I Pioneered Scientific Magic - Chapter 507 (Patreon)

Chapter 507: Mimetic Interference Patterns, A Great Victory for Particle Theory

This academic seminar lasted for several hours, with wizards continually taking the stage to present their inventions or magical theories.

Among the inventions, there were three perpetual motion machines, clearly showing the wizards' keen interest in creating infinite power sources. The most reliable one was the magnetic perpetual motion machine, which used a dozen permanent magnets to generate power, projected to last for many years. However, this device was ultimately rejected by Lynn.

After all, with such strong magnets at their disposal, why wouldn't they use them to build generators instead? Wouldn't that be more efficient?

However, not all wizardly ideas were so flawed. After more than a year, the results of magical theory research were booming, especially in the fields of number theory, mechanics, elements, and electromagnetism.

In just a few hours, Lynn and Harof had already awarded six Morning Star Medals, and it was only the first day of the conference.

Sean was the thirty-sixth person to present, showcasing his invention—a mechanical pendulum clock!

Until now, wizards used hourglasses as timers, where sand flowed from one container to another to measure time. However, the hourglasses made by wizards contained a special type of sand imbued with magical properties.

This magical sand had two important characteristics. First, it fell at a rate of ten grains per second inside the specialized hourglass. Second, its rate was particularly apparent under a wizard's psychic perception.

This meant that wizards only needed to touch the hourglass to psychically discern the quantity of remaining sand, quickly calculating the current time to an accuracy of about 0.01 seconds.

Sean's mechanical pendulum clock used the principle of a simple pendulum. A simple pendulum consists of a string hung from the ceiling with a small ball attached to the end. Once pushed, the ball swings back and forth under gravity's influence.

He discovered that the swinging time of the ball depended only on the length of the string, not on the amplitude of the swing, providing a stable basis for measuring time.

Sean disassembled the entire clock, pointing to the gears, escapement, mainspring, and hairspring inside, explaining in detail how it worked. In essence, the pendulum's motion drove the gears, with one full rotation representing one minute.

After hearing Sean's explanation, Lynn realized it was a basic clock, probably due to its recent development. Its structure was quite simple.

Lynn casually pointed out several areas for improvement, then humorously suggested, "Why not increase the number of gears inside the dial to three? A small gear rotating once could drive the medium gear to move for a quarter hour, and the medium gear rotating once could drive the large gear for another quarter hour. I would call these the second wheel, minute wheel, and hour wheel!"

Sean paused, a look of surprise on his face, quickly understanding the benefits of such a design. This way, there would be no need to calculate how many rotations the dial had made; one could see at a glance the time in hours, minutes, and seconds.

"Thank you for your suggestion, Chairman Lynn. I never expected you to have such a high level of expertise in alchemy," Sean said with a slight bow of gratitude.

Before, while in the imperial territories, he had heard of Lynn's exceptional talent in magical research, but he had not realized how comprehensive Lynn's skills were.

"In fact, Chairman Lynn is the most skilled wizard in alchemy within the entire magical community. My title as a magical creator is hardly deserved," said Victorio from the judges' panel, quite embarrassed.

In just a few years, Lynn had developed airships, warplanes, magic trains, and steel behemoths, truly living up to the name of a magical creator.

His own development of the Solar Flare Cannon, though impressive, was merely an adaptation of the alchemical process to recreate the "Endgame - Atomic Breath."

"Actually, my alchemical skills are quite ordinary, at best. I only have some insights into engineering," Lynn said, shaking his head with a smile, aware that his broad knowledge gave him an advantage.

Even without his reminders, Sean would have perfected the clock through continuous improvements.

Lynn quickly moved past the topic and began discussing with Harof and others whether to nominate Sean for a Morning Star Medal.

This new way of timing was viewed favorably by everyone. Its precision might not match that of a magic clock, but its greatest value lay in its simplicity and non-reliance on magical power, meaning even ordinary citizens could use it. Its structure was also straightforward, making it highly accessible.

This was a perfect example of utilizing gravitational potential energy, far more reliable than those so-called perpetual motion machines.

Lynn nodded, seeing the deep significance in this clock beyond its functionality, representing a revolution in timing devices.

As research goals progressively reached into the microscopic realm, the 0.1-second precision of magic hourglasses seemed insufficient. They needed

 to achieve accuracies of one-thousandth or even one ten-thousandth of a second.

Sean, the male witch presenting, might just be the right developer for this new type of timer.

Given this, Lynn did not skimp on rewards, directly awarding Sean a Morning Star Medal.

Sean, overwhelmed with honor, stood in place as the Star of Magic himself personally placed the medal on him, his face flushed with excitement, having never before received such revered treatment.

After bowing again in thanks, Sean sat down amidst the envious glances of the surrounding wizards, who eagerly engaged him in conversation.

"Next, we have Master Sanchez's experiment on light particle scattering," Harof announced, checking his list.

At this, the wizards in the audience perked up, understanding that this was a key point of the conference.

The debate over the particle and wave theories of light had been ongoing for months, and it was not just a simple theoretical dispute; the ownership of a Corona Medal was at stake, something no one was willing to give up.

Under the watchful eyes of all, Sanchez stood up and walked to the podium, first bowing to the assembly of chairmen before presenting his theory of light particles.

His fundamental thesis was that light is composed of countless tiny particles, even a beam of light only 0.1 millimeters in diameter contains billions of light particles. As he spoke, Sanchez raised his right hand, creating a semi-translucent red magic orb in his palm, its interior brimming with mimetic elements swirling around to simulate the state of photoelectrons.

