1900: A physics genius wandering around Europe

Chapter 256 The Paradox of Measuring the Speed ​​of Light in One Direction
Light is one of the most amazing phenomena in nature.

Since the birth of physics, physicists have never stopped studying light.

Particle theory, wave theory, prism spectrometry, Poisson diffraction, double-slit interference.
There is even Ridgway's wave-particle duality. Of course, this property has not yet been recognized because it cannot be verified.

Physicists can barely accept the light quantum hypothesis, but cannot accept the wave-particle duality.

But in any case, people believe that the research on the nature of light has been very in-depth.

Not only physicists, but students also feel the same way.

They can calculate the candle hole image faster than anyone else.

However, today, Li Qiwei's question completely broke everyone's defenses.

It turns out that we just thought we had a deep understanding, but in the end we didn't even understand the most basic speed of light.

This is simply unbelievable.

Facing everyone's doubts and disbelief, Li Qiwei said:

"I believe many people wonder why we cannot measure the one-way speed of light."

"To understand this, you need a deep understanding of my theory of special relativity."

"Don't just focus on the mass-energy equation. It's useless. It's just a conversion relationship."

Li Qiwei threw a smoke bomb without leaving a trace to reduce everyone's attention to the mass-energy equation.

"The real core of special relativity is the speed of light and space-time."

"If we want to measure the one-way speed of light, we have to synchronize the clocks."

"And to synchronize clocks, you must first know the one-way speed of light, which creates a paradox."

"That's why I assumed in the theory of special relativity that light travels at the same speed in all directions."

The people in the audience were still confused and didn't understand at all.

"Okay, let me give you an example."

"Suppose there is a light source that sends a beam of light 10 kilometers away."

"At the moment of emission, the timer next to the light source starts counting, and when the light reaches the end point, the timer stops counting."

"Then the one-way speed of light is the distance divided by the time."

“But here comes the problem.”

"How does a timer or observer know when the light has reached its destination?"

"Hubble would say we could put another timer at the end point."

"When this timer detects the incoming laser, it stops counting."

“It’s a good idea, but it creates a new problem.”

"How do you ensure that the two timers are synchronized?"

"How does the timer at the end know that the timer at the starting point has started and the light has been emitted?"

Hubble continued to say that he could connect the two timers with wires and call directly to notify them.

"It's a good idea, but my theory of special relativity has proven that the speed of information cannot exceed the speed of light."

"No matter how fast the phone travels, it can never exceed the speed of light."

"If the speed of the phone is the speed of light, then it takes the same amount of time as light to reach its destination."

“These are all unknown quantities we want to measure.”

“So this approach is not feasible.”

"Hubble used his brilliant mind again and suggested that the two timers could be synchronized together."

"Then, transport one of the timers to the finish line."

"That way, there's no need to notify the endpoint's timer, because they're already synchronized."

“However, this creates a new problem.”

"Because according to the special theory of relativity, the transported timepiece will experience a time dilation effect."

"After reaching the finish line, the two timers were out of sync again."

"above."

"So, in theory, we cannot measure the one-way speed of light."

"Light is like a ghost. Everything about it is very mysterious."

"Maybe it has self-awareness. When it's happy, it runs faster, and when it's unhappy, it runs slower."

"But the truth of the universe restrains it, so it can't act too arbitrarily. It must set its average speed at 30 kilometers per second."

"Otherwise, perhaps our whole world will collapse."

"But don't worry, although we don't know the one-way speed of light, at least for now, it has no impact on physics."

"It's enough to measure the average speed."

quiet!
When Li Qiwei finished talking about the paradox of measuring the one-way speed of light, the auditorium fell into a dead silence.

Everyone was digesting Li Qiwei's analysis.

Using the special theory of relativity to interpret the speed of light leads to such an incomprehensible conclusion.

Everyone present was confused and talking nonsense, with black lines on their foreheads.

"Oh my god, today was really an eye-opener for me."

"I thought I understood the special theory of relativity, but it turns out that was just what I thought."

"From today on, I will never again dare to say that I understand physics. This world is too weird."

"It's so sad. Not only have I not learned classical physics thoroughly, I haven't even learned modern physics clearly."

"I now suspect that if Professor Bruce gave me a slider question, I might not be able to do it."

