Chapter 285: Grab Another One
Zhang Xingjiu had just begun to make a name for himself in the physics world, so he did not start out by talking about advanced theories. Instead, he explained in detail how he had discovered the electron and how he had found the loophole in Wien's equations through the blackbody radiation experiment.
It can be clearly seen that the teachers and students in the audience showed different reactions. The students were more concerned about the discovery process of electrons, while the teachers paid more attention to the blackbody radiation experiment.
Because they, like Lippmann, believe that the edifice of physics is close to perfection. Similar views are the mainstream in the physics community today, and many well-known professors and experts have made similar statements.
Planck later recalled that when he was studying physics at the University of Munich in 1875, his physics teacher, Jouri, had advised him not to study pure theory because physics "is a highly developed, almost perfect science" and this science "seems to be very close to taking the most stable form.
There may be a speck of dust or a little bubble in some corner which can be studied and classified, but as a whole it is firmly established. And theoretical physics is clearly approaching the point where geometry has been for hundreds of years."
Planck's other famous teacher, Kirchhoff of the University of Berlin, said something similar: "Physics has done nothing. It is nothing more than adding a few numbers after the decimal point of the known laws."
The teachers in the audience, especially Kelvin, also held the same idea. They believed that predecessors such as Newton and Maxwell had already built a complete physical system, and later generations like them could only make slight modifications and solve some specific small problems.
Unexpectedly, Zhang Xingjiu, through the blackbody radiation experiment, chiseled a big hole in the already built physics building. This almost overturned their lifelong beliefs. How could they not be excited?
According to Zhang Xingjiu's experimental results, the energy of blackbody radiation is not continuous, and its distribution by wavelength is only related to the temperature of the blackbody; from the perspective of classical physics, the results of this experiment are incredible.
Their first reaction was to question Zhang Xingjiu's experimental results, thinking that there was something wrong with the experiment itself. However, when they repeated the experiment, they found that the results were almost exactly the same as described in Zhang Xingjiu's paper.
Now Zhang Xingjiu's speech once again revealed this cruel fact, so when he finished his speech, someone immediately stood up and asked, "If Wien's formula is wrong, then how can we describe blackbody radiation more realistically?"
"I'm sorry, I don't have any idea for the time being." Zhang Xingjiu knew the answer. The problem could be solved using Planck's formula. However, this formula was proposed many years later, so he didn't want to be too ahead of the times and let the physicists worry about it for a while.
Then, many teachers and students raised their own questions. Zhang Xingjiu gave accurate answers to those that he could answer, and dealt with those that were inconvenient to answer vaguely like he did just now.
After the questioning session, Professor Thomson invited Kelvin to the stage to comment on the speech. Kelvin walked up to the stage and was silent for a long time before saying, "I originally thought that the building of physics had been completed, but now a dark cloud has appeared in the sky."
"The dynamic theory confirms that heat and light are two forms of motion. Now, its beautiful and clear sky is covered by a dark cloud. The black body radiation experiment may be telling us that this building does not seem to be stable."
"This is a tragedy for us, because the research we have devoted our life to may be wrong or at least incomplete."
"But this is a good thing for you young people, because it means that the physics building needs new theories to add pillars. Whoever can build this pillar will become a figure that future scholars cannot avoid when studying physics, just like Sir Isaac Newton and Sir James Clerk Maxwell!"
After the short speech, most people were still digesting Kelvin's somewhat shocking words, but Zhang Xingjiu was the first to applaud. As expected of one of the top physicists in the UK and even the world, his vision was indeed sharp.
In order to solve this problem, Planck put forward a bold hypothesis in 1900 that the energy of blackbody radiation is not continuous, but is exchanged in a certain minimum unit. This minimum unit is Planck's constant multiplied by the frequency, that is, E=hf.
This assumption means that energy is quantized, that is, energy can only exist in integer multiples of the smallest unit. Based on this assumption, Planck successfully derived a blackbody radiation formula that was consistent with experimental observations.
However, he did not delve into the physical meaning behind energy quantization, but simply treated it as a mathematical technique.
It was not until 1905 that Einstein extended the quantization of energy to light itself when explaining the photoelectric effect. He believed that light is not only a wave, but also a particle, namely a photon. Each photon has a certain energy and momentum, equal to hf and hf/c respectively.
The photoelectric effect is the phenomenon that electrons are released when photons collide with electrons on the surface of a metal. Einstein used photon theory to successfully explain some characteristics of the photoelectric effect, such as the fact that the kinetic energy of electrons is proportional to the frequency of light and has nothing to do with the intensity of light.
Einstein's photon theory laid the foundation for quantum mechanics.
Another dark cloud, the phenomenon of the constancy of the speed of light revealed by the Michelson-Morley experiment, was also solved by Einstein in 1905. His special theory of relativity explained this problem.
Relativity and quantum mechanics are the most important physical theories of the 20th century. As a result, Einstein became the figure that Kelvin said that later physicists could not avoid. He was indeed amazing to be able to make such a prediction today.
However, in this world, Einstein probably would not be able to obtain these two honors. Zhang Xingjiu prepared to achieve these two honors a few months in advance. Anyway, Einstein had many prejudices against the Chinese, so Zhang Xingjiu had no pressure at all to snatch his achievements.
I stayed in Cambridge for a few days, improved my reputation, and became good friends with Wu Lien-teh.
Cambridge also wrote articles about Zhang Xingjiu's speeches and his exchanges with other scholars and published them in journals, which once again brought Zhang Xingjiu fame.
After returning to the Sorbonne University from Cambridge, Zhang Xingjiu continued to carry out his experiments and theoretical exploration work according to schedule.
A semester passed quickly, and at the beginning of 1898, Zhang Xingjiu made another breakthrough, successfully snatching the achievement of a Nobel Prize winner in physics.
After a busy day, I started typing as soon as I got home. I'll see if I can write another chapter later.
(End of this chapter)
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