Shadow of great britain

The sun sets, the moon rises, and a gentle breeze begins to blow in the London sky.

A group of ladies in long skirts and a group of captains and generals of the Royal Navy gathered in front of this iron cage that was improved by Farah for the second time after Arthur's suggestion. Their eyes were full of curiosity.

Of course, a cage is not worthy of their curiosity. What makes them curious is why the young master of the Carter family is locked in it.

Elder's face flushed. Although people could not see his anxiety in the night, the newly installed gas lamp on the roadside still illuminated a trace of blush on his face.

"Arthur, Arthur!" Elder urged in a low voice: "Damn it, this is different from what we said! Didn't you say you were inside and I was outside?"

Arthur turned the hand-cranked generator, and arcs flashed on the discharge pole, making the hair on Elder's body stand up.

"Are you sure there won't be any problem? This thing won't electrocute me, right?"

"No." Arthur said calmly: "The most he can do is numb his penis. You just need to slow down for a while."

"Ah?" Elder's face turned green when he heard this: "Didn't you say that this thing is absolutely safe in theory?"

Arthur replied: "Yes, it is absolutely safe in theory. But you know, Elder, theory is theory, reality is practice. I can only tell you that there was no problem in the last experiment. And even if it works out You don’t have to be too nervous about the problem, it’s not a big deal. So even if you are shocked, please be patient and don’t make a sound.”

Elder frowned and said, "Why can't you make a sound? Do you want me to prove my fearless courage?"

Arthur turned the generator calmly: "No, it is to prove that there is no problem with my experiment."

"Arthur, you..."

But Arthur had no intention of giving Elder a chance to curse. He turned around with a confident smile on his face.

"Gentlemen and ladies, thank you for your willingness to come to the courtyard despite the cold wind at night and listen to me introduce to you another important breakthrough in the field of electromagnetics in Britain - the phenomenon of electrostatic shielding."

Having said this, Arthur held a kerosene lamp and displayed a rag in front of all the guests. He handed the rag to every gentleman and lady present for inspection.

"As you can see, this is a plain, unused rag, made in a Lancashire tailor's factory, and as strong and durable as any other Lancashire cotton product. But, This rag, which can be used in a household for years or even decades, is vulnerable to electric current."

Arthur took the rag back from the guests' hands and hung it on the clothesline prepared in advance.

He turned the hand-cranked generator on his back, and a serpentine tongue of electricity suddenly shot out of the discharge rod and hit the surface of the rag.

A bright light flashed, and the current instantly penetrated the rag, leaving only a small black hole on its surface. As the current continued to be output, it didn't take long before sparks were seen rising on the surface of the rag, followed by rising flames. Then the rag was swallowed into the nothingness of the night.

The ladies all covered their lips with their fans: "Oh my God! So, are you planning to use this thing to electrocute Mr. Carter in the cage?"

Arthur replied with some regret: "Actually, the current output power of the hand-cranked generator is still too small. I originally planned to move the huge voltaic pile from the Royal Society, which is almost the size of a room. The stack can output over a hundred thousand units of voltage.

If I can use it for demonstration, I think I can make you realize the powerful destructive power of electric current more clearly.

But Mr. Faraday told me that he agreed to lend me the voltaic pile, but if I damaged it while transporting it, I would be responsible for repairing it. I thought about it for a while, but finally gave up on the idea of ​​borrowing an electric pile. "

A lady wearing white lace gloves, a strapless silver-white brocade dress, a braided hair, and a light yellow shawl said slightly surprised.

"I...I have heard before that electrical researchers are crazy. The more accomplished researchers are in the electrical field, the more dangerous they are. It seems that this is not a rumor."

Arthur saw the lady's braided hair and couldn't help joking: "Madam, your hairstyle is also very dangerous. Maybe you can also consider studying electricity. But your impression of electrical researchers is indeed quite correct. Yes, this is a very dangerous field of research.

I know that all the gentlemen and ladies present here have some experience in the field of science, so you must know the French electrical researcher Father Jean-Antoine Nolet, right? He was not only a member of the Royal Society, but also president of the French Royal Academy of Sciences, and the patron of the invention of the early capacitor Leyden jar.

In order to understand how fast the electric current was, Father Nolet specially made a set of large Leyden jars.

Then he summoned two hundred priests from the monastery and asked them to hold chains and form a line of human wires about a mile long. Finally, Father Nolet released the Leyden bottle. Surprisingly, the priests were knocked to the ground almost simultaneously within the visible range of the naked eye.

