Destroys the "Caltrium Theory"

Chapter 47 Destroys the "Caltrium Theory"

Heat and work are both forms of energy, and both are measured in the dimension of energy.

This is common sense, but it's common sense for Rorschach as an engineering student, not the mainstream view in this other world!

In ancient times, spellcasters and alchemists discovered that matter could be continuously divided into tiny particles. By observing stars, dust, and steam, the arcane master Leucippus, pre-Imperial Age, concluded that elements and ether have the smallest units, which drift in space and the world behind the veil, stirring up vortices and converging into all things and magic.

"The primordial God used His great divine power to bind together the tiny elements and create all things, just as we use water and fine clay to shape pottery."

Thus, the smallest unit of matter, or element, was named element particle. After the old empire and the new era, when it was translated by the Semitic people and transmitted back to the main continent, element particle was corrupted into "atom".

It's good that atoms can be discovered, but the spellcasters, especially the alchemists among them, have a serious case of delusional thinking. They believe that since physical objects are particles, then everything else must be particles too small to be touched.

Ether is a particle, which Rorschach doesn't understand yet, so I won't comment on it for now; as for particles, Rorschach can give half the answer; as for particles called phlogiston or calorium, today I'm going to overturn the "caloric theory"! Rorschach smiled at Carnot and said that he would revise it again, but then turned around and began to conceive the "thermal kinetic equivalent" experiment with a fierce look.

If we assume that heat is a particle called "thermogen," modern people from the original world might not understand it, but this hypothesis is indeed easy to draw analogies to and can describe some phenomena of heat transfer.

For example, you can imagine temperature as a measure of the amount of "caloric energy" or the potential difference of "caloric energy" stored in an object. Then, "heat transfer from a high-temperature object to a low-temperature object" can be vividly compared to water overflowing from a high place and flowing to a low place.

Pairing it with the heavyweight phlogiston theory is a perfect match: when phlogiston accumulates to a certain level, it will activate phlogiston, and phlogiston will continuously degrade into phlogiston and be released during combustion.

However, there are also phenomena that cannot be explained.

There lived an alchemist who firmly believed in the thermodynamic theory in the icy north of the continent. He had two friends, a dwarf and a polar elf, and an apprentice.

First, the apprentice brought two identical large copper pots, one filled with oil and the other with water. Then, he took ice of equal weight and soaked it in the oil and water. After the ice completely melted, the apprentice measured the temperature and found that:

"Teacher, why do oil and water lose the same amount of calorific value, yet their temperatures drop at different rates?"

"Different substances have different abilities to accept or lose pyrogen. It must be that the pyrogen in the environment replenished the pyrogen in the lower-temperature liquid in the pot, causing the ice to melt."

Then his polar elf friend asked him why rubbing his hands would make them hot, and he replied that he had unconsciously activated magic while rubbing his hands, causing the ether to be converted into heat.

The elf told him to use his mage's hand to grab one piece of ice and rub it against another, claiming that the ice would melt. "Does ice have magic?" the alchemist asked, telling the elf to stop teasing him.

Finally, his dwarf friend wrote to him, saying that while he was making the cannon barrel, he soaked an iron pillar in water and drilled it into the cannon chamber. After drilling for two and a half hours, the water actually boiled, which puzzled him: Could it be that thermon is a mineral that can be drilled out? The warlock replied to him: There is thermon in the metal pillar, and thermon is released during the process of producing iron filings.

Then the dwarf wrote again: If the calorific value is evenly distributed in an object, when drilling with a sharp drill bit, the water heats up less and there are more iron filings, but when drilling with a blunt drill bit, the water heats up more and there are fewer iron filings. Isn't that a contradiction?

Rorschach told the story of an alchemist who lived in the Arctic.

"And then?" Pascal yawned, dipping a piece of bread into the last of the creamy mushroom soup at the bottom of the bowl.

