What is time? In scientific terms, it is a parameter used by humans to describe the process of material movement or the occurrence of an event! In order to more accurately understand the time represented by the day, various timers came into being. The basic principle is to calculate the average time consumed by a certain thing in the process of operation.
For example, the time it takes for a drop of water to fall, a handful of sand to flow, or a candle to burn out can be used to divide seconds, minutes, and hours. However, such a division is obviously not precise enough, because the time it takes for each drop of water to fall cannot be exactly equal, and there will inevitably be a significant error.
The pendulum clock invented by Sean is undoubtedly more advanced, because according to the law of simple pendulum, with the help of gravitational potential energy, the time spent on each swing of the pendulum is exactly the same, and its energy consumption is also very small. It only needs one spring to run for a long time.
So all we need to do is find something that has the same isochronism but is more precise, and we can create an efficient timer that is different from a pendulum clock.
Listening to Lin's story, Sean frowned. It sounds simple, but it is not so easy to find a suitable isochronous law.
“I can tell you two things that have isochronous laws. All you have to do is think about how to make them into timers.” Lynn said with a smile.
Sean paused and looked at Lin in surprise. He didn't expect that the Speaker had already found other isochronous laws, and two of them.
“First, it is a crystal of quartz, which is made of silicon dioxide. It has an interesting property, which is that when it is compressed by an external force, it will generate an electric current on its surface.
If positive and negative currents are introduced into the two sides of a quartz crystal, the crystal will deform and oscillate at a specific frequency..."
Lynn explained to Sean the operating principle of the quartz clock in a concise manner. To put it simply, the time is recorded by utilizing the property of the quartz crystal that it will oscillate continuously after an alternating current is applied to it.
Because the vibration frequency of quartz crystals is very stable, engineers normally cut the quartz crystals and control the current to make them into a tuning fork, which oscillates at a frequency of 32,768 Hz per second.
If one vibration is taken as the benchmark, then a quartz clock made using this principle can divide time into thirty-two thousand seven hundred and sixty-eighths of a second.
Of course, the upper limit of the amplitude frequency of quartz crystals is far more than that. It is not impossible for the technology to reach hundreds of thousands or even millions per second.
After Lynn explained the principle of crystal vibration, Sean immediately became excited. As someone who had made a pendulum clock, he naturally realized the important role of this thing in timekeeping.
Especially in terms of accuracy, it is far superior to the pendulum clock.
It can be expected that one's invention may be eliminated before it is even implemented.
Sure enough, the insights and knowledge reserves of a legendary speaker are not comparable to those of a formal wizard like himself.
The eager and excited expression on Sean's face quickly turned into a helpless expression, and he said with a wry smile, "Since you already have an idea and a plan, why don't you just make this quartz clock?"
Lin En has found the most important isochronism law of the crystal oscillator. The only problem left is how to record every vibration of the crystal.
He didn't think this problem would be difficult for Lin En, the magic star.
Because of this answer, even I can think of it. Since quartz can be electrified, then we should work on electromagnetic signals! "I always believe that professional things need to be done by professionals." Lin En said with a smile.
If it were a few minutes ago, Sean would have happily accepted the praise from this magic star, but now he was a little amused, because Lin En had just explained the principle of the quartz clock very clearly, and his professionalism made him ashamed.
Then there is only one answer left, the Speaker cannot spare much time to tinker with these little gadgets, so he lets me do it.
Thinking of this, Sean didn't know what expression he should have for a moment. If he could complete the production of this quartz clock, he would undoubtedly be able to obtain another Morning Star Medal.
This was another innovation in timekeeping compared to the pendulum clock, allowing wizards to accurately identify very small time scales.
However, the other party gave this honor to him without any care.
It took Sean a while to adjust himself and he nodded to agree to the request of the Magic Star. After all, this was a good thing no matter how you looked at it.
The most important thing is that if the quartz clock was invented by someone else, then the Morning Star Medal that he received for making the pendulum clock would most likely be questioned.
After all, his pendulum clock looked like a shabby toy in comparison...
"By the way, you just said that besides quartz crystal, there is another isochronous law?" Sean asked with great curiosity.
"You should have read my published paper [The World of Probability - Quantum Mechanics], right?" Lin En asked back.
"I have read it, but I still don't fully understand the probability theory and duality you proposed." Sean showed a somewhat embarrassed look on his face.
"It doesn't matter. I'm afraid no one dares to say that they can understand quantum mechanics now!" Lin En said with a smile.
"Even you can't?" Sean asked curiously.
Although he could not fully understand the quantum theory of this magic star, after reading it several times, he found that the logic was very rigorous and self-contained. It was also consistent with the results of the double-slit interference experiment and could well explain various strange phenomena in the quantum field.
"Of course not!" Lin En shook his head. Not to mention him, even the Federation in the previous life failed to truly perfect the quantum theory.
According to a friend of his who studies microscopic phenomena, the gap between the most cutting-edge quantum theory and actual observation is about the distance between the earth and Uranus.
This is undoubtedly very small and basically does not affect the application of its results, but since there is a gap, it means that quantum theory still needs to be improved, or at least there is some unknown interference term that has not been found.
"Since you have read my paper, you should know that when electrons inside an atom transition between two energy levels, they absorb or release electromagnetic waves. This is also the operating principle of laser magic."
"However, the atomic clock uses another characteristic of it. When the same element transitions in a specific orbit, the electromagnetic waves released have a very stable oscillation frequency, which is a fixed value."
