1900: A physics genius wandering around Europe

Chapter 271 Li Qiwei's first move: electron angular momentum (asking for monthly tickets and subscriptions)

After the passion, Bohr did not explode as imagined.

No, still no.

Natural science never cares about human will.

Sudden flashes of inspiration often require a solid foundation.

For example, Newton proposed the law of universal gravitation after being hit by an apple; Kekulé dreamed of an Ouroboros and proposed the molecular structure of the benzene ring.

These are just beautiful legends in the field of science.

What Bohr always admired was hard power like that of Ridgway.

Think about the absolutely cold universal truth with an absolutely calm mind.

Bohr, who is in the sage time, is now very calm.

But after trying for a while, he gave up.

I feel bitter in my heart. It turns out that the gap between people is greater than that between people and dogs.

During the following vacation, Bohr regained his status as a rich second-generation.

I stopped thinking about the planetary model and took Margaret on a tour of Denmark.

During this period, Bohr also went to Margaret's father's factory and volunteered to solve the technological problems encountered by the factory.

Ma's father was overjoyed, because his future son-in-law was a student of the great scientist Bruce, so he must have at least half the ability of his teacher.

So Bohr put on his work clothes, ran to the workshop to check, and finally found the problem.

It turned out that a metal component on the machine had shrunk due to the cold weather, causing its structure to change and thus causing the failure.

The problem was solved when Bohr suggested raising the temperature.

This shocked everyone.

Ma's father deliberately took Bohr to show off in the factory, saying that his daughter had good taste.

The workers in the factory all agreed with the boss, and each of them praised Bohr as a great doctor and indeed very amazing.

Margaret also looked at Bohr with her beautiful eyes, feeling very proud.

This made Bohr feel a little embarrassed.

These little problems aren't even physics problems.

At this time, Margaret smiled and said, "Bohr, you see, what seems like a huge problem to my father is a piece of cake to you."

"Perhaps you can ask your mentor for help again."

Bohr regained his confidence at this moment.

Before, he always felt that Professor Bruce had given him enough guidance.

You can't ask a mentor for everything.

Therefore, he wanted to rely on his own strength more in his heart.

However, after this factory maintenance incident, he understood one thing.

People grow because of communication.

Without Margaret's conversation that night, perhaps Margaret's father's problem would still not be solved.

Moreover, Professor Bruce also received help from Professor Planck when he published quantum theory.

How could I be so worthy as to be compared with my mentor and feel that I don't need to rely on anyone else?

Bohr, who had a clear mind, felt relaxed all over.

After he decided to start school, he sought help from Li Qiwei again.

"Teacher, this time, will you help me clear my confusion like you did to Master Qian Wu?"

Bohr muttered to himself, not considering whether Ridgway could do it.

In his heart, Professor Bruce is omnipotent.

But at this moment, the omnipotent mentor in Bohr's mind was in distress.

It turned out that after seeing her son's depressed mood that night, his mother asked his father to call Li Qiwei.

Let Bohr's mentor give Bohr some advice.

Bohr's father was reluctant at first. In his opinion, this was an academic matter and Bohr's own business, and Bohr had to take responsibility for it.

Can people still rely on their parents and teachers for their entire lives?

However, as soon as Bo's mother got angry, Bo's father instantly became dispirited.

As a university professor, Bo's father is gentle and polite, but a little henpecked.

So, he used his connections to find Li Qiwei's phone number on Garden Street and called him.

On the phone, Mr. Bo spoke humbly and explained his purpose very sincerely.

After hearing this, Li Qiwei smiled heartily and reassured them.

But after hanging up the phone, he could only smile bitterly.

Because he couldn't explain the problem of the stable orbit of electrons.

The best way to put it is: it is just like that, it is an axiom, it is a natural phenomenon, there is nothing to explain.

Just like the speed of light is 30 kilometers per second.

This is the reason why he said that his previous advice to Bohr was too much or too little.

He couldn't just encourage Bohr and say: Just boldly put forward this hypothesis without considering its rationality.

This is clearly not something a mentor should say.

And, most importantly, there is actually evidence.

Ridgway knew that in real history, a man named Nicholson at Cambridge University published a paper.

This paper helped Bohr a lot, giving him sufficient reason to propose the hypothesis that electron orbits are discontinuous.

In classical physics, any object in motion has momentum.

Momentum is equal to mass times velocity: [p=mv].

Similarly, if an object moves in a circular motion, its momentum is called angular momentum.

Angular momentum is equal to mass multiplied by linear velocity multiplied by radius: [L=mvr].

The so-called linear velocity is the instantaneous tangent velocity of an object along its trajectory.