"Then, in a fit of rage, he reported the dwarves to the Imperial authorities for illegally manufacturing heavy firearms." Rorschach finished speaking, cutting off a piece of duck and popping it into his mouth. "After we finish eating, let's go to the Alchemy Department together. Oh, by the way, Professor Cano asked you to bring the liqueur from his office to the research lab on the Country Road."

"You're going too? To do a new experiment?"

"Don't be nervous, we have people from the Alchemy Department to help us this time."

On the first floor of the alchemy department, Master Snow had already arrived, along with several other men. Two devices were placed in a space cleared from the storeroom. Both had glass tanks filled with the same amount of water.

A device with a propeller blade inserted in the water has a connecting rod wrapped several times with a large weight attached to one end. Obviously, when the weight is lowered, it will cause the propeller blade to stir during its descent.

The other one involves a weight falling, which drives a metalworking unit to find the smallest rotor generator, with part of the circuit wound into a spring and soaking in water.

Snow looked pained: "Master Rorschach, isn't this a destructive experiment? The resistance wire you want is an iron-aluminum alloy!" In a world without electrolytic aluminum, the Alchemy Department had even tried to develop a method to extract aluminum using magic—this grayish stuff was slightly more expensive than gold.

"Don't worry, it's not. Have the mechanical parts been lubricated? I want the friction to be as low as possible." Rorschach inspected the experimental setup: "The weights on both sides must be level and at the same height; record this height. What's the room temperature now? It should be the same as the water temperature."

Finally, the weights were placed on both devices, causing the blades of device one to rotate and the rotor of device two to rotate.

The weights fell to the ground. "Quickly, record the water temperature reading."

"And then? The experiment is over?" Pascal was a little confused. It was that simple? It was different from the experiments he had participated in.

"Yes." A simple experiment and a brilliant insight led to a great conclusion. This is the work of the great Joule.

Snow took the data his brother had written down: "Almost identical! Rorschach! The water really did heat up, and the temperature is consistent!"

Rorschach nodded: "If we can completely eliminate the resistance and friction of the wires, they should be exactly the same. However, our thermometers can't accurately measure the difference either."

Pascal still didn't understand the intention: "What are you trying to demonstrate through these experiments?"

"In Rorschach's experiment, all the objects were at the same temperature before it began. Logically, there shouldn't have been any transfer of calorific value. However, after the weights were released, the kinetic energy caused the water to heat up! Two different devices transferred kinetic energy, and without the intervention of ether, the water could be raised to the same temperature."

"This shows that heat and work can be converted." Rorschach continued, "If we consider heat as a caloric element, it's difficult to explain, since our device doesn't have magical loops. But if we consider heat as a form of energy, conducted into matter and causing microscopic movements in the particles, we can see it directly in Device One: macroscopic motion is transformed into microscopic motion within matter, resulting in an increase in temperature."

Heat is not a substance, but a phenomenon of motion of microscopic particles, which can be equivalently converted into macroscopic mechanical motion. I can explain phenomena that the caloric theory can explain, and I can also explain phenomena that the caloric theory cannot explain. This is the kinetic theory of heat!

He then went to the device with the generator: "The second device demonstrates to us that the kinetic energy, electrical energy, and heat of macroscopic motion can also be converted. If we raise both devices and increase the distance the weights fall, we should be able to see the water temperature rise even higher, and calculate the relationship between temperature and kinetic energy given the mass of the weights, the height of the fall, and the mass of the water."

So multiple sets of experiments were started, and a series of data were obtained, which easily showed that the height of the weight falling was directly proportional to the temperature rise.

"You are right, Master Rorschach! Heat and energy can be measured in the same units! I have no reason not to believe your theory of conservation of energy and equivalence!"

"And electricity, Mr. Snow."

According to the author's limited knowledge of the history of science, unlike other worlds, the caloric theory was only widely accepted in our world after the rise of materialism in the 18th century. Before that, the kinetic theory dominated in the 17th century and after the "thermal equivalent" experiment. Carnot, Lavoisier, and Laplace were all proponents of the caloric theory.

(End of this chapter)