After listening to Brahms's speech, Chen Xiao's heart brightened and he thought of many things at once.
The rest of the material experts are not vegetarians, they are all experts. Who doesn’t understand the key points?
What is silicon? What is silica? Isn’t it just molecules like stone or glass? High-strength glass is silicon element mixed with some other elements, making it transparent and hard.
Don't underestimate the materials produced by living things themselves. They are biological mechanisms formed after countless years of evolution and the most severe natural elimination.
For example, no other material can match the strength and toughness of spider silk at the same diameter. At best, it is only close.
Another example is hair. If you throw it away casually, it's like lifting a car. Another example is the way a dragonfly's wings flap in flight. No metal is so strong and will soon break due to fatigue.
So there is a subject called bionics. Human beings can only get close to these things, but cannot completely replicate them.
Seeing that everyone was listening to what he said, Brahms continued: "The silica shell produced by diatoms is amazingly strong. Calculated, if it is as thin as a fingernail, it can hold dozens of kilograms of weight.
and not broken.”
However, experts soon raised objections.
"You are talking about placing it on a flat bottom, but many times it has to withstand the force of suspension and forces from all directions. At that time, the strength of placing it on the ground is no longer enough."
"Even if you are right, the split shell of diatom is the hardest object on the planet. But it is too small, and there is an upper limit on the speed of splitting. In this way, how much cultivation area do we need to meet the requirements?
supply?"
"Diatoms also need energy, at least photosynthesis, right? Diatoms can only exist in water layers with sufficient sunlight. In this case, it seems that it is not easy to cultivate. After cultivating them, you have to find a way to build equipment to collect the shells.
This job is really troublesome.”
Everyone started talking about it, and the issues they talked about were quite realistic, such as yield, cultivation location, collection method, and overall cost. Those diatom shells cannot be collected and just stuck directly on the tube channel.
This problem cannot be circumvented. The strength of the tube bundle channel must be sufficient. According to model calculations, the speed that Changtian Technology can currently reach should be one thousand kilometers, but this speed is simply not enough. According to the idea, the vacuum pipeline train is divided into three stages. The first
One stage is ordinary vacuum high-speed rail, with a speed of only 500 to 600 kilometers. Today's technology is sufficient, and the lack of promotion is a cost issue.
The second stage is low-vacuum magnetic levitation technology. This is what Changtian Technology is doing now, and it is more than ten years ahead of the times. But the cost of this is still quite high, and the materials for the tube bundle channel are still existing things, and further improvements will be needed.
Five hundred kilometers.
If this spreads out, people will definitely scold Versailles. If you are not satisfied with 1,500 kilometers per hour, do you want to go to heaven?
However, what Chen Xiao wants is the third stage, which is high-vacuum magnetic levitation. A purer vacuum environment, greater electromagnetic force, and a speed of over 4,000 kilometers per hour! That's really an instant, thousands of miles away, achieved in one step!
To achieve this premise, the strength of the tube channel is unimaginable, at least it cannot be done now. If we insist on doing it, the cost is too high and it is not suitable for promotion.
That’s why Chen Xiao is so interested in the diatoms mentioned by Brahms. This thing can be reproduced and cultivated. Doesn’t this just conform to the development thinking of Changtian Technology? All materials can be cultivated without pollution, but
Recycling, sustainable development, and maximum utilization of natural resources.
"Everyone, please summarize and sort out the specific strength data of the tube bundle channels. Compression resistance, bending resistance, and torsion resistance are all required. Let's start with diatoms! The materials department will contact the breeding department here to analyze the existing silicon
The existing diatoms are not capable of transforming algae." Chen Xiao asked the two groups to split up.
Biological experts from Yunxia District also participated in the cultivation of new diatoms.
Experts in biology, microbiology, geneticists, geneticists and other related fields came together to try to tackle the problem.
The idea is not complicated, just keep screening. Divide the diatom into many parts, and after a period of division, collect the diatom shells to test the strength.
