Translator: virtual group Editor: virtual group
In a large physics department lecture hall, several physics professors and hundreds of students were waiting.
Zhang Boyan announced on stage, “Today, we have a very meaningful class. Student He Xingzhou has designed a miniature nuclear reactor experiment, and it is about to begin.”
“In this class, we will watch his experiment live.”
After Zhang Boyan finished speaking, he turned on the projection screen in the classroom, and the students immediately started discussing.
“He Xingzhou is really doing this experiment? I thought it was a joke!”
“Yeah, I forgot about it if the professor didn’t mention it.”
“There are a few school leaders here today. This is too impressive!”
“He really dares to do it! I wouldn’t even dare to think about it!”
Someone even asked He Xingzhou’s roommates, “Will his experiment succeed?”
“It should. Didn’t you see the Professor personally guide him?” Wang Jiahao and the others said.
Not only in the classroom, but on the live broadcast of BiliBili, He Xingzhou also opened the live broadcast room. The scene was shot with the help of a student of Zhang Boyan. He was also wearing a protective suit.
“He’s coming, he’s coming. Has the streamer started?” At the beginning, some netizens who had been following him for a long time squeezed into the live broadcast room.
“Little brother is here to learn!”
“Who’s watching girl streamers at this time? Watching a nuclear experiment is much better!”
“Why hasn’t it started yet? It’s already been ten minutes!”
There were more than 1000 people who had been waiting in the broadcast room for ten minutes. It was not a lot, but for a streamer who had just started broadcasting for the first time, it was already pretty good.
The website’s operations put He Xingzhou’s live broadcast on a recommended spot so that even casual viewers could see it too.
“Hello, everyone, I’m He Xingzhou. Right now, I’m doing the final preparations for the Nuclear Reactor Experiment. I’m refining thorium-232 and turn it into uranium-233, which is nuclear fuel, by bombarding it with neutrons!”
In front of He Xingzhou, there was a pile of ashes.
These ashes were the coating he scraped from the old car lampshade. They contained thorium-232, but they were not “pure” enough.
“Now I am going to purify it.” A lithium battery appeared in He Xingzhou’s hand.
“I want to cut this lithium battery, mix the lithium and thorium ash together, and heat it in an aluminum foil ball. This way, the purity of thorium will be purified by at least 9,000 times!”
“Please note that this purity has exceeded the international atomic nucleus regulatory commission’s permitted value by 170 times! If you want to do such an experiment, you must obtain permission!”
He Xingzhou spoke as he did so. In the live broadcast room, the audience was typing crazily.
“I’ve learned it, I’ve learned it. This is purification (Doge emoji)!”
“I want to do it too, but the brain doesn’t agree.”
“666, this is the first time I’ve seen the purification of nuclear materials on a live broadcast!”
“I was a little skeptical when I watched the video, but now that I’m watching the live broadcast, you’re really awesome!”
The number of people in He Xingzhou’s live broadcast room had doubled in just a few minutes.
In the classroom, the professors and students were also watching and discussing.
“This He Xingzhou is really a genius. He can actually think of such a way to obtain nuclear materials!” Cai Hao, a professor of the physics department, said with a sigh.
“He is indeed a good seedling,” Dong Chen, the Dean of the physics department, said with gratification. “It’s rare to be able to conduct nuclear tests with just that small amount of funding given to him.”
“He Xingzhou really does have a few tricks up his sleeve!” The students also clicked their tongues in surprise.
“Even this can be done? Then after learning this, will he be able to make an atomic bomb himself?” Someone said.
“It’s all in the physics textbook of the atomic bomb. The main problems are the materials and design. You know the principles of an airplane. Can you make an airplane? The little nuclear materials that He Xingzhou has refined can only be used for a miniature experiment. It’s impossible for him to do such a dangerous thing!”
“But then again, I’m convinced now. At least I can’t do it myself!”
He Xingzhou quickly purified the thorium and said, “Next, we will officially begin the experiment.”
