Chapter 180 - 179: Large Scientific Facility
Alongside the massive construction of experimental facilities to fully verify recent conjectures, Li Qingsong began another type of construction project he had never undertaken before.
The construction of large-scale scientific facilities!
A so-called large-scale scientific facility is an installation specifically designed to research major scientific questions.
These facilities are typically enormous in scale and technologically advanced, and the major scientific questions they research are usually the most cutting-edge and important ones.
For example, a large Particle Collider can be used to study the fundamental structure of matter. Extreme condition experimental apparatuses can simulate the states of matter under extreme environments, and so on.
Take, for instance, the very thing on Li Qingsong’s mind: the Grand Unification Formula. This key scientific problem, which determines whether a civilization is an Electroweak Civilization or a Strong Core Civilization, could only be studied using large-scale scientific facilities.
Previously, Li Qingsong had never built a truly cutting-edge large-scale scientific facility. The reason was simple: in the earlier stages, he was still in a state of digesting and absorbing the theories of fundamental physics.
First, he had to digest and absorb the fundamental theories of Human Civilization, and then those of the Blutuk Civilization.
The technological progress of the past years had been almost entirely at the application level, without touching upon the fundamental theories of physics.
But now, the technology of the Blutuk Civilization had been fully digested and absorbed. Any future development would have to rely on his own research.
This was precisely why Li Qingsong had decided to launch this construction plan.
Li Qingsong’s billion-plus brains thought for only a moment before formulating a concrete plan.
’To search for new Particles, find dark matter, verify supersymmetry, and test a whole series of cutting-edge fundamental physics theories, Particle Colliders are absolutely essential. Hmm... then let’s start by building 100 of them!’
Simply put, a Particle Collider accelerates two beams of Particles and smashes them into each other, forcing them to release their internal structures.
By observing this process, one can find more new Particles, refine physical models, discover new mechanisms of action, and so on.
’For these 100 Particle Colliders, hmm, I’ll build 10 proton colliders. I’ll need to build some positron-electron colliders as well. In addition, there will be heavy-ion colliders, electron-proton colliders...’
Depending on the different energy levels and specific research topics, these colliders could be divided into many types, each with various construction models and environmental requirements.
With the basic industrial system already established, Li Qingsong immediately mobilized a large number of Clones and began the relevant construction in space.
That’s right. Li Qingsong didn’t intend to build these large-scale research facilities on the surface of a planet, but in space.
In space, Gravity is extremely weak and the vacuum is nearly perfect, making it an ideal place to build a Particle Collider.
Furthermore, unlike the colliders built by humans during the era of nations or those built by the Blutuk Civilization, the colliders Li Qingsong was building were larger and had higher energy levels.
Obviously, the higher the energy level, the more violent the Particle collisions, the more new physical phenomena could be triggered, and thus the higher the scientific value.
Based on this line of thinking, Li Qingsong went ahead and built a dedicated giant nuclear fusion power station in space, then began laying the collider’s pipes around it.
For this one heavy-ion collider, Li Qingsong built it to a length of 20 kilometers.
Its pipes had a diameter of about 10 meters, giving it a total volume of approximately 1.6 million cubic meters. Including the surrounding auxiliary facilities, the total volume reached 3 million cubic meters, with a total mass of 5 million tons!
This behemoth, which required a dedicated nuclear power plant for electricity, was merely one of the many colliders Li Qingsong needed to build.
And Particle Colliders were just one of the many types of large-scale scientific facilities that Li Qingsong needed to construct.
Beyond Particle Colliders, Li Qingsong used the Clones to direct the Divine Craft AI, mobilizing countless heavy machines to begin excavating directly on Oriental A1. They dug a full kilometer down before stopping.
Afterward, Li Qingsong built another type of large-scale scientific facility here.
A neutrino telescope!
Using ultrapure water as a medium, if a neutrino collided with a water molecule, the subsequent effects could be captured by observation equipment. This would allow Li Qingsong to study neutrino emission sources, the properties of neutrinos themselves, and more.
This first neutrino telescope was enormous.
Its main facility was a gigantic tank of pure water with an internal volume of 6 million cubic meters, capable of holding 6 million tons of ultrapure water.
Tens of millions of photomultiplier tubes and Detectors were used to observe the neutrino collisions, ensuring that even the faintest flash from a collision could be seen.
After completing the construction of this first neutrino telescope, Li Qingsong began to backfill, covering the telescope with a massive amount of earth.
Neutrinos have extremely strong penetration power, while other Particles do not. The rock shielding ensured that only neutrinos could enter the pure water tank, preventing interference from other Particles.
Li Qingsong built 50 such neutrino telescopes in one go.
In addition to these, there were also optical telescope arrays, radio telescope arrays, and more.
Li Qingsong built a huge number of telescopes and deployed them in various locations throughout the Oriental Star System. He had them form arrays to observe and study various celestial bodies in all directions, in order to determine information such as their evolutionary processes and current states.
Besides optics, radio, and neutrinos, Li Qingsong also began research in another area.
Gravitational Waves.
According to the current framework, Li Qingsong knew that the next step after unifying the Strong Core Force and becoming a Strong Core Civilization would most likely be to research and unify Gravity.
Starting research on Gravity now might seem a bit premature, but Li Qingsong knew that scientific research always proceeds step by step. One had to slowly accumulate knowledge from the very beginning to one day achieve true mastery.
It was just like how humanity had begun researching the Strong Core Force long before they unified the electromagnetic and weak nuclear forces.
For Li Qingsong, starting to research Gravity now wasn’t early at all; in fact, it might even be a little late.
The detection principle of a Gravitational Wave detector is also quite simple, involving nothing more than using two perpendicular laser beams to precisely measure changes in distance.
The principle was simple, but the implementation was extremely difficult. Because Gravitational Waves are so faint, the distance changes they cause are minuscule, requiring the equipment to be exceptionally precise.
To achieve the necessary precision, Li Qingsong had to make the vertical and horizontal arms very long—up to 100 kilometers—and supplement them with extremely large and sophisticated equipment just to meet the design requirements.
A single one of these Gravitational Wave detectors had a mass of 10 million tons!