After multiple measurements, it was determined which group of diatoms had better genes and could produce stronger silica. Those diatoms with better genes were taken out and continued to be cultivated, and diatom shells were collected and compared.
In order to speed up the process, Changtian Technology also directly edits the genes of diatoms to determine the key genes. Then the cells can play a totipotent role, allowing a single gene or cell to directly develop into a complete diatom.
Manual screening and gene editing are used to find suitable diatoms as quickly as possible. In this regard, Brahms has good experience and helps the team save a lot of time. He even contributed his conjectures to let
Other groups try.
Fortunately, Brahms's idea was right, and the performance of diatoms was virtually improved.
Auxins that promote the rapid growth of diatoms are also being researched. Naturally, the production of this product cannot be left to nature. We need a stable and efficient production model.
The physics project team is also making continuous progress. By changing the shape of the train and the starting point, the speed has once again increased to a new height, having exceeded 2,000 kilometers per hour. This is already the limit of existing materials. It can be faster.
, has no meaning anymore.
Because those tube bundle channels are already very thick and the materials are super expensive, they have no promotion value at all. Chen Xiao set the weight, thickness, and even radius of the tube bundle channels early on. All research must be conducted within the set framework. If it is developed
It doesn't work. I don't have time or money to change it later.
The construction method of the tube bundle channel was being carried out simultaneously. According to the characteristics of diatoms, the engineering experts screened the shells of specified specifications and arranged them in a honeycomb shape on the pre-built cylindrical cover. This construction did not matter, the problem immediately appeared.
These shells are dead materials. If they are directly attached, they will lose their stickiness due to the loss of moisture, and the whole piece will fall off. If glue is used to sew, the cost will be put aside for now. How will the construction be done in the future? Will it be spliced piece by piece?
?
If this problem is not solved, even if diatoms can produce super strong shells, tube bundle channels will not be established.
The senior executives of the engineering team immediately held a meeting.
"How about using cement as the base and mixing in the diatom shell?"
"The sealing performance cannot be guaranteed, and the gaps that are not covered will become a breakthrough point for atmospheric pressure."
"Isn't it just one atmospheric pressure? What's there to be afraid of? Sixteen horses can pull it apart."
"You know Tintin! Have you considered the huge energy cost generated when the train is running at high speed? According to your logic, just make a glass one now."
"No! We have to ask the vehicle design side for their thoughts on what kind of start and stop method it is. Otherwise, we have no concept of strength at all!"
The train project team is also exploring methods of starting and decelerating the train to minimize the pressure of the force field on the entire tube bundle channel.
After repeated discussions, they designed the "slingshot method." Simply put, the starting magnetic field is set on the guide rail, covering only the bottom of the train, and then acts like a slingshot to accelerate the train from a standstill to extremely fast speeds.
The train is the projectile, and the magnetic field is the slingshot rubber band.
After that, the magnetic field will disappear, and the train will be suspended in the vacuum environment, moving forward without resistance. If it needs to accelerate, magnetic field force will be applied somewhere.
When the train is about to stop, the magnetic field in front opens in advance, and the force increases from small to large, just like an elastic slingshot catching things that are coming quickly. When the train stops, the magnetic field disappears, and the slingshot will naturally not rebound.
This idea is reliable, but it requires some distance, but compared to the other method, it is much better.
Someone has proposed a method, which is to rely on air resistance to slow down. The specific method is to set up gates at a certain distance before and after the station as the entrance to the deceleration zone. When the train passes here, the air slowly enters, and the speed of the train naturally decreases.
After people get on and off the bus, the air in this distance is drained and becomes a vacuum before starting the bus.
This proposal made everyone's brains explode. Even though improvements were made later, it was said that more gates would be dropped when getting on and off the car to separate them, and the air in front and in that section would be drained as quickly as possible before starting. But there are so many gates.
Opening, closing, and sealing the tube bundle channels are a huge challenge.
What's even worse is that to stop such a high-speed behemoth, the pressure on the control channel is too great.
