drawn on the outside of the pipe.
Use this!
"The fairy uncle said this is called... called magnet..."
Zhao Di got stuck; the word was too difficult to pronounce, and she simply couldn't remember it.
Magnetohydrodynamic propulsion!
Chen Zhiyuan, who had been standing in the corner smoking, suddenly stubbed out his cigarette and strode over.
His eyes were frighteningly bright as he stared intently at the circles Zhao Di had drawn.
"Magnetofluid?!"
Professor Liang was a discerning person; upon hearing this word, he was startled.
"Old Chen, you mean... using the Lorentz force to directly propel the seawater?"
"This...this is just a theoretical concept!"
"The Americans have been working on it for over a decade and haven't succeeded. They say they can't make superconducting magnets and they can't solve the electrode corrosion problem!"
"This is straight out of a science fiction novel!"
The meeting room erupted in chaos.
Everyone thought it was a joke.
Magnetohydrodynamic propulsion sounds sophisticated.
The principle is actually very simple: just electrify the seawater and then add a magnetic field to the outside.
Charged seawater will experience a force in a magnetic field and be ejected directly backward.
It has no moving mechanical parts, no noise, and theoretically no upper limit to speed.
Is it perfect? Yes, it is.
But this requires an extremely strong magnetic field and an extremely powerful electric current.
There are also electrode materials that can withstand seawater corrosion and high temperatures.
With the current level of industrial development, this is simply a pipe dream!
"Impossible! Absolutely impossible!"
An old expert in materials waved his hand repeatedly.
"We struggle even with ordinary high-strength steel, how can we possibly develop superconducting magnets?"
"This is taking too big a step; it could easily backfire!"
"Let's just stick to building propellers. They'll be noisy, but at least they'll make a move!"
Zhao Di was a little unhappy in the face of everyone's doubts.
She thought these adults were really stupid.
Why say something is impossible when it's so simple?
"It can move!"
Zhao Di jumped off Lin Jianguo's lap, ran to Chen Zhiyuan's side, and tugged at his clothes.
"Grandpa Chen, do you believe me?"
Chen Zhiyuan lowered his head and looked into those clear, bright eyes.
He thought of the nuclear battery in the desert, and the exoskeleton blueprint.
Every time, it's the same look in my eyes.
Each time, it's this seemingly absurd miracle.
"I believe you!"
Chen Zhiyuan straightened his back and looked around at everyone in the conference room.
"Comrades!"
“If someone had told me a month ago that a three-year-old could build a nuclear reactor, I would have thought it was nonsense.”
"But right now, the reactor is right next door, all lit up!"
What is science?
"Science is about exploring the unknown and turning the impossible into the possible!"
"What Zhao Di drew is the truth!"
"If she says it can be done, then it definitely can be done!"
"If you don't believe me, let's build a small one and see!"
Chen Zhiyuan's words were resounding.
Professor Liang looked at the diagram on the blackboard, then at Zhao Di, who looked completely confident.
Finally, he let out a long sigh.
"Alright, then let's go crazy with the little darling one more time."
"Anyway, the divine steel has already been forged, so what's a little more?"
"Let's build one! Let's make a model!"
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