"For example, the electromagnetic oscillations produced by rubidium atoms can reach a frequency of more than one billion times, which means that if the technology is sufficient, it can be divided into one billionth of a second..."
Using the vibration frequency of electromagnetic waves generated by atomic transitions to tell time? The speaker's imagination really made him feel ashamed.
Is it really necessary to make such a big fuss to make a clock so accurate? Perhaps seeing Sean's thoughts, Lin En began to explain. "For macroscopic fields, there is no need to use billionth-of-a-second accuracy, but if it involves atomic-level or even quantum-level experiments and observations, it is very necessary."
Considering the issue of confidentiality, Lynn did not say that the new timer would be used to measure the flow of time, but only used quantum experiments as an explanation.
"Here I recommend three elements - hydrogen, rubidium, and cesium. You can experiment with them one by one." Lin En suggested.
"Speaker Lin, I can still think of a way to make the quartz vibration detection device, but I'm afraid I don't have the ability to make this atomic clock." Sean felt that the Speaker in front of him really thought too highly of him.
He was just a small formal wizard, and the principle of the atomic clock involved laser emission, the internal structure of elements and even quantum theory. He felt confused just by listening to it, let alone making it.
"How do you know you can't do it if you don't try hard? You can take my handwritten letter to the Magic Research Institute for help. If there is a problem that even they can't figure out, you can always come and ask me."
Lin En encouraged him, and then told Sean to make the quartz clock first, and then slowly research the atomic clock, and try to make it within a year! As long as he succeeds, his name will definitely leave a strong mark in the history of magic, and time will be redefined because of these achievements! With the wonderful prospects described by Lin En and his repeated assurances, Sean couldn't help but be moved. Being able to get guidance from the speaker at any time is undoubtedly a very tempting condition. After hesitating for a while, Sean agreed to give it a try, but he did not guarantee that the atomic clock could be made.
After watching Sean leave, Lynn couldn't help but smile. In this way, he had once again solved a necessary problem.
The quartz clock was easy, he could make it in a few days if he wanted, but the atomic clock was extremely complicated and could not be made with the current level of technology in the Magic Kingdom.
But fortunately, they have a miracle called magic, which can make up for the deficiencies in materials and craftsmanship. All they need to do is to constantly come up with ideas and conduct experimental attempts.
This is undoubtedly a very time-consuming task.
As the Speaker of the House, Lynn naturally would not do everything himself, otherwise he would be exhausted to death. Sean was the person he chose.
It is not difficult to discover the law of the simple pendulum, but according to Sean's description, when he was doing a certain replica pendulum experiment, he intuitively perceived that the time it took for the pendulum to swing back and forth each time was very close, and not linearly decreasing as logically expected, and then verified it through experiments.
This kind of keen insight is the best help for invention! After Lin En sorted out his thoughts, he did not stop for a moment and asked his servant to inform Harof, Aurora and Vittorio that he needed to hold an internal temporary meeting.
After several speakers arrived, Lynn recounted in detail what he had heard from Bud and Crow.
"The speed of time flowing in the two worlds is different? This is rare good news!" Aurora said happily.
Previously, they generally believed that the war might break out within three months, and in extreme cases even within a month. Now it seems that there should be more time than expected.
Then they discussed how many people should be sent and which space-time gate to enter for exploration.
This number cannot be too many or too few.
If the number is too large, it will easily attract the attention of the Lord of the Undead and expose the location of the space-time gate in advance. If there are too few, the entire army will be wiped out when encountering danger and there will be no one to report the news.
After discussion, they quickly decided to form a nine-man team consisting of a great wizard and eight official wizards. They also excluded the two nodes of the Holy City and the City of Kerosene as the entry point and chose the space-time gate in the north.
There are three reasons. The first is that Bud's intelligence meant that they were not completely ignorant of the situation in that area.
Second, the church’s expeditionary force can enter in large numbers, so there should be no problem for them to send people in.
Third, the dangerous monsters there have been cleared out by the expeditionary force, so it should be a little safer.
Overall, it is the best choice.
…
A week passed in a flash, and Sean's research and development speed was faster than Lynn had imagined. He completed it in just six days.
During this period, with the parliament's half-year development plan, the entire magic kingdom also ushered in a second wave of construction boom. All cities were building roads and workshops, and everyone was busy. The number of workers alone had exceeded one million, and many wizards were complaining bitterly.
Because there is a severe shortage of skilled workers who can perform magic, many wizards have to juggle multiple tasks.
Lin En had no choice but to ask the parliament to use part of the resources on the construction of magic signal towers. As long as the magic network could be officially put into operation, tens of thousands of more official wizards would be able to appear in an instant.
The parliament's grain collection plan went very smoothly.
Having learned from the lessons of their colleagues who went bankrupt in the last food war, even those wealthy businessmen who valued money more than anything else dared not try to make a profit from rare goods. Moreover, the parliament was very generous and offered a price that was 30% higher than the market price, so they could still make some money.
What really gave Lin En and others a headache was the selection of personnel to enter the space-time gate.
To put it nicely, this group of people is called an exploration team, but to put it bluntly, it is a suicide squad. All wizards who enter them need to be prepared for unexpected situations and inability to return. If they are discovered or captured by the Lord of the Undead, they must take the initiative to trigger the back-up plan and kill all the people present at the material and soul levels to prevent the other party from obtaining too much information about this side.
Therefore, every candidate must be trustworthy, smart, decisive, and willing to sacrifice. It was not until seven days later that these nine people were selected based on the principles of presumption and voluntariness.
On the day of departure, Lin En dropped his research project and came to see them off in person.
(End of this chapter)