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Chapter 555 Uranium Centrifuge (First update, please subscribe)
As a country of immigrants, Nanyang has scientists and technicians from all over the world, including some Nobel Prize winners. In addition to some scholars "invited" through the "Paperclip Project", there are also people like Johannes Stark In that case, he was listed as the "principal criminal" and was forced to flee to Nanyang. However, as a Nobel Prize winner, he did not need to remain anonymous. Nanyang granted him asylum in an official form. There are also many people who were banned from teaching by the Allies during the "denazification" and therefore lost their jobs as university professors.

It is precisely thanks to the arrival of these experts and scholars that Nanyang has been able to establish Asia's first-class higher education system in a short period of time, and in a short period of time, Nanyang has a place on the world's scientific stage.

According to some European and American newspapers - the technological tree of the Third Reich took root in Southeast Asia and bore fruit. There are even caricatures linking Nanyang with the swastika.

But no matter how ironic it is, it cannot change the fact that Nanyang needs this technological tree and needs it to take root and bear fruit in Nanyang.

And where are the roots?
There are universities in Nanyang. For tens of thousands of German scholars in Nanyang, universities are places with the strongest German flavor. German-style buildings can always comfort their homesickness. But that's it. Compared with homesickness, most of them have long regarded this place as their second hometown.

This is the case for Gilnot Zip, who is an assistant professor at Yongning University. Although he has not yet been naturalized, he has long regarded Yongning as his second hometown. As a physicist, he worked on radar and aircraft propellers during the war. But since two years ago, he has been involved in a confidential research-uranium centrifuge.

"In industry, a centrifuge is a very common machine. Its working principle is to use high-speed rotation to separate mixed substances. For example, to separate blood cells from plasma. Although this sounds incredible, their The principle is actually that simple.”

"The dewatering drum of a washing machine is also a separator. The artificial gravity generated by its rotation can separate water (heavy) and clothes (light). A good washing machine rotates about 15 times per second. U-235 and U-238 The difference is very subtle. In order to separate U-235, the centrifuge speed required is about 100 times that of a washing machine, and the speed is close to the speed of sound.”

To this day, Zipu still remembers how the project director Yuan Jialiu described the centrifuge when he joined the project. In fact, as physicists, they certainly know what a centrifuge is.

当然也知道这项工作的难度——普通的铀的同位素是U-238，有146個中子，在自然的铀元素中占有99.3%的比重。U-238比铀的另一种同位素U-235稍微重一点，U-235比U-238少三个中子。

The difference between the two is so small that it can be imagined how difficult it is to "dump" U-238, which only weighs three neutrons.

"You can't possibly succeed!"

Thinking of others' ridicule, Zipu, who was lying in front of the desk, shook his head. As a young man, although he didn't know how to succeed, he was determined to try his best to achieve the impossible.

Staring at the drawings on the drawing board, Zipp said to himself.

"Speed, the key is speed, it must be more than 1500 revolutions per second..., and this requires overcoming friction..."

In fact, the overall idea of ​​uranium centrifuge is very clear. As early as two years ago, Yuan Jialiu proposed this idea: place a high-speed drum in a space. Fill this space with gaseous uranium. A regularly varying magnetic field is used at the bottom of the drum. This motor is very similar to make the drum rotate at high speed, so that the heavier U-238 will float towards the wall of the drum, while the U-235 will gather in the middle. With slight heating at the bottom, these gaseous mixtures will have such an effect: U-238 will sink downwards, while U-235 will float upwards, so that the required isotopes can be collected.

Although the theory is out there, the specific methods are less clear. To achieve this goal, Zip's group must work hard to defeat the main enemy of the rotation process - friction. "Friction will slow down the speed, damage or even destroy the entire equipment, and these machines need to work flawlessly for many years... In other words... physical support must be reduced as much as possible?"

Tapping the pencil stick and staring at the centrifugal drum on the drawing, Zipp, as a physicist, is not an outsider in machinery. After all, he once participated in the development of aircraft engines. In fact, it was precisely because he was proficient in both physics and mechanics that he was selected to join this project team.

"Magnetism, you can use magnetism..."

Suddenly, Zipu's eyes lit up and he shouted excitedly.

"Yes, that's right, pump out the air in the drum and use a magnetic bearing to fix the top of the drum, so that the necessary physical support can be reduced!"

With an excited shout, Zipp leaned over the drawing board again and redrawn the drawings just like before.

Early the next morning, after completing the basic design, Zipu made a call. After the call was connected, he said to Yuan Jialiu on the other end of the phone.

"Professor, I have a new idea..."

Ten minutes later, a car arrived at the Physics Building of Yong'an University. Zipu then got into the car with the security personnel. In Nanyang, due to the limited number of scholars, it is impossible to gather everyone in the Atomic City for a closed study. research, so researchers often teach in universities and work in Atomic City at the same time.

Scholars like Zipu who are responsible for the development of sub-projects usually do not even need to go to Atomic City. But today was different. Soon he took a flight from a nearby military airport to the "Atomic City" located in the hinterland of the central rain forest of Borneo.

“…In order to overcome friction, physical support must be reduced as much as possible, which also means that any physical contact must be reduced as much as possible. Therefore, I designed a needle-shaped magnetic bearing for the bottom of the drum. On. This is the only physical point of contact in the entire system, which reduces friction to a minimum compared to ordinary bearings.”

While Zipu was introducing his design, Yuan Jialiu walked to the drawing and stared thoughtfully at the needle-shaped magnetic bearing on the drawing. After thinking for a moment, he looked at Zipu and said.

“This design of yours is great! Let’s work together to make it a reality!”

It seems like a simple sentence, but it actually requires more sweat. In the following time, the designers spent several years constantly testing and modifying, and finally developed this complex device. Out
(End of this chapter)