Just then, a wizard who supported the wave theory snickered and interrupted Sanchez.

"Wait a minute, Master Sanchez, you just said that light is electricity, and electricity is light, even suggesting that electricity is made up of even smaller light particles... Can a burning candle also continuously produce electricity?"

Laughter broke out in the large conference room—candles, of course, can't be used to generate electricity. But some people didn't laugh, including Sanchez, who sighed in resignation.

"I don't know whether you're a wizard from the kingdom or the empire?"

"I'm from the Steel City of Seltoden," the male wizard responded unflinchingly.

Seltoden, located in the eastern region of the kingdom, had been 'reclaimed' later and had previously been under the rule of major nobles.

Despite the implicit stratification within the wizard community, prejudices persisted.

For example, wizards born in the Land of Wizards looked down on those from the kingdom, seeing them as barbarians without systematic magical education, while wizards from the kingdom held similar disdain for those from the empire...

Even though the council intentionally tried to eliminate regional differences, such contradictions were inevitable.

Sanchez realized his words might cause some misunderstandings and quickly shook his head. "Anyway, I suggest you buy a copy of Master Alade's 'The Essence of Fire' and take a good look at Chairman Lynn's 'On the Internal Structure of Elements, Electron Orbital Model,' so you won't ask such foolish questions again."

"Fire is an oxidation reaction that occurs during the combustion of materials. If the temperature is high enough, it becomes a high-temperature plasma..."

"And electrons exist within every element. I thought everyone would know this basic knowledge..."

Sanchez looked disdainfully at the male wizard. Not just candles, theoretically, any material can ionize given sufficient temperature!

Listening to this, the wizards who had just laughed were now embarrassingly silent, and the male wizard who had spoken was left speechless.

After explaining this, Sanchez no longer paid attention to these ignoramuses and continued his particle theory, using the pinhole imaging demonstrated by Glenn as evidence.

With the apprentices' help, a simple experimental setup was quickly assembled.

There were only three items on the table.

On the left was a candle, in the center was a board with a tiny hole, and on the right was a stone wall.

Sanchez lit the candle, and immediately, an inverted image of the candle flame appeared on the stone wall. The top part of the candle flame emitted light that passed straight through the hole and hit the lower part of the wall, while light from the bottom part of the flame hit the upper wall, combining to form an inverted image of the flame!

"If light were a wave, it couldn't possibly show such an inverted, clearly distinct image with exact opposites in size and shape!" Sanchez declared loudly. "So, without a doubt, light is a particle that travels in straight lines!"

Sanchez's voice echoed in the exhibition hall as the wizards discussed the noticeable shadow on the stone wall.

"Then how would you explain the problems of light interference and diffraction?" Geoffrey finally spoke up, unable to hold back any longer, directly hitting the particle theory's critical issue.

"This is exactly the experiment I'm about to conduct next!" Sanchez's lips curled into a mocking smile. "Just a simple simulation will make everything clear!"

Sanchez asked for the candle to be removed and replaced

 the center board with one that had double slits. He then created a blue light orb in his left hand.

"Now, I assume these are photoelectrons!"

Sanchez held up a red and a blue orb of elements, and under the gaze of the audience, shot them towards the two slits in the board!

Upon hitting the smaller diameter holes, the outer protective membranes of the two elemental orbs burst open, and the mimetic magical elements inside began to scatter in all directions.

Because there were two explosion sources very close together, many of the scattered red and blue elements soon collided and merged with each other, becoming even more powerful.

The wizards in the front row suddenly stood up, their eyes fixed on the stone wall.

The red and green mimetic elements struck the wall, leaving prominent pits. About three seconds later, the results were already apparent. The scattered elements' landing spots were concentrated in several areas, forming nine stripes made up of impact pits.

The middle of these stripes had fewer pits.

"Interference stripes, these are interference stripes!" Sean exclaimed in amazement.

More and more people realized the implication. If these pits were considered as scattered light particles, the areas with dense pits were where the light was brightest, and the other areas were relatively darker.

This meant that even if light were a particle beam, it could still exhibit light interference and diffraction phenomena!

Realizing this, the wizards supporting the particle theory were extremely excited. Sanchez's experiment had undoubtedly removed the biggest obstacle to the particle theory, and cheers and applause resonated throughout the exhibition hall.

Great Wizard Alade even formally announced the results, shouting loudly, "This is the victory of the particle theory!"

Sanchez, triumphant, turned his gaze towards Geoffrey and Anthony.

"I must say, that's a very clever explanation, Sanchez!" Anthony couldn't help but remark.

Sanchez had discussed the explosive theory of photoelectrons before, but Anthony hadn't expected him to actually conduct this experiment, though it was merely a simulation using mimetic photons.

"I'm sorry you've abandoned the correct path, Anthony," Sanchez said with a light laugh. "It's still not too late to change your mind!"

Anthony shook his head, sighing. "It's a pity, though, that this theory is wrong!"

Seeing Anthony remain unconvinced, Sanchez frowned in dissatisfaction, but before he could respond, Anthony spoke again, definitively stating, "Because I have already discovered the nature of light—it's actually... an electromagnetic wave!"

-----------------

Table of content - Next Chapter >>>

• You can access publicly available chapters of "I Pioneered Scientific Magic" right HERE.

• Your invaluable feedback and ratings mean the world to me. Please take a moment to rate this novel at Novelupdate.

• You can also check out the other Novels I'm currently translating by clicking HERE.

• If you come across any mistakes within this chapter, kindly notify me in the comments below, so that I can make the necessary corrections.