Universe dominance

In the back garden of the Star Palace in the capital of the empire, Li Fu was leisurely drinking tea, reading a book, and thinking about the core and most difficult aspect of the warp engine - the materials.

Materials science, as the most basic subject, has always been an important thing that determines the scientific and technological level of the entire country and civilization. It is also one of the basic subjects that the empire has been vigorously developing over the years.

However, it is not an easy task to create materials that can meet the needs of the warp engine. Because of the powerful performance of the warp engine, theoretically only degenerate-level materials can satisfy the warp engine, but degeneracy State materials can be different from ordinary materials.

Degenerate materials are materials created from the perspective of atoms. In theory, there are also materials created from the perspective of neutrons and quark-level materials. Maybe when it comes to atoms, everyone may not be able to understand how powerful this material is. If we talk about Neutron stars, black holes, everyone may know the power of this material.

With the development of micro science and technology, it is possible to artificially synthesize materials at the atomic scale, such as atomic clusters, cluster materials, linear chains, multi-layer heterostructures, ultra-thin films, etc. These materials are characterized by low dimensions. , the symmetry is reduced and the geometric features are significant.

But it is only possible. When it comes to actual operation, it is difficult to truly create the materials you need from an atomic perspective. The unit of an atom is too small. At most, current science and technology can only It can be done at the nanometer level, and atoms are much smaller than nanometers.

First of all, we need to understand their size. Nano is a unit of length. 1 nanometer is one billionth of 1 meter, which is recorded as nm. 1 nanometer is equal to the length of 10 hydrogen atoms arranged next to each other in a row. Because the diameter of each atom is different, 1 nanometer may be equal to the length of the arrangement of dozens of atoms of other elements.

20 nanometers is almost equivalent to one third thousandth of a human hair!

What we usually call nanotechnology refers to the technology of studying the special phenomena and functions of substances within the nanoscale (100 nanometers to 0.1 nanometers), and creating new materials by directly manipulating and arranging atoms and molecules. .

The emergence of nanotechnology first benefited from the invention of the scanning tunneling microscope (STM), which can magnify tens of millions of times. The invention of the scanning tunneling microscope allows scientists to observe the microscopic world from a nanometer perspective.

Since the early 1990s, nanotechnology has developed rapidly. New disciplines such as nanoelectronics, nanomaterials, nanomechanics, nanobiology, etc. are constantly emerging. Nanotechnology is the future of scientists' language and will change mankind. One of the nine major sciences of history.

In fact, today's scientists can observe atomic level information through STM technology and have a certain impact on the atomic arrangement and structure.

For example, in April 1990, two scientists from IBM in the United States were using STM to observe xenon atoms on the surface of metallic nickel. Inspired by the movement of the probe and xenon atoms, they tried to use the STM tip to move the xenon atoms adsorbed on the metallic nickel. Arrange 35 xenon atoms on the surface of nickel to form an "IBM" structure with a height of 5 atoms!

Scientists from the Chinese Academy of Sciences also used nanotechnology to draw the world's smallest map of China by moving carbon atoms on the surface of graphite, which is less than 10 nanometers in size.

Since then, scientists have been interested in moving various atoms into various patterns, including silicon atoms, sulfur atoms, iron atoms, carbon monoxide molecules, iron-based molecules...

From here we can know that what scientists can currently achieve is to move some atoms slightly and put various patterns on the surface of objects. This cannot truly create and construct the atomic structure three-dimensionally, and there is no way. Create new materials from an atomic perspective on a large scale and quickly.

But even so, they can only move some atoms very simply and arrange some atoms on the surface. Scientists have also created various complex nanomaterials and artificially modified the structure of copper atoms on the surface of copper. Arrangement can also increase the strength of copper by 5 times.

We all know that diamond is diamond, graphite, and coke. The atoms they are composed of are actually the same, that is, carbon atoms. However, the properties of these materials are very different. In terms of hardness alone, diamond is the hardest material in nature. , while the hardness of graphite and coke is very low.

The reason for this difference is the structure of carbon atoms. In the atomic structure of diamond, each carbon atom forms a covalent bond with four other carbon atoms in an SP3 hybrid orbit, forming a regular tetrahedron. Because the C-C bond in diamond is very strong, diamond has high hardness and extremely high melting point; and because all valence electrons are restricted in the covalent bond area and there are no free electrons, diamond does not conduct electricity.

