Chapter 95 The inevitable price on the road to exploring truth

"When the temperature drops to about 1K (-272°C), the resistance of aluminum is already lower than 10^(-25)Ω." Xu You murmured to himself.

With such a low resistance value, the resistance can be considered to be 0.

Although this is a fact that Xu You already knew.

But Xu You also felt that it was very strange to do this experimental phenomenon by himself.

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 conditions such as temperature and pressure and continue to measure.

After all, when writing papers in the future, the more complete the data, the better. If you test more data, you will have enough content to choose from.

Moreover, you might find some unexpected phenomena.

"Huh~ I didn't expect it was just a resistance test. It's really not that easy."

Just measuring the data of the first material took Xu You a lot of effort.

Moreover, Xu You did not change multiple dimensions, mainly just changing the temperature and pressure.

Otherwise, I don’t know when all this batch of materials will be tested.

Xu You finally understood why Yuan Dong, who did these jobs every day, had such a mentality.

After measuring the bulk aluminum metal, Xu You can finally start the next step of measurement.

These aluminum atom clusters are the highlight.

The first batch of aluminum cluster materials sent from Xuzhou had atomic numbers ranging from 13 to 37.

Not every atomic number in the middle exists. Xu You thinks it should be because some aluminum atom clusters cannot be prepared.

Next, Xu You continued to measure the resistance.

Yuan Dong's joke before turned out to be true.

In this way, Xu You repeated the mechanical procedures of measuring resistance, applying pressure to measure resistance, and changing materials to measure resistance.

What surprised Xu You was that after measuring multiple materials, Xu You did not find anything too special.

Although according to Xu You's theory, only when the number of aluminum atoms in each aluminum atom cluster is large enough, superconducting phenomena can easily occur at higher temperatures.

But the experimental results again and again made Xu You gradually lose confidence.

"Hey, let's finish testing the last material first."

Xu You didn't know if there was something wrong with his theory.

But now, Xu You can only continue to carry out the experiment.

If it really doesn't work, go back and analyze your theory and experimental data to see where the problem lies.

"Huh? Wait a minute!"

Suddenly, Xu You discovered that this last material had a completely different phenomenon in terms of conductive properties.

The previous materials only achieved superconducting when the temperature was around 1K.

But this time, before the temperature dropped to 1K, superconductivity actually appeared in advance!

"There's a way!" Xu You said excitedly.

This sudden phenomenon made Xu You regain his confidence.

This proves that Xu You's previous theory is indeed correct.

In Xu You's theory, when there are Cooper pairs inside the material, these electron pairs will attract each other with a very weak force.

When an electron pair encounters a defect within the material, it activates the material's superconducting ability.

When aluminum atoms are combined in the form of a larger number of atomic clusters, such internal defects are prone to occur.

This is the main basis for Xu You's theory.

After that, Xu You continued to adjust the temperature and measured the critical temperature when the aluminum atom cluster containing 37 aluminum atoms reached the superconducting state.

Eventually, when the temperature reaches about 80K, aluminum 37 loses its superconducting properties.

"It has increased by 79K, which is indeed a very different change!"

Xu You held back his excitement, completed the measurement experiment, recorded the data, and packed away the experimental equipment.

With experimental data, Xu You found Qiao Sen.

"Teacher Qiao, there is progress!"

Seeing Xu You's happy look, Qiao Sen knew that Xu You's theory must have been successfully verified.

"Don't worry, let's talk about it in detail."

Next, Xu You and Qiao Sen talked about the experimental process just now and the experimental phenomenon finally discovered.

"Teacher, actually 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, the final aluminum 37 was made, which is superconducting

The critical temperature is 79K higher than that of ordinary bulk aluminum, which is a very significant change."

In fact, Xu You is not afraid of failure, but after knowing that scientific research consumes so much financial resources, he is really worried that his theoretical mistakes will lead to a waste of a lot 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 everything else doesn't work, it doesn't matter. At least you have obtained so much experimental data, so it is not a waste of resources.

Only a small number of scientific research work can produce results, and it is normal to not produce results. There is no need to have such a huge psychological burden."

Qiao Sen has done scientific research for so many years and knows how many failed projects there are in the laboratory every year.

But this is an inevitable price on the road to exploring the truth.

"Teacher, I understand. I will adjust my mentality 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 admire Xu You's theory.

"This kid was able to predict the superconducting properties of matter only through theoretical analysis and calculations. It's really amazing!"

Qiaosen knew that most superconducting materials were determined through experimental measurements before the theoretical principles were unknown.

There are few examples of theoretical analysis first and then experimental verification.

Although when he first met Xu You, Qiao Sen knew that this child's future would not be simple.

But I never expected that it could be so magical.

"No wonder it's so easy to publish a PRL. This time, it's not that difficult to publish "Nature"."

Like Wang Xiangwu, Qiao Sen had no intention of competing with Xu You for the title of thesis author.

Being able to produce results in his own laboratory is already a very meaningful thing for Qiao Sen.

After that, Xuzhou prepared some aluminum clusters with more atoms and sent them to Qiaosen in batches.

Xu You also continued the boring experiment of measuring resistance.

Although most aluminum atomic clusters do not exhibit superconducting properties at higher temperatures.

However, there are still some individual clusters of aluminum atoms that once again achieved the desired results.

"In addition to aluminum 37, there are three other aluminum atomic 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 go any further to synthesize aluminum atom clusters with more atoms."
Chapter completed!