According to the planetary model, electrons move in a circular motion around the nucleus, so they have angular momentum.

In classical physics, angular momentum should be continuous and can take any value.

However, Nicholson discovered through experiments and theoretical calculations that the angular momentum of electrons is not continuous.

It can only be an integer multiple of [h/2π], where h is Planck's constant.

The paper caused little sensation at the time because Nicholson was an unknown person.

But Bohr found a crucial clue in it.

Why are the orbits of electrons not continuous? Why are there stable orbits?
This is because the angular momentum of an electron is discontinuous.

Now Bohr's theory has a logical loop and is no longer a circular argument.

Although Nicholson's experiment was crude, it would not be accurately replicated until several years later.

But there is at least one strong piece of evidence that it is not.

It is better than directly proposing the steady-state orbit hypothesis.

And later on, the evidence that the electron's angular momentum was discontinuous was no longer important.

Because more and more phenomena are perfectly explained, proving the correctness of Bohr's hypothesis.

It can be said that the paper on electron angular momentum helped Bohr make up his mind.

If there was really no evidence in the end, Bohr would definitely have published it anyway.

But now, because of Ridgway, Bohr studied the planetary model in advance.

History has changed, and Nicholson certainly hasn’t published his paper.

Li Qiwei was very worried, as it was impossible for him to publish the paper himself.

But it seemed as if God was playing a joke on him.

Things took an unexpected turn.
-
The next morning, Li Qiwei helped Nature review manuscripts as usual.

He now also holds the title of honorary editor-in-chief of the journal Nature.

As the great era of physics slowly unfolds, various geniuses take turns to appear on the stage, which poses considerable challenges to journal reviewers.

The reason is very simple. Papers related to modern physics are too advanced, and many of them are simply incomprehensible to reviewers.

Or even if I can barely understand it, I can't tell its correctness and don't know whether I should publish it.

This is a very real problem.

In real history, many people have scolded the reviewers of Nature journal.

I think their level is too poor and often publish some of Mi Tian’s works.

The situation is even more serious in the current journal Nature.

Because of Ridgway, the authority of Nature has become unrivaled, equivalent to the Nobel Prize in the journal industry.

It achieved the status it deserved in later generations many years ahead of schedule.

Countless manuscripts are submitted every day.

Ordinary papers are easy to review, as Lockyer's own team can review them.

But if there are papers like Laue and Qian Wushi, the editorial team of Nature will be a little bit unconfident. This is the limitation of the times.

In later times, when information is more developed, as long as the journal is willing, it can invite professors from many universities to serve as reviewers at the same time.

Make sure you don't make stupid mistakes.

But now, this method is definitely not feasible, and journals have to form their own review teams.

So Lockyer decisively found Li Qiwei and strongly asked him, as the honorary editor-in-chief, to take responsibility.

Those papers that they are unsure about will be sent to Li Qiwei to have this great man check them.

Lockyer even said that after Gregory graduated, he would let him take charge of Nature, and he himself would retreat to the second line.

Today's physics is no longer the physics he is familiar with.

The old knight felt that he could retire now, so as to avoid making a fool of himself due to his poor judgment.

And Gregory, who received his doctorate under Ridgway, is definitely more than qualified to be the editor-in-chief of Nature.

And now, Li Qiwei is reviewing more than ten papers that have been sent to him.

These papers are all very innovative.

Suddenly, he saw a familiar name: Professor Case.

Li Qiwei thought he had read it wrong. He quickly checked the author's address and found that it was Cambridge University.

Yes, it seems to be Professor Case’s paper.

Li Qiwei found it a little funny. When did Professor Case become so awesome?

He was able to publish a paper that even Lockyer was unsure about.

As the physicist who is known to be the closest to a physicist, Professor Case is also a legend in the world of physics.

Because he and Li Qiwei have a deep bond.

He once helped Li Qiwei resolve his troubles during the final exam.

He was the first person to hear Ridgway talk about the wave-particle duality.

He attended Li Qiwei's undergraduate defense, participated in a relativity seminar, and raised a classic question.

It can be said that Professor Case’s presence is no weaker than that of some physicists.

It's all because of Li Qiwei!

Since Professor Case and Li Qiwei had so many interactions, his fate naturally changed.

He has always wanted to break through himself.

Relativity was too difficult, so Professor Case had to give up.

But quantum theory is different.

As one of the hottest research directions at present, quantum theory is similar to atomic research and many people are studying it.

Professor Case is one of them.

Einstein's paper on quantum specific heat gave everyone inspiration.

Quantum is a basket that can hold anything.