Next to the nuclear reactor, there was a fish tank with a deformed black snapper. This was not shown in the live broadcast, so no one knew about it.
He first made the nuclear fuel into a block, put it into the pressure cooker, and then covered it with a curtain. He made the control rod into the shape of a rod, and inserted it vertically from the round holes in the lid and curtain, exposing a part of it for lifting and inserting.
He then filled the pressure cooker with boric acid solution, which was used for heat resistance, fire prevention, and cooling.
At this point, all the preparations for the experiment were ready. He Xingzhou only needed to start the small water pump to turn on the cycle, adjust the position of the control rod, and initiate the nuclear fission reaction!
“Next, I’m going to officially start this reactor!” He Xingzhou said. He was very calm because all the steps had been verified several times. In addition to the fact that nuclear materials were scarce, it should not be dangerous.
However, the audience in front of the screen, the students, could not remain calm.
“SH * t, I’m suddenly nervous!”
“I’m feeling a little excited!”
“What if there’s an accident? It’s fine if there’s an accident in a normal experiment, but this is a nuclear test. I want to ask, how powerful is a miniature nuclear bomb?”
“Failure depends on this one move!”
At this moment, everyone became nervous. It was as if the person in the laboratory was not He Xingzhou, but themselves!
He Xingzhou continued to operate. He started the water pump, adjusted the position of the control rod, and used pure water to adjust the concentration of boric acid to start the fission reaction of the nuclear fuel.
In the miniature nuclear reactor, the nuclear fission reaction was being generated.
The radiation detection instrument in the lab lit up with a red warning, “Warning, radiation intensity is exceeding the limit!”
“The reaction has begun!” Everyone’s spirits were lifted and their eyes widened as they watched.
Of course, they could not see the changes at the atomic level, but they could tell whether the reaction was normal through the other devices He Xingzhou had set up.
After the heat generated from the nuclear reaction heated up the boric acid solution, the small water pump sent the high-temperature boric acid solution into the radiator. After exchanging heat with the water inside the second pressure cooker and outside the radiator, it returned to the first pressure cooker and continued to circulate, the heat from the nuclear fuel would be continuously brought out.
The steam hit the fan, causing the fan to rotate continuously, driving the motor to run. At this time, the motor would become a generator. Through the wires, the electricity converted from nuclear energy would be transferred to the storage equipment.
Everyone could clearly see that the fan was rotating at a high speed, and the motor was also roaring. The lights on the storage equipment all lit up in an instant, and the electricity meter showed that the power was increasing!
“The nuclear reaction has begun! It’s converting into electricity!” A student in the classroom shouted.
“Oh my God, he did it! A miniature nuclear fission reactor!”
“The power is increasing so fast! The radiation detection equipment has been warning us, there really is nuclear radiation!”
“Isn’t He Xingzhou too strong? He built a nuclear reactor. Good thing He Xingzhou is normal and only built a nuclear reactor. If he was someone abnormal and ignites this reactor, it would be a miniature atomic bomb!”
Seeing this scene, the entire classroom was in an uproar!
He Xingzhou’s roommates were so excited that they directly shouted, “Nice! the experiment has succeeded!”
They had witnessed the entire process of He Xingzhou building the miniature nuclear fission reactor, and at this moment, a sense of glorious participation arose in their hearts!
“It’s a success!” Zhang Boyan also had a smile on his face, and the wrinkles at the corners of his eyes had all spread out.
He had done his best to protect this experiment, and now that it had succeeded, it meant that his judgment of people and matters was not wrong.
“I’m afraid that this student will become the talk of our school in the future!” The Dean, Dong Chen, laughed. He knew that this matter would definitely attract the attention of the science society, and when that time came, it would be very beneficial to the school’s reputation!
While the people in the school was happy, the audience in the live broadcast room was even crazier. Just a moment ago, they had witnessed with their own eyes the successful operation of a self-made nuclear reactor by a uploader!