"Don't tell me, this is really possible. For example, what is the nature of friction? Can it become zero?"

"Stop talking, stop talking, and leave me alone!"

At this moment, all the students in the venue looked at Li Qiwei with extremely admiring eyes and were shocked in their hearts.

The other person's figure became extremely tall, as if covering the entire auditorium.

That is the absolute pressure brought about by knowledge surpassing several levels.

Even some professors in the front row were speechless for a long time.

Although they studied the special theory of relativity, they never thought about this problem.

Because the speed of light is so simple, people will subconsciously forget or ignore it and not think there is anything wrong with it.

Millikan smiled bitterly.

Is this the difference between theoretical physicists and experimental physicists?

As an experimental physicist, Millikan always thought about how to verify other people's theories.

But I have never thought about the profound essence behind it.

At this moment, he realized how big the gap was between him and Bruce.

This gap cannot be made up by hard work.

It is an innate physical intuition.

Bruce's brain seemed to be born for physics.

Sometimes Millikan really wanted to uncover the other person's brain and see what the difference was between that of an ordinary physicist.

Michelson looked at Li Qiwei with emotion.

As the operator of the Michelson-Morley experiment, he naturally knew the speed of light best.

Li Qiwei had a vague understanding of the paradox he talked about a few years ago.

But unfortunately, his current position in physics is so high that he is busy with many trivial matters.

It is difficult to do experiments and think about problems as hard as we did when we were young.

He has been away from front-line research for a little too long.

Li Qiwei's analysis suddenly made Michelson feel a little sad.

He is old and doesn't have the same passion as before, so he will miss a lot of discoveries.

But now the golden age of physics is erupting again, and Michelson is really unwilling to accept it.

He really wants to borrow another five hundred years from heaven.

Hubble in the crowd was shaking with excitement.

Li Qiwei's two questions left an indelible mark on his young mind.

At this moment, he truly felt the charm of the world's top physicist.

Hubble was overwhelmed by the pleasure of knowledge gushing out from every pore.

He silently decided in his heart that he must continue on the path of physics.

Follow Professor Bruce, and one day, stand at the pinnacle of physics and experience the boundless and magnificent scenery.

Ridgwell became Hubble's spiritual mentor, leading him astray.

At this time, a young man suddenly stood up in the crowd. Li Qiwei looked at him and found that he was a Chinese who looked a bit like an international student.

Li Qiwei suddenly felt a liking for him, looked at him with a smile, and transmitted strength through the air.

The young Chinese man excitedly said in English: "Professor Bruce, my name is Chong Su."

"Thanks to your policy, I came to the United States to study last year."

“I am currently pursuing a master’s degree at Alabama Agricultural and Mechanical University in the United States.”

"I'm so excited to meet you."

Li Qiwei was very happy because he found out that the student was a Chinese student studying abroad.

Today, China only has undergraduate education, but no graduate education.

If students want to continue their studies, they can only go abroad.

At the beginning, Li Qiwei also took the actual situation into consideration and did not establish master's and doctoral degrees in the country.

Because given the actual situation in the Qing Dynasty, that was a bit too exaggerated.

I guess it is not recognized abroad either, it is purely for self-entertainment.

Therefore, many outstanding students in China take advantage of the study abroad policy to study abroad, mainly in Europe and the United States.

Li Qiwei discovered that the other party did not go to a well-known school, but an Agricultural Machinery University, which showed that the other party was down-to-earth and not ambitious.

"Chongsu, you are very good. The country now needs more than just pure theoretical sciences such as mathematics and physics."

“We also need to develop majors related to people’s livelihood, so your choice is very good.”

"This shows that you are not pursuing fame, but doing research in a down-to-earth manner."

"When you return to China in the future, I hope to see you bring changes to the country's agriculture."

Li Qiwei's words made Chongsu's blood boil instantly.

As if he had been given an injection of chicken blood, at this moment, all the difficulties and grievances he had suffered in a foreign country disappeared.

With Li Qiwei's words, Chongsu's future is destined to be limitless.

In the future, Alabama Agricultural and Mechanical University will be proud to honor Su.

At this time, Li Qiwei suddenly said, "Chongsu, what do you think about the speed of light paradox?"

He knew that the other party definitely didn't just want to talk to him.

Sure enough, after Chong Su calmed down, he said, "Professor, I do have an idea."

