At the Northern Controlled Nuclear Fusion Base, all the researchers had been called together!
Jiang Fan stood before the tokamak, holding a detailed drawing!
"Esteemed senior researchers, my name is Jiang Fan. I'm delighted to be working with you on controlled nuclear fusion in the days ahead!"
"Over the next month, we will complete a project to maintain stable control of nuclear fusion for 100 seconds!"
The moment Jiang Fan finished speaking, every researcher wore a look of astonishment.
Then they turned bewildered gazes toward Commander-in-Chief Zhou.
Zhou Huaide addressed everyone!
"Over the next month, we do indeed have to complete this challenge! These are the conditions the chief has set for us. As long as we complete this task, operations at our northern base won't be suspended, and we'll receive ten billion in funding for the coming year..."
Hearing Commander-in-Chief Zhou say this, everyone looked stunned!
"Commander-in-Chief Zhou, maintaining stable control of nuclear fusion for 100 seconds is absolutely impossible!"
"That's right! Commander-in-Chief Zhou, even Beautiful Country, which currently has the world's most advanced controlled nuclear fusion technology, can only maintain stable control for ten seconds! How could we possibly do it?"
"With our base's current level of technology, maintaining stable nuclear fusion for two seconds would already be a major technological breakthrough!"
"..."
Zhou Huaide listened to the researchers' discussion. Before meeting Jiang Fan, he, too, would have considered this absolutely impossible.
"As long as we cooperate fully with Jiang Fan, I believe we can definitely complete this challenge within a month!"
But looking at the young Jiang Fan left everyone even less confident!
Jiang Fan could see their doubts about him, too. He knew very well that explanations would be useless.
"You may have some doubts about me. How about this, esteemed senior researchers? Ask me anything you like about controlled nuclear fusion. Consider it a test for my admission to the northern base!"
A researcher who had taken a dislike to Jiang Fan long ago spoke up directly!
"All right, I'll ask the first question. What are the two categories of nuclear fusion products?"
"Charged and uncharged. Charged alpha particles are confined, depositing their energy in the plasma to heat it...
"Alpha particles are also an impurity and need to be removed, or they will reduce the fusion reaction rate. Uncharged neutrons aren't confined. They strike the surrounding materials and cause tremendous damage...
"On the one hand, we need the energy of these neutrons to ultimately generate electricity. On the other, we need to shield against them as much as possible. As for ways to shield against them, there are..."
Everyone was startled by Jiang Fan's answer.
When some of the researchers heard Jiang Fan's solutions for dealing with uncharged neutrons, it was as though the tangled weeds blocking their minds had suddenly been cleared away.
"That's right! We can shield against uncharged neutrons this way!"
"Oh, this is wonderful! We've never managed to find a solution to this problem, and now we've found one just like that! Haha..."
"This young fellow knows a thing or two!"
Then another researcher asked Jiang Fan a question!
"What material should the tokamak use for the magnetic field to remain stable at the critical point?"
"Superconducting magnets still have a critical current and a critical magnetic field. Currently, the superconducting material with the highest critical current is niobium-titanium alloy (Nb-Ti), but Nb3Sn is actually more suitable..."
"What are the ignition methods for nuclear fusion?"
"Common ignition methods for nuclear fusion include laser ignition..."
"..."
The dozen or so researchers initially asked Jiang Fan relatively simple questions, but as they went on, their questions grew increasingly complex!
Like a sage, Jiang Fan calmly answered every question and even provided many solutions along with his answers!
It reached the point where they began to wonder whether Jiang Fan had stolen intelligence on controlled nuclear fusion from Beautiful Country!
By the time Jiang Fan finished answering everyone's questions, they were so shocked that their eyes bulged and their mouths hung open.
Zhou Huaide was also tremendously excited. Given Jiang Fan's performance just now, even those controlled nuclear fusion experts from Beautiful Country probably couldn't have done the same!
Then Zhou Huaide addressed everyone!
"I hereby appoint Jiang Fan as chief engineer of our northern controlled nuclear fusion project! Does anyone have any objections?"
Everyone froze for a moment, then burst into enthusiastic applause. Of course they had no objections.
If Jiang Fan wasn't qualified to be their chief engineer, then probably no one present could do the job!
Seeing that everyone had accepted him, Jiang Fan spoke!
"We have one month left, so our schedule is extremely tight. I'll now go over some of the problems with our tokamak."
"Starting with the outermost equipment, the material at this position on the tokamak must be nickel-titanium alloy, with a density of P=4.5g/cm3 and a conductivity coefficient of 15.24W/(m.K)..."
"Next, here, the angle is slightly off. It should be adjusted to 1 radian=57.295779513079 degrees..."
"This material isn't pure enough..."
"The elasticity of the material at this position requires stress and strain to be proportional, ε=ΔL/L*100% (the unit is the constant 1); stress σ=F/S, at 5.46Pa (or MPa); E=σ/ε..."
Jiang Fan spoke for well over an hour, tearing their tokamak setup to pieces. Not a single part escaped criticism!
Every one of them looked embarrassed. It amounted to saying that their ten years of research had been utterly worthless!
If Jiang Fan hadn't just answered their questions so flawlessly that they couldn't find a single fault-
They would have grabbed whatever was at hand and fought him to the death for daring to speak about them like that.
They had all toiled day and night for ten years, yet in many areas, their research had been heading in the wrong direction from the very beginning!
It was like running a race with the finish line ahead of you, only to run off to the right instead. After running for ten years, someone told you that you had been going the wrong way. Who wouldn't go mad over that?
They lowered their heads in shame. In fact, Zhou Huaide wore the strangest expression of all right now. He didn't know whether he should feel fortunate or miserable!
Jiang Fan wasn't trying to belittle them to build up a towering image of himself. All he wanted was to develop controlled nuclear fusion.
That was why he pointed out the problems so directly, piercing them with a single needle and striking right at their vital points!
"I'll now go over several major areas for improving the tokamak..."
Jiang Fan then spoke for another two hours, and everyone finally gained a general idea of the modifications to the tokamak!
However, Jiang Fan told them that he would draw up a plan for the specific details, and they would officially begin rebuilding the tokamak tomorrow!
By the time he had finished giving all the instructions, it was already past eleven at night!
Jiang Fan returned to the room Zhou Huaide had arranged for him.
He took out his phone and checked it, discovering more than a dozen missed calls from Qiao Shan and an unfamiliar number!
Seeing that it was almost midnight, Jiang Fan didn't call back.
Then he opened WeChat and found a friend request from a girl called Little Wildcat.
Request message: The girl who spent a happy day out with you!