I Pioneered Scientific Magic - Chapter 524 (Patreon)

Chapter 524: Atomic Clock—Redefining the Passage of Time

What is time?

In scientific terms, it's a parameter humans use to describe the process of material movement or events!

To understand the exact time represented by today, various timers have been developed based on the principle of calculating the average time consumed by a certain object in motion.

For example, dividing seconds, minutes, and hours based on the time it takes for a drop of water to fall, a handful of sand to run out, or a candle to burn. However, such divisions are obviously not precise, as the time it takes for each drop of water to fall cannot be exactly the same, inevitably leading to significant errors.

Sean's invention of the pendulum clock is undoubtedly more advanced because, according to the law of pendulum, by using gravitational potential energy, the time each pendulum swing consumes is exactly the same, and it uses very little energy, only requiring a spring to operate continuously.

Therefore, what is needed is something with the same isochronism but more precise, which can create a more efficient timer than the pendulum clock.

Listening to Lynn's explanation, Sean frowned slightly. It sounds simple, but finding a suitable isochronous rule is not an easy task.

"I can tell you about two things with isochronous rules, and what you need to do is consider how to turn them into timers," Lynn said with a smile.

Sean paused, looking at Lynn in amazement. He didn't expect that this esteemed councilor had already found other isochronous rules, and there were two of them.

"First, it's a quartz crystal, made of silicon dioxide, which has an interesting property—when subjected to external force, it generates an electric current on the surface.

If you reverse it and input positive and negative currents on both sides of a quartz crystal, the crystal will deform and oscillate at a specific frequency..."

Lynn briefly explained the working principle of the quartz clock, simply put, by using the characteristic that quartz crystals oscillate continuously when subjected to alternating currents.

Since the oscillation frequency of quartz crystals is very stable, engineers usually process the quartz crystal and control the electricity to turn this device into a tuning fork, oscillating at a frequency of 32,768 hertz per second.

If each oscillation is taken as a standard, then a quartz clock based on this principle can divide time down to one thirty-two thousand seven hundred sixty-eight of a second.

Of course, the upper limit of the amplitude frequency of quartz crystals is far more than this, with technology potentially reaching up to hundreds of thousands or even millions of hertz per second.

After Lynn explained the principle of crystal oscillation, Sean immediately became excited, recognizing the significant role this device could play in timing.

Especially in terms of precision, it completely outperforms the pendulum clock.

One could anticipate that his own invention might be obsolete before it even spreads.

Indeed, the insights and knowledge reserve of a legendary councilor is incomparable to his own, an official wizard.

Sean's eager and excited expression soon turned to one of resignation as he smiled bitterly. "Since you already have the ideas and plans, why not simply make this quartz clock?"

Lynn had already discovered the most important isochronous rule of the crystal oscillator, leaving only one problem—how to record each vibration of the crystal.

He did not think this issue would be challenging for Lynn, known as the Star of Magic.

Because the answer is evident: since quartz can conduct electricity, focus on electromagnetic signals!

"I always believe that professional tasks should be handled by professionals," Lynn said with a grin.

If it were a few minutes ago, Sean would have gladly accepted this praise from the Star of Magic, but now he was somewhat at a loss because Lynn had just clearly explained the principle of the quartz clock, professionally enough to make him feel inadequate.

So the answer was simple: the councilor didn't have much time to tinker with these gadgets, so he let Sean do it.

Thinking this, Sean didn't know what expression to wear. If he could complete the quartz clock, there was no doubt he would receive another Morning Star Medal.

This represented another revolutionary advance in timing compared to the pendulum clock, allowing wizards to precisely identify very minute time scales.

However, the glory of such an achievement seemed insignificant to the other party, who simply handed it over to him.

Sean took a while to adjust before nodding in agreement to the Star of Magic's request, realizing that this was indeed a great opportunity.

Most importantly, if the quartz clock were to be made by someone else, the Morning Star Medal he received for making the pendulum clock would likely come under scrutiny.

After all, compared to it, his pendulum clock was like a crude toy...

"By the way, you mentioned besides the quartz crystal, there is another rule with isochronism?" Sean asked, incredibly curious.

"Have you read my paper 'The World of Probability—Quantum Mechanics'

?" Lynn asked in return.

"I have read it, but I haven't fully understood your propositions on probability theory and duality," Sean admitted, his face showing a bit of embarrassment.

"No worries, I doubt anyone dares say they understand quantum mechanics now!" Lynn said with a laugh.

"Even you can't?" Sean asked, puzzled.

He might not have fully understood the Star of Magic's quantum theory, but after reading it several times, its logic was very rigorous and well-formed, also aligning with the results of the double-slit interference experiment, and it explained various bizarre phenomena in the quantum realm quite well.

"Of course not!" Lynn shook his head. Even in his previous life, the federation had not perfected quantum theory.

According to a friend who studied microscopic phenomena, the current cutting-edge quantum theory is only about a hair's breadth from the actual observations, from Earth to Uranus...

This is undoubtedly very minor and doesn't significantly affect the application of the results, but since there is a gap, it means quantum theory still needs to be perfected, at least there are some unknown interference factors that haven't been identified.

"Since you've read my paper, you should know that when electrons inside an atom transition between two energy levels, they absorb or emit electromagnetic waves, which is also the operational principle of laser magic."

"However, the atomic clock uses another feature of it; the electromagnetic waves released by the same type of element during specific orbital transitions have a very stable oscillation frequency, which is a fixed value."

