Chapter 93 The inevitable price to pay on the road to truth
"When the temperature drops to around 1K (-272℃), the resistance of aluminum is already lower than 10^(-25)Ω." Xu You muttered to himself.
With such a low resistance value, the resistance can be considered to be 0.
Although this was a fact that Xu You had already known.
But after performing , Xu You also felt it was very magical.
It’s like the pure joy you felt when you first came into contact with a physics experiment.
After measuring the superconducting properties of bulk aluminum metal, Xu You was not in a hurry to change the material.
Instead, change the temperature, pressure and other conditions and continue measuring.
After all, when writing a paper in the future, the more sufficient the data, the better. By measuring more data, there will be enough content to choose from when the time comes.
Moreover, you might discover some unexpected phenomena.
"Huh~ I didn't expect that just measuring resistance is not such an easy task."
It took Xu You a lot of effort just to measure the data of the first material.
Moreover, Xu You did not change multiple dimensions, he mainly changed the temperature and pressure.
Otherwise, I don’t know when I can finish testing all the materials.
Xu You finally understood why Yuan Dong, who did this kind of work every day, had such a mentality.
After measuring the bulk aluminum metal, Xu You can finally start the next measurement.
These clusters of aluminum atoms are the highlight.
The first batch of aluminum cluster materials sent by Xu Zhou had atomic numbers ranging from 13 to 37.
Not every number of atoms in the middle exists. Xu You thinks it is because some aluminum atom clusters cannot be prepared.
Next, Xu You continued to measure resistance.
The joke Yuan Dong made before actually became a reality.
In this way, Xu You repeated the mechanical procedures of measuring resistance, measuring resistance under pressure, and measuring resistance by changing materials.
What surprised Xu You was that after measuring multiple materials, he did not find any particularly special phenomena.
Although according to Xu You's theory, superconductivity can only occur at higher temperatures when the number of aluminum atoms in each aluminum atom cluster is large enough.
But the results of experiments again and again made Xu You gradually lose confidence.
"Hey, let's finish testing the last material first."
Xu You didn't know whether there was something wrong with his theory.
But at this point, Xu You had no choice but to continue the experiment.
If it really doesn't work, go back and analyze your own theory and experimental data to see where the problem lies.
"Hmm? Wait a minute!"
Suddenly, Xu You discovered that this last material had a completely different conductivity.
Previous materials only achieved superconductivity when the temperature was around 1K.
But this time, the temperature was far from dropping to 1K, but the superconductivity phenomenon appeared ahead of time!
"There's a way!" Xu You said excitedly.
This sudden phenomenon allowed Xu You to regain his confidence.
This proves that Xu You’s previous theory was indeed correct.
In Xu You's theory, when Cooper pairs exist inside a material, these electron pairs will attract each other with a very weak force.
When electron pairs encounter defects inside the material, they activate the material's superconductivity.
Such internal defects are more likely to occur when aluminum atoms are combined in larger atomic clusters.
This is the main basis of Xu You's theory.
After that, Xu You continued to adjust the temperature and measure the critical temperature of an aluminum atom cluster containing 37 aluminum atoms when it reached the superconducting state.
Eventually, at temperatures around 80K, aluminum-37 loses its superconducting properties.
“It’s a full 79K increase, which is really a very different change!”
Xu You suppressed his excitement, completed the measurement experiment, recorded the data, and packed up the experimental equipment.
With the experimental data, Xu You found Qiao Sen.
"Teacher Qiao, there is progress!"
Seeing Xu You's happy expression, Qiao Sen knew that Xu You's theory must have been successfully verified.
"Don't worry, tell me more."
Next, Xu You and Qiao Sen described the experimental process and the experimental phenomena they discovered at the end.
"Teacher, before I made aluminum 37, I was a little worried that my theory was wrong. I was afraid that if I couldn't produce results, the experimental funds would be wasted. Fortunately, aluminum 37 was finally made, and the superconducting critical temperature was 79K higher than that of ordinary bulk aluminum, which is a very obvious change."
In fact, Xu You was not afraid of failure. However, after knowing that scientific research was so costly, he was really worried that his theoretical errors would lead to a huge waste of scientific research funds.
"Xu You, you don't have to think so much. If aluminum 37 doesn't work, just keep going. Even if all of them don't work, that's okay. At least we've got so much experimental data, and it's not a waste of resources. Only a few scientific research projects can produce results, so it's normal if they don't. Don't have to bear such a heavy psychological burden."
Qiao Sen has been doing scientific research for so many years and knows how many failed projects there are in the laboratory every year.
But this is the inevitable price to pay on the road to exploring the truth.
"Teacher, I understand. I will adjust my attitude in the future."
After reporting the good news to Qiao Sen, Xu You immediately went back to continue organizing the experimental data.
After persuading Xu You, Qiao Sen couldn't help but applaud Xu You's theory.
"This kid can actually predict the superconducting properties of matter only through theoretical analysis and calculations. It's amazing!"
Qiao Sen knew that most superconducting materials were determined through experimental measurements before the theoretical principles were known.
There are few examples of theoretical analysis followed by experimental verification.
Although when he first met Xu You, Qiao Sen knew that this child's future must be extraordinary.
But I never thought it could be so magical.
“No wonder it was so easy to publish a PRL. This time, it won’t be that difficult to publish in Nature.”
Like Wang Xiangwu, Qiao Sen had no intention of competing with Xu You for the first author position in the paper.
For Qiao Sen, being able to produce results in his own laboratory is a very meaningful thing.
After that, Xu Zhou prepared some aluminum clusters with larger atomic numbers and sent them to Qiao Sen in batches.
Xu You also continued with the boring resistance measurement experiment.
Although most aluminum atom clusters do not exhibit superconducting properties at higher temperatures.
However, there were a few individual aluminum atom clusters that once again achieved the ideal results.
"In addition to aluminum 37, there are three other aluminum atom clusters that also show similar properties, and the superconducting critical temperature gradually increases, reaching a maximum of about 100K."
After completing all the measurement experiments, Xu You reported the final experimental phenomena to Qiao Sen.
"Well, that's basically it. Professor Xu Zhou can't synthesize aluminum clusters with a larger number of atoms anymore."
