1840Indian rebirth

Mashao stayed in Joule's villa for many days. In addition to writing papers, he also often read papers. Joule's collection of periodicals was very rich, at least much richer than his collection.

Reading these ancient journals is not without its rewards.

For example, at this time he discovered an interesting paper, a paper on electrons.

Yes, electronics.

The discovery of the electron was fifty years later, but in fact, some people had already hypothesized the existence of such subatomic particles at this time, and they were quite close to the truth. For example, the transfer of electrons between atoms was mentioned.

But not surprisingly, no one paid any attention to this insightful paper.

The author Richard Laming is just a physics enthusiast, or civilian scientist, and his main job is a doctor.

Unlike later generations, civil sciences in the 19th century could still make achievements - mainly because the science of this era was relatively simple, and ordinary people with a little basic knowledge might really be able to accomplish something with just a slap on the head.

However, civil science is still not taken seriously. Dr. Laming's paper is an example, and so is Joule's experience of being questioned.

A 19th-century civilian scientist proposed the idea of ​​electronics fifty years in advance, which sounds like a legend.

But in the history of science, similar situations are quite common. Many innovative theories will have some "signs" or "premonitions" before they are officially born. Sudden scientific progress may be truly rare.

On the road of exploring truth, mankind has taken many detours.

"Joule, I think this article is very interesting. You can read it." Ma Shao handed Laming's paper to Joule.

Although the book was written by Joule, he had obviously not read this article, or at least had no impression of it: "Subatomic particles?"

"Frankly speaking, I don't think this is a very meaningful idea. It's just a hypothesis, and it's not difficult to think of." He put down the journal, obviously not caring about the content of this article.

Ma Shao asked casually: "Do you think atoms are really indivisible?"

"Maybe." Joule said noncommittally, "What do you think?"

Ma Shao: "I think segmentation itself deserves more attention. People's understanding of the process of 'segmentation' is still very shallow."

Joule: "So you think atoms can continue to be divided?"

"That's right." Ma Shao nodded, "Of course, I also believe that there should be indivisible basic units in the world."

Joule: "What are indivisible elementary particles if not atoms?"

Ma Shao: "I don't know, but it must exist. A process that can be repeated infinitely in logic must have an end point in reality. Logical division can be carried out infinitely, half of which can be taken every day, and it will last forever, but in reality it will definitely not

It will be so.”

These words made Joule deep in thought.

For a moment, he couldn't help but nod his head: "A process that can be repeated infinitely in logic must have an end in reality - this is a wonderful sentence! You are really a genius natural philosopher."

As he spoke, he got another bottle of beer, poured it for himself and Ma Shao, and then took a sip.

Then his expression couldn't help but twist up, as if he was wearing a mask of pain: "Damn it, this bottle of beer is sour!"

Ma Shao didn't hear his reminder in time and took a sip. Naturally, he felt the sourness and viscosity of the wine: "This taste is really... unforgettable."

"As a brewery owner, this is the thing I hate the most." Joule poured the beer away, "Why does beer become sour?"

After hearing this, Ma Shao muttered: "I think this may be caused by bacteria."

"Is it caused by bacteria?"

Mashao thought for a while: "I thought of an experiment that might prove some of my ideas about bacteria and at the same time solve the problem of sour beer."

Joule's eyes shone: "Really?"

He seems to prefer experiments to theory, and this experiment is closely related to his factory, which naturally makes him more interested.

"What experiment?" he asked quickly.

Ma Shao: "It's very simple. Microorganisms can be killed by heating. If the sourness of beer is caused by bacteria, we can avoid this problem by heating it."

Joule: "But after the beer is heated, the taste will inevitably deteriorate... Even if it can be successful, it seems that the gain is not worth the loss."

"We can control the heating temperature and time to minimize the damage to the beer taste," Ma Shao said.

The experiment he talked about was actually the pasteurization method that became famous in later generations.

Pasteurization originated from solving the problem of sourness in beer, and was later used in fields such as milk.

"Well, it's at least worth a try." Joule nodded.

The two immediately started experiments, and the specific operations were basically consistent with the experiments designed by Pasteur in history.

First, they used a microscope to observe the scene in the beer, and then, as expected, they saw a group of lactobacilli.

These rod-shaped microorganisms float and writhe in the beer, looking like maggots.

It was obviously the first time Joule saw this thing, and he was immediately disgusted: "God, what have I been drinking."

"The microscope is a good thing." Ma Shao said calmly, "If you often use it to observe things, you can find that this disgusting-looking tiny creature is almost everywhere, whether it is wine or water."

The two of them observed for a moment.

Ma Shao: "Okay, let's record all these little things and then officially start our experiment."

After recording the lactobacilli, Mashao divided the same batch of beer into several groups and heated them at different temperatures and times to explore the balance between sterilization and consumption.

Of course, there is also a control group, which is beer without any treatment.

After the heating was completed, they observed the scene in the beer again, and then regrouped the beer into two groups, one with lactobacilli remaining and one without.

"Now, we just wait." Mashao said, "As long as my assumption is OK, these sterilized beers will not deteriorate for a long time, and then we will select the one with the least heating and the best taste.

Together, it’s the most perfect beer in the world.”

While waiting, he also wrote this experiment and the theory about bacteria into a paper titled "The Harm and Treatment of Bacteria", and then published it together with the paper on the first law of thermodynamics.

For this paper on bacteria, Ma Shao initially wanted Joule to co-sign, but Joule refused.

"I have made no contribution to this paper and should not be its author," Joule said.

Ma Shao smiled: "At least you provided me with beer."

Joule waved his hands and said: "These beers are not worth mentioning. If you are right, my brewery will undoubtedly benefit from this, and I should pay you a sum of money."