The physics at Cambridge University was deeply influenced by the Cavendish Laboratory, and many people studied atoms, electrons, etc.

Professor Case suddenly had an idea: what is the relationship between quantum and electrons? He wanted to do an experiment to try it out.

This time, he really guessed it right.

At this moment, Li Qiwei was holding Professor Case's paper in his hand, feeling both amused and helpless.

Because the content of the paper is exactly about the angular momentum of electrons, the conclusion is the same as Nicholson's.

Professor Case also proved that the angular momentum of electrons is discontinuous.

His experiment was simple.

Heating the substance causes it to emit hydrogen atoms.

The emitted hydrogen atoms are then formed into very fine atomic beams through a beam-focusing device.

Then the hydrogen atomic rays are allowed to enter the inhomogeneous magnetic field and finally hit the photographic plate.

Professor Case discovered through experiments that hydrogen atoms would be deposited as two traces on the bottom plate.

Moreover, when the magnetic field strength was adjusted, it was found that only discrete traces were left, rather than continuous ones.

Therefore, Professor Case speculated that this is because the angular momentum of electrons inside hydrogen atoms is not continuous.

Therefore, the magnetic moment formed by electrons is not continuous, and their trajectory is naturally not continuous after passing through the magnetic field.

However, he wisely did not mention quantum concepts.

Instead, it simply records the result.

Because there are too many fake and shoddy quantum papers now.

There is even unreliable hype about quantum water and quantum reading.

Professor Case was worried that he would be suspected of riding on others' popularity and that this would affect the publication of his own article.

After reading the paper, Li Qiwei breathed a sigh of relief and thought to himself: My disciple Bohr, now my teacher has come.

Out of professional ethics, he did not immediately send Professor Case's paper to Bohr.

Instead, he waited until it was published and then told Bohr as soon as possible.

On January 1911, 1, the latest issue of Nature was published.

However, a paper published in its subsidiary journal did not attract anyone's attention.

Atomic research is in full swing today, with a large number of related papers published every day.

Professor Case's article did not cause much stir.

However, a phone call from Li Qiwei will change the fate of two people at the same time.

The Bohr family estate in Copenhagen, Denmark.

The family is having dinner.

Bohr continued to think while eating, but he was not as depressed as before.

Suddenly, the phone rang and Bohr's father Christian answered the phone.

Immediately afterwards, Bohr saw his father's expression kept changing, which was very strange.

"Okay, okay, I'll tell Bohr right away."

"Thank you so much, Professor Bruce."

Wow!
Bohr was surprised to find that it was his tutor calling.

Before he could ask what was going on, his father said cheerfully:

"Bohr, your instructor asked you to read a paper in the latest issue of Nature's physics journal, written by Case."

"Hurry up and get it from my study. It was delivered the day before yesterday."

In her free time, Christine likes to read the latest articles in Nature.

Moreover, he is a heavy enthusiast and a full subscriber.

Whether it was the main publication or the sub-publication, Christian bought all of them without missing a single issue.

Even if you don't have time to read it, it's still good to buy it and collect it.

Although he was a professor of physiology, Nature had sub-journals such as physics, chemistry, and biology, and many articles in them also inspired him.

Bohr was still confused at the moment. He didn't know that his father had called Li Qiwei.

However, he must listen to his mentor.

So Bohr quickly got the latest issue of the physics journal.

As he flipped through the pages, he recalled Professor Case.

He knew that the other party had a very good relationship with Professor Bruce and was a senior in the field of physics.

Well, I mean seniors in terms of age, not academic seniors.

Although Bohr did not mean to look down on Professor Keyes, he did not take the paper too seriously.

Moreover, he usually doesn't even read the contents of the sub-publications.

In his words, it's too low.

Bohr was determined to win the Nobel Prize in Physics, so how could he degrade himself by reading low-level papers?

Maybe the tutor feels that it has something to do with him.

Bohr felt warm in his heart because his mentor cared about him so much.

However, when he opened the paper and read a few paragraphs, he was stunned.

It was as if thunder exploded in my mind.

boom!
His eyes were wide open, his mouth was slightly open with excitement, and his hands were shaking uncontrollably.

When Bo's father and mother saw their son like this, they thought something had happened and hurriedly asked about his condition.

But Bohr could no longer hear any sound from the outside world.

His mind was filled with the phrase "the electron's angular momentum is discontinuous."

It took several minutes for Bohr to calm down.

He apologized to his parents and said he was fully recovered.

Father Bo breathed a sigh of relief. He was indeed worthy of being Professor Bruce.

At this moment, Bohr was in high spirits and smiled crookedly: Physics, King Bohr is here!
(End of this chapter)