Since then, Father Nolet has understood that the current runs at a speed of more than two hundred priests per second, and that the speed of the current is directly proportional to the consumption rate of the French priests, and the growth rate of the French priests is proportional to the frequency of Father Nolet's experiments. Inversely proportional. This is the famous law of conservation of Nolet and Priest in France. "

As soon as Arthur finished speaking, all the gentlemen and ladies present laughed heartily, and the atmosphere became much more harmonious.

Seeing everyone's great interest, Arthur couldn't help but add a few words: "Of course, Father Nolet's research results don't stop there. As a great electrical researcher, he has also done many interesting experiments.

For example, if you hang a young man from the ceiling with an insulated silk thread, and then charge his body, you will find that surrounding objects such as paper and coins will be involuntarily attracted to him, and when someone approaches him, even May cause electric sparks.

Or if a person whose body is electrified cuts himself, the wound will not bleed normally, and the blood will just spurt out from the wound like an electric current. "

Arthur's chat with everyone became more and more lively, but Elder in the cage only felt cold all over his body from head to toe.

He originally thought that being a scientific assistant would be a nice job, as he would not have to study hard to learn scientific knowledge, but he could also shine at the banquet.

But now he finally understands that whether it is greed for beauty or hatred of science, sooner or later it will harm you.

After Arthur said this, he picked up the discharge pole and walked to Elder, comforting: "Don't worry, don't you claim to be a scientific insulator? If that is the case, Sir Isaac Newton's gravity will not be able to do anything. It doesn't matter if you jump off a building or anything like that. Elder, it's just a small electric current, so relax."

"Arthur, what the hell..."

But before Elder finished this statement, Arthur had already begun to speed up the hand-operated generator.

Electric arcs flashed in the air, and only bursts of crackling explosions could be heard. A series of electric currents hit the Faraday cage one after another like silver snakes.

Elder just realized what was going on. He was about to be afraid, but after being stunned for a while, he realized that he didn't seem to feel any electric shock at all.

Not only that, but a pleasant breeze blew from the cage, blowing his unpressed hat to the ground.

Elder touched the inner wall of the cage doubtfully. After confirming that nothing happened to him, his courage instantly grew.

Elder picked up the hat on the ground and said with a relaxed smile: "Gentlemen and ladies, as you can see, I... uh, Arthur, what is that phenomenon called? Huh? Static shielding ? Oh! Yes! Gentlemen and ladies, I’m blocked!"

As Elder said, he was indeed blocked because all eyes were on Arthur.

Everyone exclaimed in surprise, and the ladies and ladies stared wide-eyed, completely confused as to why Elder was not shocked.

Some guests who had a problem with Elder couldn't help but show a slight hint of disappointment. With the previous foreshadowing, they thought that Arthur's verification goal today was to prove the hand-cranked generator's effect on Elder. How high the consumption rate will be.

The focus of the generals is obviously still on combat.

General Cochran was the first to ask: "Mr. Hastings, does this mean that electric current is not harmful to canned knights in the Middle Ages?"

General Smith held his chin and thought: "There was no wind just now, but why did Elder's hat blow to the ground? Elder, did you move around inside?"

As the hostess, Mrs. Codrington was all smiles. She was very satisfied with Arthur's display of results tonight: "Mr. Hastings, people say that you are the second best in Britain after Mr. Faraday." Electromagnetics researcher. But in my opinion, you may be slightly behind Michael Faraday in terms of research, but in terms of interesting explanations and demonstrations, you are definitely the first. Next, do you want to tell us about this? A profound principle?"

Arthur just smiled: "Actually, this is not something profound. Regarding the research on this 'Faraday Cage', Mr. Faraday and I just inherited the results of his mentor Sir Humphrey Davy."

At this time, Mrs. Cowper, who was just watching all this with wide eyes and curiosity, finally couldn't help it, because Faraday's mentor Sir David was not only an outstanding scientist, but also a former British socialite. As an important figure in London's upper-class social circle, Mrs. Pur had certainly maintained a good friendship with him.

Taking this opportunity, Mrs. Cowper, who had been keeping quiet, asked: "Mr. Hastings, what does this cage have to do with Sir David? Is it his legacy?"

When Arthur heard this, he just smiled and raised the kerosene lamp at hand: "Sir David's name is so familiar, so I think everyone must be familiar with his invention."