It is better to just use magnetic fields and just think about sealing and atmospheric pressure for tube bundle channels.
After the people from the engineering team exchanged information with the people from the train project, they felt relieved. You really don’t treat the construction workers as human beings, right? Air friction parking method? Who can create such a passage? That is, the materials
The crew didn't come, otherwise we would have to hit people. The friction between such a fast-moving train and the air is like a rocket flying into space. What kind of material is used for the body? If you only have to think about the bottom of the car, you have to think about the whole thing.
It's a problem with the trolley.
The members of the engineering team were relatively "satisfied" and went back to brainstorming how to build the tube bundle channel. In the end, they chose to build it by grinding the diatom shell and then reassembling and spraying it.
A large amount of diatom shells or even diatoms are thrown into a roller mill with extremely small gaps for splitting. Ultrasonic waves are used during the process to cause the diatom shells to be broken into smaller pieces.
Then spray it on the pre-built mold and spray several layers. At this time, the diatoms are still in a living state, spontaneously dividing, and then linking these fragments to ensure a tight fit without any gaps.
Several models were made, and the strength was very high. The members of the engineering team were so happy that they were finally able to make a deal. Unexpectedly, after a while, better news came. Members of the biomaterials team had cultivated a new type of model.
Diatoms, the shells of these diatoms not only contain silica, but also have fibrous tube bundles. These tube bundles hold the silica shell together. Even if it splits, it will slowly return to its original shape.
In this way, the entire tube bundle channel becomes a huge whole! Countless silica crystals are linked together by countless fibrous tube bundles.
This achievement was hard-won and was almost discarded. Fortunately, everyone had the habit of checking every specimen three times afterwards. Only then did they discover that the diatoms in a certain petri dish had formed an integrated body.
Not everyone can afford this habit. Ordinary laboratories simply do not have such a large space to place the diatom petri dishes that have been initially eliminated, nor do they have so many personnel to patiently conduct review work.
The intern researcher who discovered this mutated diatom has been determined to have no worries about food and clothing for the rest of her life, and the generous dividends will be more than she can spend in several lifetimes!
Changtian Technology has such a mechanism, whoever makes the discovery will benefit. In normal academic terms, students' discoveries are considered the achievements of the teacher, and the achievements of the subordinates are also the credit of the superiors. Many big bosses actually rob students.
, the intellectual achievements of subordinates. In Chen Xiao's view, this was too destructive to everyone's enthusiasm, so he was determined not to learn the bad habits of the past.
The effect is obviously good. The scientific researchers of Changtian Technology are always working hard, and they work hard in every position. Even the boring work of reviewing petri dishes, the intern researchers work enthusiastically.
After obtaining the initial diatom species, Changtian Technology immediately analyzed its genetic structure and made every effort to cultivate a more stable next generation. After many screenings, the current diatoms have been completely tamed.
The materials, the construction method, and the starting and stopping methods of the vehicle are all figured out. The next step is to make a small model to test the idea.
In a huge warehouse, a small testing venue has been set up. It looks like a four-wheel drive competition venue, with many twists and turns, and the entire length reaches five kilometers.
This is a reduced version of a controlled train traffic line, with small trains, small tracks, small pipes, and small controllers. But no one dares to underestimate this thing. Everything is based on actual conditions.
They are all manifestations of real-life technology, and the experimental data obtained can be directly amplified and applied to real life.
"Then let's get started!"
After powering on, the model train is seen floating on the guide rail, and the lower half of the frame is separated from the guide rail. However, if the train rolls over, the two will hook together to prevent the train from overturning.
The magnetic field began to change direction, and its strength continued to increase. The car started quickly. With a flash, it was instantly invisible. Then the train sped through the pipe without making a sound.
When the deceleration button is pressed, the train quickly slows down.
The experiment was successful. Everyone carefully checked the force in the car and inferred the feeling of the human body. It was speculated that it would not be stronger than the pushing feeling on the back of an airplane.