Chapter 575: Conservation Mechanical Sphere
The wizards of the Celestial Realm did not understand the source of mana, and Ace had not yet written that monumental masterpiece, so controversies regarding “heat” continued unceasingly.
Wizards who believed in the biological “vital force” theory thought that heat energy might be a certain supplement to vital force, but not its entirety, because mana existed in this world, and mana had miraculous effects.
Thomas was temporarily unable to explain mana; he merely conducted empirical research with unwavering determination.
“We need more, more experiments to prove the conservation of ‘force’ in various types of motion, such as mechanics, thermodynamics, electromagnetism, acoustics, and so on!”
His gaze was firm. Immersed in experimental research, Thomas lost his previous awkwardness, possessing only a burning passion for research.
Donna said admiringly: “We can start with electromagnetism. In today’s magical world, what discipline is hotter than electromagnetism?”
The two quickly reached an agreement and began experimenting with various types of magneto-electric machines. Through many experiments, the two summarized a phenomenon.
Donna said in a cold, clear voice: “In various experiments with magneto-electric machines, there is a phenomenon of heat generation in both the motors and circuits. Just like the phenomenon of friction during the operation of mechanical parts, this is the root cause of power loss.”
Thomas said passionately: “Yes, the entry point for our experiments will start with the research on the thermal effect of electric currents!”
The two jointly designed an experiment. To determine the thermal power of a metal wire, they passed the wire through a glass tube, then wound it tightly around the tube, leaving gaps between each turn, and separated the ends of the coil.
Then, Thomas placed the glass tube into a container filled with water, and after passing a current through it, used a thermometer to measure the temperature change produced in the water.
“Thomas, you are responsible for changing wires of different sizes, and I will be responsible for changing the current intensity.”
Hearing Donna’s words, Thomas nodded. He had already prepared over fifty types of wires of various sizes. The two conducted nearly a thousand experiments over three days, and finally obtained preliminary results.
Thomas unrolled a magic parchment scroll and wrote down a title: The Heat Produced by Metallic Conductors of Electricity and the Heat in Battery Packs During Electrolysis.
He detailed the experimental process and wrote the conclusion at the end: “Within a certain period of time, the heat produced by a Blania current passing through a metallic conductor is directly proportional to the square of the current intensity and the product of the conductor’s resistance. This is the Donna-Thomas Law.”
Donna said with satisfaction: “This conclusion looks very concise, and also very mathematical. However, it’s best if we do more experiments for further verification.”
The two then conducted numerous experiments using electrolytes, proving that the above conclusion remained correct.
The discovery of the Donna-Thomas Law gave everyone in Betty’s Wizard Tower a clear understanding of the role of current in a circuit.
Imitating the circulation of blood in an animal’s body, Donna compared the battery to the heart and lungs, and the current to blood, and pointed out at the end of the paper: “Electricity can be seen as an important medium carrying, arranging, and transforming chemical heat.”
She further posited that “burning” a certain amount of chemical “fuel” in a battery would generate a corresponding amount of heat in the circuit, including the battery itself, and this should be the same amount as obtained by directly burning these fuels in oxygen.
Donna said with slight excitement: “The mechanical equivalent of heat is right before our eyes. Although we still lack more crucial proof, we already have a direction.”
They handed the paper to Betty. After reading it, Betty was very delighted. She had a premonition that as long as this problem was solved, she might be able to break through the limit and become a true Mythical Wizard.
Betty stuffed the paper into the mouth of a Shadow Crow. Watching the crow fly off towards the Central High Tower with a “caw caw,” she said with a hint of joy: “Our main task now is to determine equivalence: electricity, elemental energy, heat energy, and mechanical energy can be converted and are equivalent.”
This paper was again published in Magic. All wizards could see that Betty’s Wizard Tower was attempting to prove the “mechanical equivalent of heat.” Such a resolute attitude also sparked fierce discussions among other wizards. Many wizards who believed in the “vital force” theory also began to revise and perfect their own theoretical systems.
They rooted the focus of their theories in the concept of “mana” and proposed the hypothesis that all things possess mana. Some people tried to find the current Rotating Celestial, the Lich King Witte, to support their stance, but Witte publicly stated that he could not prove the vital force theory.
Hearing Witte—who excelled in the transformation between life and death and possessed extensive experience in biological experiments—say this cast an even darker shadow over the hearts of many wizards adhering to the “vital force” theory.
In Betty’s Wizard Tower, Betty, Donna, and Thomas were conducting experiments near a group of magneto-electric machines.