Colonel Elliot leaned down and took a look at the kerosene lamp covered with a layer of copper mesh. Suddenly he patted his head and asked, "Is this a David's lamp? There is a mine on my father's property, and the mines are mined there." This is the lighting equipment the workers are equipped with.”

Arthur nodded slightly: "Yes, this is the Davy lamp. In 1814, several gas explosions caused by the flame of the miner's lamp occurred in British coal mines in Newcastle, Cardiff and other places, and thousands of miners were injured or killed as a result.

After Sir David learned the news, he immediately turned his research direction to the improvement of miner's lamps. After studying for several months, he discovered that if the outside of the kerosene lamp was covered with a layer of copper wire mesh, even if the explosive gas invaded the kerosene lamp, the gas deflagration could be restrained within the copper wire mesh without As for letting the flames overflow and cause the entire mine to explode.

At that time, Sir David believed that this was because the copper wire mesh had good thermal conductivity, so it conducted away the heat generated by the burning oil lamp flame, preventing the flammable gas in the external mine from reaching temperatures exceeding its ignition point, thereby inhibiting The probability of a mine explosion occurring.

But after the advent of the Faraday cage, which has a similar principle, I think the explanation of the David's lamp may need to be adjusted. Because if the copper wire mesh really absorbs the heat, then as the burning time of the lamp increases, the copper wire mesh will sooner or later be heated to the ignition temperature of flammable gas. Therefore, I think it may not make sense to explain this issue just from the macroscopic perspective of thermodynamics. "

When Arthur said this, suddenly, standing next to Mrs. Codrington, a lady who looked about the same age as her and wore a black wide-brimmed hat suddenly asked: "Is it John that you want to say?" Mr. Dalton’s atomic theory?”

Arthur was a little surprised when he heard this. Although he knew that the ladies of the Bluestocking Club had always been keen on scientific research, he did not expect that the scope of their knowledge was so broad.

He looked at the lady and was about to ask, but suddenly he remembered the rule that you should not take the initiative to ask a lady's name, and his half-open mouth became slightly stiff.

But as the hostess, Mrs. Codrington soon discovered something strange about him. She came up to help Arthur with a smile and said: "Mr. Hastings, it's my fault. I forgot to introduce you to the person who is visiting today." Dear guests. The person standing next to me is Mrs. Mary Somerville. She is a researcher in astrophysics and is also engaged in research on magnetism.

A few years ago, she also published a paper titled "The Magnetizing Capacity of More Easily Refracted Sun Rays" in the Proceedings of the Royal Society. However, due to her status, she has not yet given a scientific lecture at the Royal Society. , the presentation speech on that paper was delivered by her husband, Mr. William Somerville. "

When Arthur heard the name, he immediately knew who the other person was, because not long ago, in order to thank him for his assistance in electromagnetic research, Faraday gave him an English translation of Laplace's "Celestial Mechanics" that he was planning to publish. The translator of that "Celestial Mechanics" is the lady Mary Somerville in front of me.

He took off his hat, nodded and saluted, "Madam, I really didn't expect to see you here."

Mrs. Somerville just smiled: "Mr. Hastings, I have always wanted to meet you. I want to tell you that I think Mr. George Airy's criticism of you is completely unreasonable!

Whether it is the concept of ‘line of force’ that you and Mr. Faraday agree on, or your Hastings force, it is a quite remarkable innovation.

The reason why I guessed that you planned to explain the Faraday cage and Davy lamp from an atomic theory point of view is because you are the proposer of the Hastings force. I knew that you would definitely find out the connection between these things in the microscopic world.

So, what new thing did you discover? Mr. Dalton’s atomic theory holds that all matter in the world is composed of atoms. Do you plan to make any new additions to this theory? "

Arthur nodded: "Yes, through the Davy lamp and Faraday cage, I boldly guessed that matter is not only composed of atoms, but I am honored to announce to the world that all atoms in the world are charged. Davy lamp Perhaps it is not as simple as we seem, it is not just a superficial combustion reaction. Just a few days ago, when I went to borrow something from Mr. Faraday, I proposed this idea to him, and then the two of us I might as well do an experiment.”

Mrs. Somerville seemed to have thought of something when she heard this. She asked in surprise: "Could it be that..."

Arthur smiled and said: "With unremitting efforts, Mr. Faraday and I used an electrometer to successfully find the potential difference in the Davy lamp burning in a methane environment."