Bright Sword starts with the grenade flat.

Chapter 516: Super Technology of Prehistoric Civilization
However, Liu Xiu had objections to the bulky nuclear fusion reactor on his spaceship Asuka, so he needed to persuade Lina, the ship girl, to abandon that bulky nuclear fusion reactor.

Instead, they used a nuclear fusion reactor built with mithril. After Liu Xiu's persuasion, Lina still said with a hint of doubt:
"Really? Is there really such a metal? It can actually achieve room-temperature superconductivity, and can maintain its superconducting properties even at a high temperature of 900 degrees?"

In response to Lina's doubts, Liu Xiu took out a piece of mithril metal and said:

"Of course, this is a unique metal found on a planet. It is an isotope of silver metal and also has superconducting properties. As long as it is at the temperature before melting, it can maintain a superconducting state! If you don't believe it, you can take it back and try it yourself. I remember that the Astronaut spacecraft has a small laboratory!"

Although she heard Liu Xiu's assurance, Lina still said half-believingly:
"But the database left to me by the civilization that created me doesn't mention this isotope metal! But since that's what you said, I'll take it back and give it a try!"

After saying that, Lina took the piece of mithril metal given by Liu Xiu back to the small laboratory on the spacecraft for testing.

After Lina's comprehensive testing, she discovered that this metal called Mithril could really maintain its superconducting form even in a high-temperature star at 900 degrees as Liu Xiu said. Naturally, this made Lina very happy.

After all, if this kind of room-temperature superconductor is really used to make the spacecraft's backup energy nuclear fusion reactor, then a lot of cooling systems will be saved, greatly improving the performance of the Vertibird.

However, what is superconductivity, why does superconductivity occur, and why is room-temperature superconductivity or even high-temperature superconductivity so important?

In order to deeply study the nature of superconductivity, we must first understand why ordinary conductors produce resistance.
We can use a very vivid metaphor to describe what the inside of an ordinary conductor looks like when it is conducting electricity.

One can imagine a sunny day when butterflies, in a happy mood, flap their wings and fly towards the blooming sunflowers.

In the mysterious microscopic world, the electrons that shuttle freely inside the conductor are like butterflies. Once attracted by the electric field, they will move in a specific direction, that is, the direction of the positive pole of the power source.

The naughty butterflies, that is, the free electrons, have the ability to fly freely, but on their journey to the beautiful sunflower, which is the positive pole of the power supply, they will always encounter unpleasant spiders, which are the central atomic nuclei. In order to break free from the constraints of these spiders and the central atomic nuclei, the butterflies will fight hard.

Similarly, the central atoms distributed around the free electrons in a conductor act like spiders; when the free electrons try to move in a particular direction, they inevitably collide with the surrounding central atoms, and this collision causes the movement of the free electrons to be hindered.

Despite all the obstacles, the butterflies, or free electrons, never waver in their desire to fly to the sunflower, or the positive pole of the power source. Similarly, the free electrons always stick to their determination to move toward the positive pole of the power source and keep moving.

Finally, the butterfly, that is, the free electron, flew firmly towards the blooming sunflower in its heart, which is the positive pole of the power supply.

This process is just like the free electrons breaking free from the constraints of the central atom and successfully reaching their final destination, the positive electrode of the power supply. During the movement of the free electrons and the collision with the central atom, energy is transferred from the free electrons to the central atom, and then the central atom releases this energy into the surrounding environment in the form of heat. From a macroscopic perspective, this is why electric current generates resistance when it flows through a conventional conductor.

So, how does the zero resistance state of superconductors occur compared to the resistance state of conventional conductors?
Imagine that when the ambient temperature drops to more than 100 degrees below zero, reaching the critical value of low-temperature superconductors, the butterflies that were originally light and free, dancing gracefully, seem to feel an unprecedented challenge. In order to survive in this harsh low-temperature environment, they no longer fly alone as usual, but choose a new survival strategy - hugging each other in pairs, which is the reason why superconductors can produce superconductivity, the Cooper pairs.

The butterflies hugging each other are Cooper pairs, snuggling together tightly, as if forming a small community of life. In this way, they jointly resist the cold outside, keep each other warm, and overcome difficulties together. What is amazing is that the "butterfly cp" perfectly avoids all obstacles and finally reaches the positive pole of the sunflower power supply in the distance.

In the microscopic world of superconductors, free electrons will also exhibit similar behaviors in such a low-temperature environment; they will pair up in pairs to form Cooper pairs, just like butterflies embracing each other, and then move together toward the positive pole of the power source; thus achieving the unimpeded flow of current in the superconductor, that is, the zero resistance state.

In a superconductor, when Cooper pairs are formed and begin to move, no energy is exchanged between them and the central atom, that is, there is no transfer and release of energy; this special state, at the macroscopic level, is the fundamental reason why superconductors can exhibit zero resistance.

Of course, different low-temperature superconductors require different critical values. When the Wandering Blue Star no longer found the mithril on Pandora, the superconductor with the highest temperature was rare earth barium copper oxide, but it was already more than 190 degrees below zero, which was incomparable to the 900 degrees of mithril.

Of course, in addition to zero resistance, another notable property of superconductors is complete anti-magnetism, a phenomenon often referred to as the "Meissner effect."

Specifically, at room temperature, the magnetic field lines can easily penetrate the superconductor; however, once the superconductor is cooled below the superconducting phase transition temperature, it seems to have a magical power inside, which almost completely cancels out the magnetic field and makes the magnetic field lines unable to penetrate the superconductor. This repulsion of the magnetic field is so strong that the superconductor can float above the magnet, showing its unique anti-magnetism.

The principle of the "Meissner effect" is that when a superconductor enters a superconducting state and is acted upon by an external magnetic field, currents are generated on the surface of the superconductor. The magnetic fields generated by these currents and the effects of the external magnetic field cancel each other out, forming a special equilibrium state that reduces the magnetic induction intensity inside the superconductor to almost zero. This phenomenon is a manifestation of the unique physical properties of superconductors.

It is precisely because of this phenomenon of superconductors that there are suspended mountains on Pandora. This phenomenon occurs naturally because the suspended mountains contain a large amount of mithril superconducting ore.

Of course, after Lina discovered the benefits of room-temperature superconductors, she immediately agreed to replace its backup energy source with a nuclear fusion reactor.

What Liu Xiu didn't expect was that just when he replaced the backup energy source of the Bird with a room-temperature superconducting nuclear reactor, he actually received a call for help from the protagonist Kane.

In the distress message, Kane explained that he was trapped by a super-technological weapon left behind by a prehistoric secretary.

(End of this chapter)