"For example, the electromagnetic oscillation produced by rubidium atoms can reach over a billion times per second, meaning that with sufficient technology, it can divide a second into a billion parts..."

Lynn continued speaking, and by then, Sean was already dizzy.

Using the electromagnetic wave oscillation frequency produced by atomic transitions for timing?

This councilor's idea truly made him feel inadequate.

Making a clock, was it really necessary to create such a big fuss, measuring so precisely?

Perhaps seeing Sean's thoughts, Lynn explained, "For the macroscopic realm, there's no need for billionth of a second precision, but if it involves atomic-level or even quantum-level experiments and observations, it's very necessary."

Considering confidentiality, Lynn didn't mention that the new timer would be used to measure the speed of time flow but used quantum experiments as an explanation.

"Here, I recommend three elements—hydrogen, rubidium, and cesium, which you can experiment with one by one," Lynn suggested.

"Councilor Lynn, I might still figure out the quartz vibration detector, but I'm afraid I can't make the atomic clock," Sean felt the councilor was overestimating him.

He was just a small official wizard, and the principles of the atomic clock involved laser emission, internal structure of elements, and even quantum theory, all of which sounded confusing to him, let alone making one.

"Why not try it before you know you can't do it? You can take my letter to the Magic Research Institute for help, and if there are any issues they can't figure out, you can always ask me,"

Lynn encouraged him, then suggested Sean first make the quartz clock, and research the atomic clock slowly, aiming to complete it within a year!

If successful, his name would undoubtedly make a significant mark in the history of magic, and time would be redefined by these achievements!

Motivated by Lynn's promising outlook and repeated assurances, Sean couldn't help but be moved. The opportunity to receive guidance from the councilor anytime was indeed a very tempting condition. After hesitating for a while, Sean agreed to try but did not guarantee that the atomic clock could be made.

After watching Sean leave, a smile appeared on Lynn's face. This way, another necessary task was resolved.

The quartz clock was easy to mention; he could complete it in a few days if he wished, but the craftsmanship of the atomic clock was very complex, not something that could be achieved with the current craftsmanship level of the magic kingdom.

But fortunately, they possessed the miracle known as magic, which could compensate for deficiencies in materials and craftsmanship. What was needed was to keep proposing ideas and conducting experimental trials.

This was undoubtedly a very time-consuming job.

Now that Lynn had become the councilor, he naturally wouldn't involve himself in everything; otherwise, he would be exhausted. Sean was the person he had chosen.

Discovering the law of the pendulum was not difficult, but according to Sean's description, he had intuitively sensed during a certain pendulum copy experiment that the time of each swing was very close, not decreasing linearly as logically expected, then verified it through experimentation.

This keen insight was the best aid for invention and creation!

Having organized his thoughts, Lynn wasted no time and sent a servant to notify Harof, Aurora, and Victorio that he needed to convene an internal emergency meeting.

After the few councilors arrived, Lynn detailed the information obtained from Bard and the crow once again.

"The flow of time

 differs between two worlds, huh? This is indeed rare good news!" Aurora said joyfully.

Previously, they generally believed that war might break out within three months, and in extreme cases, even within a month. Now it seems there should be more time than anticipated.

Subsequently, they discussed how many people should be dispatched and which temporal gate to explore.

The number couldn't be too many or too few.

Too many would easily alert the Lord of the Necromancers, prematurely exposing the position of the temporal gate. If too few, they risked complete annihilation without anyone left to report back.

After deliberation, they quickly decided to form a nine-person small team composed of one great wizard and eight official wizards. They also ruled out the nodes in the Holy City and the City of Fire Oil, opting for a temporal gate located in the northern region.

The reasons were threefold. First, Bard's intelligence gave them some knowledge about that area.

Second, if the church's expedition army could enter in large numbers, then their personnel should have no issues either.

Third, the dangerous magical beasts in that area had already been cleared by the expedition army, which should be slightly safer.

All things considered, it was the best choice.

...

A week flew by in an instant, and Sean's development speed was faster than Lynn had expected; it only took him six days to complete it.

During this time, as the council's six-month development plan was proposed, the entire magic kingdom also experienced a second wave of construction fever. Every city was busy building roads and workshops, and everyone was too busy to stop. The number of laborers had already exceeded a million, and many wizards were complaining.

Because technically skilled jobs that required magic were extremely scarce, many wizards had to handle multiple tasks.

Lynn had no choice but to let the council allocate some resources to laying the foundation for magic signal towers. Once the magic network officially started operating, tens of thousands of official wizards could be added instantly.

The council's grain collection plan was proceeding smoothly.

Having learned from the bankruptcy of their colleagues in the previous food war, even the wealth-focused merchants didn't dare engage in their usual schemes. Moreover, the council was very generous, offering a price 30% above the market rate, which was profitable enough.

The real headache for Lynn and others was selecting personnel for entry into the temporal gate.

The group, euphemistically called the exploration team but more aptly described as a daredevil squad, needed to be prepared for accidents and the possibility of not returning. If discovered or captured by the Lord of the Necromancers, they had to activate a contingency plan to kill everyone present, both materially and spiritually, to prevent the enemy from obtaining too much information about their side.

Therefore, each candidate had to be trustworthy, as well as agile, decisive, and willing to sacrifice. It took seven days to select these nine people based on recommendations and volunteering.

On the day of departure, Lynn put aside his research projects and personally attended to send them off.

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