In the graphite structure, carbon atoms in the same layer are sp2 hybridized to form covalent bonds, and each carbon atom is connected to three other atoms by three covalent bonds. Six carbon atoms form a regular six-connected ring on the same plane, extending into a sheet structure.

The bond lengths of the C-C bonds here are all 142pm, which falls exactly within the bond length range of atomic crystals, so for the same layer, it is an atomic crystal. Carbon atoms in the same plane each have one p orbital left, and they overlap each other. Electrons are relatively free, equivalent to free electrons in metals, so graphite can conduct heat and electricity, which is the characteristic of metal crystals.

To put it simply and easily understood, the carbon atom structure of diamond is three-dimensional. All carbon atoms directly form regular tetrahedrons with each other, which is a three-dimensional structure.

The structure of graphite is that carbon atoms form a regular hexagonal ring on the same plane, forming a sheet structure, that is, layers of carbon atoms, but there are no connections between the carbon atoms between layers. It is a flat structure.

A three-dimensional regular tetrahedron structure and a planar regular hexagonal structure cause the material properties of diamond and graphite to be very different, and their values ​​are also very different. The selling price of diamond is calculated by carat, and the price of graphite is Calculated in tons, the value difference is more than hundreds of millions of times!

The empire wants to develop materials for use in warp engines, which means building materials from an atomic three-dimensional perspective and turning decay into magic. For example, turning the atomic perspective of iron into a regular tetrahedral three-dimensional structure like diamond. So what kind of material will come out?

"It's difficult!"

Li Fu couldn't help but frowned when he thought of this. Degenerate materials are not ordinary materials. They have to be created from a very small microscopic perspective. Traditional material synthesis and forging technologies can't do anything but high temperature, high pressure, low temperature, beating, Synthesis and other methods, but the empire's scientists have already studied these methods to the extreme, and it is simply impossible to create degenerate materials.

"Does it have to be the method in the seeds of civilization?"

Li Fu, who obtained the civilization seeds of the Han Technological Empire, naturally knew many ways to obtain degenerate materials from the civilization seeds. For super civilizations like the Han Technological Empire, their methods of obtaining degenerate materials and quark materials are very simple. Mining neutron stars and black holes.

With the empire's current technology, just thinking about it seems a bit fanciful. The mass of neutron stars and the power of black holes are simply not something that current technology can conquer.

Of course, even super civilizations developed slowly step by step. In the early days of the Han Science and Technology Empire, the method of obtaining degenerate materials was to use strong magnetic field binding capabilities to create degenerate materials.

"It seems that this method can only be used. It is also the only method that the empire's technology can currently use. Methods such as space compression, space folding, space collapse, etc. are simply impossible for the empire now."

Li Fu thought for a long time. It is now the 22nd century, and the Empire's Centennial Science and Technology Plan has been implemented for more than 20 years. However, the Empire has not made any substantial progress in researching warp engines. Of course, you can't see anything. Only after you get results will you know that all the hard work over the years will not be in vain.

Just like success, others will only see your success, but not how much hard work and sweat you have put behind it; just like pregnancy, others will only see your belly getting bigger, but they will not see how much hard work and sweat you have put behind the success. I don’t know how many bullets I took to get pregnant.

Li Fu was deep in thought, but did not notice the arrival of Chen Bin, Yu Liang, Cao Haitao, Tu Xuelia and others. All of them had smiles on their faces, and they were obviously in a good mood.

"Brother Fu, what are you thinking about?"

Yu Liang grinned, looked at Li Fu's thoughtful look, and asked with a smile.

"I'm thinking about degenerate materials. Existing methods are difficult to shape materials from an atomic perspective. It seems that we need to innovate."

Li Fu smiled and motioned for everyone to sit down as they pleased without being too polite.

"Xueli, the Japanese are gone?"

Seeing Tu Xuelia coming, Li Fu asked with a smile.

"Well, they have all left. They originally wanted to see you, but I stopped them. They came here this time to establish diplomatic relations with our empire, and they also brought over the authentic copy of Wang Xizhi's 'Lanting Preface', but they were blocked by me. I refused and dug a hole for them."

"Let them continue to expand externally. Judging from the current position of the Beichuan Galaxy, it is estimated that in a short time, they will soon reach a powerful alien civilization, and then there will be a good show."

Tu Xuelia said respectfully, everyone present was a veteran of the empire and an elder. Even though he was the prime minister of the empire, he had to be respectful, especially when facing Li Fu.

However, when he talked about digging holes for the Japanese, he also had a proud smile on his face, as if he saw the miserable end of the Japanese in the future.