Chapter 994: Great Revelation Debate (2)
His voice became firm and authoritative as he continued, "It's still not time to reveal the entire process of the new energy resource's invention. In fact, there will be some confidential details that we won't be disclosing today. However, the Cathayan Underworld will fulfill its own duty. According to the seventh sub-clause of the 14th clause of international regulations, all details regarding the research and development of all inventions capable of impacting the entire world in areas including but not limited to technology and warfare must be released to the entire world. On this day, we are holding a press conference to answer everyone's questions about the Zhu Rong plan. Next, please welcome the team leader and deputy team leaders of the Zhu Rong plan research and development team."
Amid another round of applause, Qin Ye departed from the main stage and took a seat in a special position. He folded his hands on top of one another and rested his chin on them, then smiled as he nodded toward the five scholars who were slowly standing up on the stage.
Regardless of what the final outcome turns out to be, all I ask is that you embrace your mission right now. As the ruler of the Cathayan Underworld, I will be waiting for you until the very end!
He didn't appear to be nervous at all, but in reality, his heart was thumping like a jackhammer. However, as King Yanluo, the calm facade that he was putting on instilled a great sense of calm and confidence into his scholars. Furthermore, the fact that Qin Ye was willing to stand with them through thick and thin made them even more determined to repay him.
With that in mind, Zu Chongzhi suddenly felt completely relaxed as he stood at the central position with Lu Ban beside him, while the three professors of the mortal realm stood on either side of them.
The entire venue was completely silent.
All of the Yin spirits present were leading physicists in history, and none of them would be so uncouth as to hurl verbal insults just because they didn't recognize Xu Chengyang's trio. The fact that they were standing on this stage meant that they were already worthy of respect.
Zu Chongzhi adjusted his own glasses as he looked around at all of the physicists present with a calm smile. "I'm very pleased and honored to be standing here today. Before we begin, I want to make one thing clear: the new energy resource was initially discovered during the dissection process of the second-generation forbidden arts startup module. The constituent Yin runes of the second-generation forbidden arts startup module are extremely complex and strictly confidential at this point in time, so please forgive us for not being able to display them. However, we are willing to discuss everything from a purely theoretical and academic point of view."
His voice was calm and placid. Even though Cathayan physics hadn't undergone any industrial revolutions, Zu Chongzhi was a renowned mathematician in history, and physics and mathematics had always had an intimate relationship with one another. In order to become an exceptional physicist, a solid foundation in mathematics was absolutely quintessential, and there were many advanced physics topics that required expression through mathematical models.
"We were inspired by the Yin rune with the codename of 'Meridian' and decided to temporarily halt our research into second-generation forbidden arts. If it can speed up the development of the new energy resource, the usage of Archimedes's Yin Rune Wheel will also be drastically increased. After two whole years of sorting and research into all of the Yin runes that our Cathayan Underworld currently possesses, we finally discovered that there are electron-like Yin runes in existence in this world..."
Everyone continued to remain silent.
All of the consortium representatives were listening with rapt focus, even though there were many parts they didn't understand. Only very occasionally would they quietly consult the advisors beside them about certain details. As for the physicists seated at the very front, all of them were watching intently as Zu Chongzhi delivered his address, and no one was raising any objections yet.
Qin Ye was also looking on with butterflies fluttering in his stomach despite his calm guise. He knew that prior to the main part of the press conference, a recount of the discovery process had to be provided, and this part was more of a general description than anything else.
All of the physicists in the venue were waiting for Zu Chongzhi to cut to the chase so that they could scrutinize this incredible scientific breakthrough under the most stringent lens possible.
Zu Chongzhi was naturally aware of all of this as well.
The closer he drew to the main topic of his address, the more intense the pressure flooding toward him from all directions became.
He looked down at the script for his address, and his pupils contracted drastically, but his voice remained calm as he continued, "I hereby officially declare that this Yin rune, which has been named 'Dawn' by the Cathayan Underworld, possesses identical properties to some particles in the mortal realm! What I'm referring to here are the subatomic particles of electrons and protons!"
All of the scientists stopped their note-taking almost in complete unison.
Behind them, all of the national and consortium representatives had unconsciously sat up straighter, and their mouths were suddenly parched.
"Hence, we are willing to make a bold prediction that the new energy resource of the underworld will be no different from the electricity of the mortal realm!"
Boom!
This announcement was like a massive hammer strike dealt onto the hearts of all of the physicists present. In the wake of this astonishing bombshell, Zu Chongzhi continued in a resolute voice, "Due to the laws of Yin Yang co-action, the electrons and protons of the mortal realm must be reflected in some form in the underworld! At this point in time, the Cathayan Underworld has already eliminated 3.24 million Yin runes and is currently progressing toward the final target!"
All of a sudden, everyone fell silent as a hand was finally raised.
It was held up high and stuck out like a sore thumb in the venue.
Everyone turned their attention toward that hand, and Zu Chongzhi could feel his own heart skipping a beat. The one who had raised their hand was a middle-aged Caucasian male who he had seen before.
It was Patrick Blackett, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1948 for his work on cloud chambers, cosmic rays, and paleomagnetism.
He turned toward Patrick Blackett and nodded as he asked, "What would you like to say, Mr. Blackett?"
Blackett was a thin middle-aged man with a head of disheveled red hair that resembled a bird's nest. However, no one despised him for his unkempt appearance. Instead, everyone was watching him with full focus and respect.
