In the back garden of Star Palace, the capital of the Empire, Li Fu was drinking tea leisurely, looking at the book, thinking in his mind that the most core and most difficult point of the warp engine - the material.

Materials science, as the most basic discipline, has always been an important thing that determines the level of civilization and science and technology in the entire country, and is also one of the basic disciplines that the empire has been vigorously developing over the years.

However, it is not easy to make materials that can meet the needs of warp engines, because the powerful performance of warp engines is theoretically only degenerate-level materials can meet warp engines, but degenerate-state materials can be different from ordinary materials.

Degenerate materials are materials made from the atomic perspective. Theoretically, there are materials made from the neutron angle, quark-level materials. When it comes to atoms, you may not be able to understand the power of this material. If you talk about neutron stars and black holes, you may know the power of this material.

With the development of microscopic science and technology, it is possible for people to artificially synthesize materials on the atomic scale, such as atomic clusters, cluster materials, linear chains, multi-layer heterostructures, ultra-thin films, etc. These materials are characterized by low dimensions, reduced symmetry, and significant geometric characteristics.

But it is only possible. When it is really practical, it is difficult to truly say that you need the materials from the perspective of atoms. The units of atoms are too small. Today's science and technology can only reach the nano level at most, and atoms are much smaller than nanometers.

First of all, we need to understand their size. Nanometer is a unit of length. 1 nanometer is one billionth of 1 meter. It is recorded as nm. 1 nanometer is equal to the length of 10 hydrogen atoms arranged in a row next to each other. Because the diameter of each atom is different, 1 nanometer may be equal to the length of the arrangement of dozens of other element atoms.

20 nanometers are almost one thousandth of a hair!

What we usually call nanotechnology refers to the technology of studying the specific phenomena and special functions of matter within the nanoscale (100 nanometers to 0.1 nanometers), and creating new material by directly manipulating and arranging atoms and molecules.

The emergence of nanotechnology is first of all thanks to the invention of scanning tunneling microscope (STM) that can magnify tens of millions of times. The invention of scanning tunneling microscope allows scientists to observe this microscopic world from a nanometer perspective.

Since the early 1990s, nanotechnology has developed rapidly, and new disciplines such as nanoelectronics, nanomaterials, nanomechanics, nanobiology and other new disciplines have emerged continuously. Nanotechnology is one of the nine major sciences that change human history in the future of scientists' language.

In fact, although today's scientists can observe information at the atomic level through STM technology and have a certain impact on the atomic arrangement structure.

For example, in April 1990, when two scientists from IBM in the United States used STM to observe the xenon atoms on the surface of metal nickel, the motion of the probe and xenon atoms was inspired. They tried to use the STM needle tip to move the xenon atoms adsorbed on the metal nickel, and arranged 35 xenon atoms on the surface of nickel to form the "IBM" structure with a height of 5 atoms!

Scientists from the Chinese Academy of Sciences also used nanotechnology to draw the world's smallest China map by relocating carbon atoms on the surface of graphite, which is less than 10 nanometers in size.

Since then, scientists have been happy to move various atoms and put on various patterns, such as silicon atoms, sulfur atoms, iron atoms, carbon monoxide molecules, iron-based molecules...

From this we can know that what scientists can achieve at present is to move some atoms slightly and put various patterns on the surface of objects. It cannot truly create and construct atomic structure in three-dimensional sense, and at the same time, it is impossible to quickly create new materials from the atomic angle on a large scale.

But even so, we can only move some atoms very simply and arrange some atoms on the surface. Scientists have also created various complex nanomaterials today. Artificial arrangement of the structure of copper atoms on the surface of copper can increase the strength of copper by 5 times.

We all know that diamond, that is, diamond, graphite, coke, and the atoms they make are actually the same, that is, carbon atoms, but the properties of these materials are far different. In terms of hardness alone, diamond is the hardest material in nature, while graphite and coke are very low.

The reason for this difference is the structure of carbon atoms. The atomic structure of diamonds each carbon atom forms a covalent bond with the other 4 carbon atoms with the SP3 hybrid orbital to form a regular tetrahedron. Because the C-C bond in diamond is very strong, the diamond has a high hardness and a very high melting point; and because all valence electrons are limited to the covalent bond region and there are no free electrons, diamond is not conductive.

In the graphite structure, carbon atoms in the same layer hybridize to form covalent bonds with sp2, and each carbon atom is connected to the other three atoms with three covalent bonds. Six carbon atoms form a regular six-contiguous ring on the same plane, extending into a sheet structure.

