Chapter 599: Chapter 515: Overestimating Oneself – Don’t Try to Self-Study Quantum Mechanics!
A week later, in the capital at the academic conference venue, over ten thousand Wizards gathered to discuss the agenda for the day, which concerned the issue of Magic Medal distribution.
Normally, this was merely a procedural matter, as, except for a few historical exceptions, any Wizard nominated could expect to attain the corresponding honor.
But this time was somewhat different, due to a very important magical theory still unresolved, which was the quantum theory proposed by the star of Magic, Lynn!
If it were correct, it would certainly win a Corona Medal…
No, to say that it merely merited a Corona Medal would not do it justice, because it meant that the entire foundation of magic studies had to be rebuilt!
It was precisely because the quantum theory completely contradicted their previous logic and magical theories, the majority of Wizards were unwilling to believe it was true and tried to find evidence through experiments to prove the theory utterly absurd.
The principle of the thermal field electron emission gun had been explained in detail by Lynn, and there was no shortage of grand wizards who could replicate it.
Yet, this spontaneously initiated research competition was extremely fierce, and in just one week, of the more than sixty grand wizards who delved into the quantum domain, eight had gone mad!
Indeed, eight people had gone mad in just seven days!
Another grand wizard was so upset that he fainted.
His research project was on how to capture an electron.
As a staunch supporter of particle theory, Moore believed that if he could capture an electron and place it in a palm-sized characteristic container, he could prove particle theory as the absolute truth!
When faced with opponents, he would simply ‘show’ it to them, saying, “Look, here is the electron I captured; it is clearly a particle!”
This was not difficult to imagine, because Lynn’s thermal field electron emission gun had already provided a method to produce individual electrons; all he needed to do was to trap one of them!
As for the thing to contain the electron, Moore initially planned to use a gravity field to capture it, but even with the grand wizard’s level of force field magic, it was impossible to trap such a microscopic entity, leaving him no choice but to use an electromagnetic field instead.
However, putting it into practice was not so easy, and after failing hundreds of times, Moore finally devised the trap, and it took several more days and a stroke of luck during continuous observation before he managed to barely confine an electron in it.
Immediately after, Moore excitedly invited thousands of wizards to admire his masterpiece!
However, once everyone arrived, he suddenly realized that the electron he had so painstakingly ‘captured’ had disappeared!
It had simply vanished into thin air inside this cage that was supposed to imprison it.
As for why, no one knew, but undoubtedly this electron display turned into an utter joke; Moore’s luck was utterly spent, and his live demonstration of capturing electrons constantly ended in failure, eventually making him suspect that the electron was consciously mocking and deceiving him.
In front of an audience, it turned into a farce, humiliating Moore so much that he fainted on the spot and has not yet recovered…
His fate was even considered fortunate compared to some wizards who had delved into the wave-particle duality, who lost their ability to cast spells entirely.
Given these grisly lessons, the council had to issue an emergency declaration, halting all current quantum experiments.
Lynn also suggested through the Magic Daily that all future research on the microscopic domain must be conducted under appropriate guidance to avoid blindly going down a dead end alone.
Suddenly, a new term began to circulate in the Magic Kingdom – “Biting off more than one can chew!”
Which meant, never research quantum mechanics on your own!
However, to those Wizards adamantly opposed to probability theory, this undoubtedly became a way for the star of Magic to build a moat around his own theory, thus requiring all research on microscopic theories to be conducted under his instruction and approval.
This was essentially a monopoly on the discourse of knowledge!
When Lynn arrived at the venue with Johnny, Ailoke, and others, what they saw was a group of eager grand wizards ready to debate with him.
“Please wait, Presiding Wizard Lynn!” Grand Wizard Jeffrey was the first to intercept Lynn, speaking very respectfully. “This past week, I have read your latest paper, ‘The World of Probability—Quantum Mechanics,’ and I have many questions that I wish to hear your answers to.”
“Of course, no problem!” Lynn nodded, responding smoothly.
“Since microscopic particles exhibit both wave-particle duality and uncertainty, then do macroscopic objects composed of microscopic particles possess the same characteristics?” Jeffrey’s question was very sharp.
In his view, this was the biggest ‘loophole’ in quantum probability theory!
If quantum properties were indeed so chaotic, then wouldn’t the things made up of microscopic particles be even more disorderly?
However, reality was not so, as actual matter was very stable and did not cease to exist just because no one was observing it!
“Of course they do!” Lynn answered decisively.
“Since they don’t, then how can you prove…” Jeffrey was about to continue along these lines, but he quickly realized that the wizard had actually said they do, not that they don’t!
The other Wizards who were waiting for Lynn to deny it were also taken aback, taking a moment to recover before their faces showed great surprise.
“Since you say macroscopic material also has wave-like properties, does that mean we are also waves?” a Wizard scoffed. “I must say, you can’t even provide a single real example, Presiding Wizard Lynn!”
“Indeed, it’s not easy to provide an example because the waviness of macroscopic material is not distinctly evident given its mass is so negligible,” Lynn nodded, then before the excited Jeffrey and others could start arguing again, he continued smiling.
“Any macroscopic element, even at the atomic level, is composed of numerous microscopic particles, and I believe you would have already verified through experiments that microscopic particles can interact with each other.”
“Do you mean because they are interacting and interfering, their form is instead fixed down? Exhibiting particle characteristics? The larger the mass, the more stable the state?” Alade asked, incredulously.
“That understanding isn’t wrong.” Lynn picked at it; the nature of energy interference was essentially the superposition of waves.
This involved the theory of quantum entanglement, which Lynn did not intend to elaborate on, looking towards the wizard who had spoken earlier, he said with a smile, “The example you’re asking for I can’t provide, but to calculate your wavelength, one formula is enough!”