"But after all, I'm not a physics major. I'm just more interested in physics."

"I hope you can forgive my mistakes."

Li Qiwei smiled kindly and encouraged: "Speak boldly. Today is not an academic discussion. Anyone can speak freely."

So Chongsu plucked up the courage to say: "I think distance and time are not real existences, but a kind of relationship between objects."

“Space is the positional relationship between objects, while time is the order relationship between things.”

"Light is a reality, so the speed of light is also a reality."

“I think it is unreasonable to use a non-actual relationship to measure an actual existence.”

"So, we can't measure the speed of light."

boom!
Chongsu's words were like a bomb, shocking everyone who was still in shock again.

No one present could have imagined that they thought Hubble was good enough, but they didn't expect there would be another great god out there.

The students looked at Chong Su with envy. His answer seemed to have a hint of philosophy and sounded very awesome.

And the other party was actually a foreign student from the Qing Dynasty.

This country is truly horrible.

It was clearly a feudal and ignorant country just a few years ago.

Ever since Professor Bruce went back, it seems like everything has been transformed. Now every international student is so awesome.

The key point is that the other party is not a student majoring in physics.

You can have such a deep insight and understanding of the speed of light paradox.

It makes people sincerely admire it.

Hubble couldn't help but look at Chong Su, thinking that there were indeed too many hidden dragons and crouching tigers in the world.

It seems that I shouldn't be too proud of my little cleverness.

We still need to work hard to achieve greater success.

Of all the people, Master Qian Wu was the most surprised.

He didn't expect that today he not only met fellow villagers, but also that his fellow villagers gave face to his countrymen.

It's really uplifting.

From the shocked looks of the people around him, Master Qian Wu felt respected.

Sure enough, we Chinese are no worse than anyone else.

In the field of science, with the leadership of Professor Li Qiwei, we will surely create unprecedented brilliance.

Michelson in the front row was also thinking about Chongsu's answer.

Although this answer is not perfect, or has any advancement in physics.

But the key is the other party's age and identity.

It is very rare to have such insight, and it shows a lot of potential, no worse than Hubble.

What shocked Michelson was that there were so many such outstanding students in China.

The population of that country is simply too large.

They can select 100 outstanding students to master physics, and another 100 to master mathematics.

What’s scary is that we can still pick another 100 to study modern agriculture.

What is this concept?
For every American who makes a car, there are four people in China who make cars.

This is not a simple four-fold relationship; its results and explosive power grow exponentially.

At this moment, Chongsu's appearance made Michelson realize that Li Qiwei's layout had initially produced results.

The other party's ambition is growing rapidly and being realized in a way that no one could have imagined.

Michelson stared at the voice on the stage and murmured, "Bruce, is this your method?"

"It's really admirable."

At this moment, after listening to Chongsu's explanation, Li Qiwei couldn't help but feel proud.

Look, this is how I, Li Qiwei, transform Chinese science.

I am not wrong!

Although Chongsu’s point of view is not particularly accurate.

Because space itself is a real existence.

The so-called vacuum is not empty, which is a very complex and multifaceted concept.

But this was 1910, and Chongsu was still a Chinese student. The fact that he had such insight was enough to make Li Qiwei ecstatic.

This is the hope for China’s future!

One Chong Su is not scary, but when thousands and millions of Chong Su gather together, they will burst out with a force that will shock the world.

In this situation, Li Qiwei couldn't get too excited, so he smiled and said, "Chongsu, your point of view is very novel."

"You're not a physics major yet, so it's very rare for you to have this kind of thinking."

"We can have a good discussion next time if we have a chance."

Wow!
Li Qiwei's words made the others present envious.

First it was Hubble, then it was Chongsu.

Both of them received praise from Professor Bruce.

The future academic path is destined to be a smooth one.

And from this incident, we can see that Professor Bruce has a broad mind.

He did not look down on the Su clan just because he was Chinese.

On the contrary, he was generous in praising Hubble.

This makes those who claim to be living in a free and civilized country feel a little ashamed.

Because they still discriminate against Asians.

Even the United States has introduced various laws.

At this moment, Ridgway is subtly changing the future of the United States.

But if he heard what these students were thinking, he would definitely say with a smile:

"Sorry, you guys think too much. Hubble is far inferior to Chongsu."

(End of this chapter)