Chapter 459: The Gravitational Constant
Returning home, Sulu was still sound asleep. Warren closed the door and quickly threw himself into the design of the new Torsion Balance.
“The reflection of light can achieve secondary amplification, which means…”
Using the power of magic, Warren created a slender metal suspension wire. He fixed one end to a metal plate and the other end to a flat reflector mirror.
Below the flat reflector mirror was an inverted T-shaped frame. Warren used wood for this. He also prepared two copper balls of equal weight and fixed them at the ends of the inverted T-frame. Thus, the basic structure of the torsion balance was completed.
It was clearly a very simple instrument, but when it was finished, Warren seemed to see a scorching brilliance. He kicked the still-sleeping Sulu awake and said excitedly: “Get up quickly, it’s time to witness history!”
Sulu woke up from his dream with a start, rubbing his bleary eyes and saying: “Damn it, I had a nightmare. I became an apprentice at the Magic School, that bad old man Bayen was the calculus teacher, and the damn Calculus required 90 points to graduate!”
Warren seemed a bit impatient. He said hurriedly: “Forget about calculus! We are about to discover the Gravitational Constant. Wake up and help quickly.”
Sulu was shocked. He scrambled off the chair and followed Warren in shock to a sealed room.
Under Warren’s command, Sulu fixed the metal plate of the torsion balance to the ceiling, while Warren prepared a long metal graduated scale and placed it further away.
Warren took a deep breath and said to the bewildered Sulu: “Our experimental design is very simple, but the effect will be outstanding! Now, use the Light Spell and aim at the reflector mirror.”
Sulu nodded ignorantly. A beam of light bloomed from his fingertip, hitting the center of the reflector mirror. The mirror reflected the beam onto the metal scale located further away.
Warren frowned and said solemnly: “Too thick. Make it thinner, as thin as you can!”
Sulu looked at the solemn Warren and didn’t dare to be careless. He concentrated his mind, shrinking the beam to the minimum. A straight beam hit the reflector mirror.
Warren raised a high-power telescope to observe the markings on the scale, then put down the telescope and recorded a string of numbers on a blank magic scroll.
Then, looking nervous, Warren suspended two large copper balls of equal weight simultaneously at the same distance from the two small copper balls. Sulu went stiff, controlling the thin light beam without moving a muscle.
The suspension wire twisted at a certain angle due to the attraction, and the flat mirror turned with it. Although the angle was very small, the light beam was deflected significantly on the distant scale.
Once the inverted T-frame settled and remained still, Warren raised the high-power telescope, observed the new value, and recorded it accurately.
He casually put down the telescope, ignoring the stiff Sulu who dared not move. The magic scroll naturally unrolled and floated in mid-air. Warren took a quill and wrote seriously on the paper:
“Warren-Sulu Torsion Balance Experiment
Experimental Objective: Calculate the Earth Center Gravitational Constant (G).
Gravity often manifests as a weak force. What we need to measure is this pure, weak force. Specifically, with Sulu’s help, I designed a simple device called a Torsion Balance.
The Torsion Balance consists of a metal suspension wire, a flat reflector mirror, an inverted T-shaped frame, and two copper balls of equal weight.
The experimental process is as follows…
The key to this experiment lies in amplifying the weak interaction. Sulu and I amplified the effect of the weak force through two ingenious designs.
On one hand, a tiny force can produce a larger torque through a longer lever arm, causing the suspension wire to twist at a certain angle; on the other hand, a plane mirror is fixed on the suspension wire. It can reflect the incident light ray onto a scale far away from the plane mirror. From the movement of the light spot reflected onto the scale, the tiny twist of the suspension wire can be revealed.
After knowing the weight of the two large copper balls and the distance between the large copper balls and the two small copper balls… with the help of Ace’s Formula (Law of Universal Gravitation), we can easily deduce that the Constant G = ……”
With the help of the Law of Universal Gravitation formula and the exquisite torsion balance experiment, Warren easily calculated the Earth Center Gravitational Constant. It was an extremely small number. As soon as this number appeared, thunder roared and lightning poured down like rain.
The stiff Sulu also subconsciously looked at Warren. A holy light seemed to emerge from Warren. He seemed to hear the world cheering and the stars sighing.
West Tower. Ace noticed the anomaly immediately. Such an active atmosphere, and one closely related to himself, meant that a wizard must have made an astonishing discovery through Magical Mechanics, triggering feedback from the Great Source.
Inside the Temple, Thoth’s statue flickered with light. His clone appeared there instantly, murmuring: “Wizards and magic are truly magical. In my life of nearly ten thousand years, I haven’t seen the Great Source rejoice many times, yet I didn’t expect to see it several times in just one month.
“Can I also learn from such a path?”
His gaze was somewhat blurred and expectant. Even a Demigod still had desires. Thoth had always dreamed of becoming a Deity with unlimited potential and a vast domain. He was born a Demigod, and after ten thousand years, he was still a Demigod only because he was unwilling to achieve a domain casually.
“The Dream Domain that Ace fancies is also ordinary in my eyes. Although he is favored by the world, his vision is still too narrow. That stupid dragon is even more so—what ‘God of Supernatural Gourmet’? It is simply a disgrace!
“I shall achieve a higher domain. What in this world is more concise and charming than mathematics? If I can become the God of Mathematics, I shall be the King of the World!”
The usually gentle and cultivated Thoth spoke his heart here. The reason He was willing to protect wizards was that this group of people used mathematics as a tool. Thoth’s ambition was pinned on mathematics.
The feedback from the Great Source triggered reactions from many people. Ace had already flown near Warren’s villa. Bayen, Daina, and other Official Wizards also arrived one after another.
Daina had also been intensively studying Calculus and Magical Mechanics during this period. As a faithful believer in Ace’s thoughts, Daina’s acceptance of Magical Mechanics was very high. Within an extremely short time, she reconstructed her meditation environment and Natal Star, and following Ace’s suggestion, she used a godless star as her Natal Star.
Her strength had also reached the peak of Level 1. Ace glanced around casually, awkwardly dodging Daina’s burning gaze, and nodded with satisfaction.
“Your strength has greatly improved. Perhaps in another three to five years, a large batch of Level 2 Wizards will emerge. Let us wait here together; it must be an amazing discovery.”
Everyone nodded, staring at the villa with hopeful eyes, feeling the feedback from the Great Source, their hearts agitated.
Inside the sealed room of the villa, Warren was still writing seriously. The Gravitational Constant was only one of his conclusions. He also wanted to calculate the mass of the Earth Center, the largest celestial body in this Inner World!
The aura of the Great Source became increasingly thick. Although it was far from comparable to when Ace proposed the Three Laws and the Law of Universal Gravitation, this intense feedback was almost equivalent to the proposal of the Phlogiston Theory.
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