Betty said cautiously: “In exploring the loss of heat in magneto-electric machines, I believe it is a matter of course that:
“The electric power of a magneto-electric machine, like currents generated from other sources, possesses the same thermal properties throughout the entire circuit.
“Of course, if we consider heat not to be a substance but a state of vibration, there seems to be no reason to believe that it cannot be caused by an action of a simple mechanical nature, such as the rotation of a coil between the poles of a permanent magnet.
“At the same time, it must also be admitted that so far, no experiment has been able to pass judgment on this very interesting question, because all these experiments have been limited to localized parts of the circuit. This leaves the question: is heat generated, or is it transferred out from the coil where the magneto-electric current is induced?
“If heat is transferred out of the coil, the coil itself should become colder.
“Therefore, we must strive to eliminate the uncertainty regarding magneto-electric heat!”
After multiple experiments, they quickly designed a concise and effective experiment: placing the magneto-electric machine in a bucket of water acting as a calorimeter, rotating the magneto-electric machine, drawing the current from the coil into a galvanometer for measurement, and simultaneously measuring the temperature change of the water in the bucket.
“The heat generated by the coil of the magneto-electric machine is also directly proportional to the square of the current.”
Thomas recorded it affirmatively.
Donna then connected the magneto-electric machine as a load into a circuit, and connected another battery into the circuit, to observe the generation of heat inside the magneto-electric machine. At this time, the magneto-electric machine was still placed in the bucket of water acting as a calorimeter. Donna wrote:
“By turning the wheel in one direction, I can make the magneto-electric machine connect in opposition to the current; turning it in the other direction, I can use the magneto-electric machine to increase the current. In the former case, the instrument possesses all the characteristics of a magneto-electric machine; the latter case is the exact opposite, it consumes mechanical force.”
By comparing the experiments of the magneto-electric machine connected in forward and reverse directions in the circuit, Donna concluded: “From magneto-electricity, we have obtained a medium by which, using simple mechanical methods, we can destroy heat or generate heat.”
Thus far, from researching the specific problem of the magneto-electric machine, Betty, Donna, and Thomas had determined a law of universal significance: heat and mechanical work can be mutually converted, and there must be an equivalence relationship during the conversion process.
They looked at each other. Finally, Betty said to Thomas: “You pick up the pen and write down the final conclusion.”
Thomas was deeply moved. He knew this was them looking after him. Just as he was about to modestly decline, Donna also said: “Your aptitude… still needs to be elevated. Don’t decline modestly.”
With tears welling up in his eyes, Thomas simply sat down and wrote:
“After proving that heat can be generated using a magneto-electric machine, and that the inductive force of magnetism can be used to increase or decrease at will the heat generated by elemental changes, investigating whether a constant ratio exists between heat and the mechanical work gained or lost has become an extremely interesting subject.
“For this purpose, it is only necessary to repeat some previous experiments and simultaneously determine the mechanical force required to rotate the instrument.
“According to the results of thirteen sets of experiments, we can conclude that the amount of heat capable of raising the temperature of one pound of water by one degree is equal to the mechanical work of lifting an 838-pound weight by one foot.
“The mechanical equivalent of heat!”
The Magic Net vibrated violently, and the power of the Great Source surged and cheered. Thomas did not stop, continuing to write:
“We can summarize this law as follows: heat energy can be transferred from one object to another, or it can be mutually converted with mechanical energy or other forms of energy. During the process of transfer and conversion, the total value of energy remains unchanged.
“That is, when heat energy and mechanical energy are transferred or converted, the total amount of energy must be conserved. We can call this the Law of Conservation and Transformation of Energy.
“Mathematically, we can express this as: when a system undergoes a change, let the heat exchanged with the environment be Q (heat absorption is positive, heat release is negative), and the work exchanged with the environment be W (work done by the environment on the system is positive, work done by the system on the environment is negative). Then the change in thermodynamic energy (also called internal energy) is:
“△U = Q + W.”
As soon as Thomas put down his pen, the power of the Great Source poured in like a fierce tiger pouncing on its prey, with the majority pouring into Thomas’s body. Without hesitation, he chose to elevate his own magical aptitude. The massive amount of Source Power made his magical aptitude almost instantaneously reach the excellent level of innate overdrive.
Betty and Donna also received a small share of the Source Power. Donna was already a Golden Wizard; under this impact, she successfully advanced to a Legendary Wizard. After a century, she had finally caught up with her former senior, Blania.
Betty’s state, however, fluctuated intensely. With a flash, she disappeared, appearing outside Ace’s door at the Central High Tower.
After being announced, Ace received Betty: “Your state… has reached the critical point?”