He adjusted his own golden-rimmed glasses as he smiled and said, "As we all know, following my death, I've been doing research into the theory of symmetry related to cosmic radiation. Of course, this is a branch of the laws of Yin Yang co-action proposed by Mr. Cui Jue. However, I've been fortunate enough to establish an independent field of science through my research, perhaps you may have heard of it."
"Indeed, I have," Zu Chongzhi replied with a smile. "You proposed the laws of Yin Yang supersymmetry, stating that the underworld and the mortal realm are essentially mirror reflections of one another. However, strictly speaking, this is only a hypothesis, so it should perhaps be known as the theory of Yin Yang supersymmetry."
There were no weapons being used, but this debate was a war of words, and Zu Chongzhi wasn't holding back in the slightest.
He wasn't trying to target Blackett because he had a personal vendetta toward him, there was simply no need for excessive politeness and pleasantries. In the world of science, everything was black and white, and Blackett certainly wasn't going to take offense to Xu Chongzhi for simply stating a fact.
Indeed, Blackett wasn't bothered in the slightest by this as he readily agreed, "That's correct. My theory is that if something exists in the mortal realm, then it must also exist in the underworld. However, my theory is different from the laws of Yin Yang co-action as I'm referring to the present moment. If something exists in the mortal realm, then something equivalent to it must also exist in the underworld in the exact same moment in time. However, the laws of Yin Yang co-action are different. According to what you said just now, you've determined that there is an energy resource in the underworld identical to electricity in the mortal realm. As we all know, atoms, electrons, and protons are all particles, which means that they follow the laws of quantum physics. Every single particle can be described through wave function or probability distribution. Wave function describes its possible location, velocity, and other properties, but there's no way to derive any definitive values. All elementary particles possess properties within this scope. For example, if you were to measure a particle through an experiment, you would be able to derive an exact location due to the effect of wave function collapse."
From an outsider perspective, a scientist immersed in their own world could appear quite wooden, single-minded, and even idiotic.
However, on this occasion, his seemingly pointless ramblings definitely couldn't be ignored.
Khilok turned to a Yin spirit in the appearance of a middle-aged woman seated beside him and asked, "What is he trying to say?"
If someone had seen a portrait of her in the past, they would be able to identify her as none other than Maria Goeppert Mayer!
In 1963, she received the Nobel Prize in Physics for proposing the nuclear shell model of the atomic nucleus, becoming only the second woman after Marie Curie to receive the Nobel Prize in Physics.
She was a short and stubby figure, and she adjusted her own glasses but didn't immediately answer Khilok's question. Despite this, Khilok didn't seem to be annoyed in the slightest.
She took a deep breath and rubbed a hand over the goosebumps on her own arm as she said, "This relates to one of the 10 biggest unsolved problems in physics, namely the inability to accurately measure microscopic particles. His lifelong goal has always been to accurately measure microscopic particles. At the very least, that has become his pursuit after coming to the underworld. However, in order to refute Zu Chongzhi, he's even overturned his own ultimate goal!"
Khilok's brows furrowed slightly upon hearing this. He had no idea what he had just heard.
Maria explained, "Let me put it this way: every single particle is different and possesses different wavelengths. In order to accurately measure a particle, it has to be stationary. However, in order to accurately measure something, the first thing one must do is observe, and a particle has to move in order to be observed. This is an unsolvable conundrum, at least at this point in time. If particles can't be accurately measured, then there would be no way to establish a Yin Yang supersymmetry graph, and the ultimate objective of a Yin Yang supersymmetry graph is to prove that the underworld has everything that exists in the mortal realm. If Yin Yang supersymmetry can't be verified, then a terrifying pitfall would arise. This pitfall stems from the inability to accurately measure microscopic particles, but ultimately, it can determine whether electricity truly exists in the underworld!"
Blackett was completely in his element at this point, and he had even stood up from his seat and was walking along the aisle as he continued, "The accuracy with which we can measure some parameters of microscopic particles is limited. For example, the multiplied product of the accuracy of a particle's measured location, dx, and the accuracy of the measured momentum of a particle, dpx, is no smaller than h. If we make dpx smaller but make dx larger, then we'll be able to measure the momentum of a particle relatively accurately at the cost of measuring accuracy in terms of location. We can also choose to make dx smaller and dpx larger in order to more accurately measure the location of a particle at the expense of momentum measurement accuracy. This is known as the Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle. Interference is required to survey something, so surveillance becomes innately inaccurate. May I ask how you can be certain that such a thing exists in the underworld without being able to even observe it? How can you be certain that such a thing doesn't only exist in the past?"
Qin Ye was completely dumbfounded.
He cast his gaze toward all of the other national and consortium representatives to find his own expression mirrored on their faces as well.
Thankfully, he wasn't the only one completely perplexed by the question.
Fortunately for Zu Chongzhi, the explanation for this was very simple, yet just as he was about to reply, all of the scientists present suddenly raised their hands in unison!
176 of the most brilliant minds in this world had raised their hands at once, wanting to receive an answer to a question that had seemingly just occurred to them.
What had they just thought of? Was it an extension of the question that had just been raised?
Even Qin Ye's pulse was beginning to quicken rapidly upon seeing this. It didn't take a genius to realize that the question that had just been raised had most likely reminded everyone of something extremely important.
There was no need to pick anyone else to ask the question as Blackett seemed to have also just arrived at the same train of thought, and he slapped a hand to his own forehead as he immediately said, "I have one more question, and this question strikes at the very core of the concept being presented!"