Here, the bond lengths of the C-C bonds are all 142pm, which is exactly within the bond length range of the atomic crystal. Therefore, for the same layer, it is an atomic crystal. There is a p-orbital left in the carbon atoms on the same plane, and they overlap each other. The electrons are relatively free, equivalent to free electrons in the metal, so graphite can conduct heat and electricity, which is the characteristic of metal crystals.

To be simple and easy to understand, the carbon atom structure of diamond is three-dimensional, and all carbon atoms directly form a regular tetrahedron, which is a three-dimensional structure.

The structure of graphite is that carbon atoms form a regular 6-gon ring on the same plane, forming a sheet structure, that is, layers of carbon atoms, but there is no connection between the carbon atoms between layers. This is a planar structure.

A three-dimensional regular tetrahedral structure and a flat regular hexagonal structure have caused the material properties of diamond and graphite to be far different, and its value is also different. The selling price of diamond is calculated in carats, and the price of graphite is calculated in tons, and the value difference is more than billions of times!

The Empire wanted to develop materials for warp engines, which was to build materials from the perspective of atomic three-dimensionality and turn decay into magic. For example, turning the atomic angle of iron into a tetrahedral three-dimensional structure like diamond, what kind of material would be obtained?

"It's hard!"

Li Fu couldn't help frowning when he thought of this. Degenerate materials are not ordinary materials. They need to be built from a very small microscopic perspective. Traditional material synthesis and forging technology cannot be high temperature, high pressure, low temperature, pounding, synthesis and other methods. However, the imperial scientists have already studied these methods to the extreme, and it is impossible to create degenerate materials.

"Does we have to use the method in the seeds of civilization?"

Li Fu, who obtained the seeds of civilization in the Dahan Science and Technology Empire, naturally knew from the seeds of civilization, and there were many ways to obtain degenerate materials. Super civilizations like the Dahan Science and Technology Empire, they obtained degenerate materials and quark materials very simple, and mined neutron stars and black holes.

With the current technology of the empire, it feels a bit fantasy just by thinking about it. The mass of neutron stars and the power of black holes are simply not something that current technology can conquer.

Of course, even super civilizations have developed gradually. The method of obtaining degenerate materials in the early days of the Dahan Science and Technology Empire was to use powerful magnetic field binding capabilities to create degenerate materials.

"It seems that this method can only be used, and it is also the only method that Empire Technology can adopt at present. Such methods as space compression, space folding, space collapse, etc. are simply impossible for Empire now."

Li Fu thought for a long time and now it has reached the 22nd century. The Empire's century-old scientific and technological plan has been implemented for more than 20 years. However, the Empire has not made any substantial progress in researching warp engines. Of course, it is natural that there is no way to see anything in the accumulation stage. Only after the results are achieved will we know that the efforts over the years will not be in vain.

Just like success, others will only see your success, but not how much effort and sweat you have put in behind the success; just like pregnancy, others will only see your belly getting bigger, but they don’t know how many bullets you have been hit for pregnancy.

Li Fu fell into deep thought, but did not notice the arrival of Chen Bin, Yu Liang, Cao Haitao, Tu Xueli and others. The people came with smiles on their faces, obviously in a very good mood.

"Brother Fu, what are you thinking?"

Yu Liang grinned, looked at Li Fu's thoughtful look and asked with a smile.

"I'm thinking about degenerate materials. The existing methods are difficult to shape materials from an atomic perspective. It seems that we need to innovate."

Li Fu smiled and signaled everyone to sit down at will, so you don’t have to be too polite.

"Academic, the Japanese are gone?"

Seeing Tu Xueli coming too, Li Fu asked with a smile.

"Well, they all left. They originally wanted to pay homage to you, but I stopped them. This time they came here to establish diplomatic relations with our empire, and brought all the original works of Wang Xizhi's 'Lanting Xu', but I refused and dug a hole for them."

"Let them continue to expand to the outside world, judging from the current position of the Beichuan Galaxy, it is estimated that it will take a long time for them to soon become a powerful alien civilization, and there will be a good show when the time comes."

Tu Xueli said respectfully that everyone present was a veteran and elder of the empire. Even the prime minister of the empire should be respectful, especially in the face of Li Fu.

However, when he talked about digging holes for the Japanese, he also showed a proud smile on his face, as if he had seen the miserable outcome of the future Japanese.
Chapter completed!