Betty did not waste words, directly saying: “Yes, Lord Ace. I wish to borrow the Scepter of Heaven to assist in my breakthrough state, and I also need Your Dream Seal.”
Ace’s Demi-god projection nodded and snapped His fingers. A multicolored dream-like flower appeared on Betty’s shoulder.
“Go find Witte and borrow it. Also, regarding your recent series of research, how about we just call it Thermodynamics? The Law of Conservation and Transformation of Energy that Thomas just discovered will be called the First Law of Thermodynamics!”
Betty had no objections to this, bowing joyfully and replying: “Thank You, my Lord, for granting the name.”
Before Her words even finished falling, She had already flashed and disappeared. Ace watched Her petite back disappear, a trace of a mysterious smile appearing at the corner of His mouth, and returned to His desk.
Ace pushed aside the monumental masterpiece He had just started, instead unrolling another magic parchment scroll and writing in beautiful flying-bird script.
“Since the First Law of Thermodynamics has appeared, can the Second be far behind? Will there be despair?”
Ace couldn’t help but laugh heartily. He decided to give it a push, unable to wait to see the expressions of the other wizards.
Betty’s Wizard Tower. Having just borrowed the Scepter of Heaven, Betty held the scepter. As the former Rotating Celestial, She easily remastered the scepter, blessing Herself with the power of the entire Celestial Realm.
Her Epic Wizard body had long been semi-sanctified, and Her soul was in a state on the verge of sanctification but not yet sanctified. At this moment, it directly sanctified, completing the final bit of accumulation.
From soul to physical body, She achieved true longevity and eternal vision. A spark of spiritual light budded from Her mental imagery world, yet She was still missing that one thread. She keenly felt that if She did not grasp this thread, Her state of longevity would rapidly collapse.
This made Betty’s heart flash, seemingly thinking of something related to thermodynamics.
With no time to grasp the fleeting inspiration, there were more important things at hand. Betty instantly connected to the Dream Great Source, almost roaring: “Great Source, open the status!”
The message transmitted through the Dream Great Source, instantly reaching Ace’s projection. He stopped His pen, immediately opened the status, and touched His nose: “Closing the status out of habit almost made Betty fall at the last hurdle. Without resources, one indeed cannot accomplish anything. But to a certain extent, the First Law of Thermodynamics can indeed also explain the state of achieving Demigod.”
Leaning back, Ace actually slowly disappeared, appearing inside Betty’s Wizard Tower.
“I will help you one more step. This is a drop of pure Divine Power Essence from my main body.”
A radiance flashed in Ace’s hand, and a drop of Divine Power Essence containing terrifyingly orderly energy drifted towards Betty, hovering above Her head.
Betty was at a critical juncture. The arrival of that Divine Power Essence made Her accumulation even more abundant. Within Her mental imagery world, Betty’s mind had already clearly perceived Her true spirit and merged with it. The entire mental imagery world turned into primordial chaos, and extremely hot flames were surging within Her mental imagery world.
From the fire element to the phlogiston theory, from the phlogiston theory to oxidation reactions, and then to thermodynamics, the flames in Betty’s heart had never changed.
“‘Heat’ is the core, driving machinery. This is My Path; this is My cognition.
“When heat energy and mechanical energy are transferred or converted, the total amount of energy must be conserved. This requires a closed-loop system, an isolated system.
“Demi-gods possess longevity precisely because they successfully construct a closed-loop system internally using great power. Of course, this system is not completely closed; it must have a switch to exchange ‘energy’ with the outside world. But as long as the core energy remains stable, a Demigod can naturally achieve longevity.
“If a demi-plane is mapped from the mental imagery world, this closed-loop state is condensed even better to maintain one’s own conservation of energy. The foundational spell of My Mythical rank is the ‘Conservation Sphere’!”
In an instant, this illusory mental imagery world drew in high-quality energy from the outside, forming a massive fireball in the entire mental imagery world. Subsequently, a bizarre mechanical structure sphere wrapped around that massive fireball.
The mechanical structure emitted creaking sounds as massive amounts of bizarre metal proliferated on its own, quickly completely encasing the fireball. The metallic texture actually made this mental imagery world gradually turn pitch black.
Betty opened Her eyes, shot into the sky, and disappeared. She appeared outside the Celestial Realm, amidst the Wizard World Cluster.
A bright red, like a branding iron, suddenly appeared between Her eyebrows. It actually expanded instantaneously, transforming into an incomparably massive sphere. Betty twisted forcefully, separating Her head from that sphere.
“This is My demi-plane, the Conservation Mechanical Sphere.”
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