Wandering Spaceship in Deep Space Chapter 239: A world without oxygen

The Gliese people have indeed already known the existence of electricity, and with some small revelations given by the "Enlightenment Civilization", it is possible to jump directly from the Stone Age to the Electricity Age.

But unfortunately, this step is very, very difficult.

For a whole hundred thousand years, countless capable wise men have launched attacks again and again, but no one has taken this crucial step.

Just because there is no oxygen...

When I saw this, the discussion in the conference room increased vigorously. Some were skeptical and some were curious. Some people were even questioning the correctness and reliability of this report.

"No technology was born? It took them so long or no real technology was born?"

"Could it be that the real technology was given to them by the second batch of aliens!"

The professor on the stage smiled meaningfully, as if he expected that everyone present would react like this: "Everyone, I have a question. If human beings face this dilemma, without oxygen, they have a certain In the context of quantitative scientific thinking, can we jump directly from the Stone Age to the electricity age?"

Gradually everyone fell silent and began to think seriously.

"...It's very difficult, it's incredible." Captain Zhao sitting in front shook his head slightly.

The absence of oxygen means that there is no natural combustion phenomenon, which makes the development of science extremely difficult. In this case, it is almost impossible to smelt copper or iron on a large scale.

For humans, the simplest way to smelt copper and iron is the carbon reduction method. At higher temperatures, carbon is used as a reducing agent to perform an oxidation-reduction reaction on metal minerals to smelt elemental metal.

But this method requires a very high temperature. For Gliese people who have no burning phenomenon, it is undoubtedly difficult to reach a high temperature of thousands of degrees...

Unless a natural active volcano can be found and the temperature of the volcano can be used, there will be so little possibility.

But the Gliese people encountered a volcano and it was too late to escape. How could they risk their lives to make iron? They don't even know the so-called chemical reaction equation!

So, besides the carbon reduction method, is there any other way? Of course there is: electrolysis! Most metals can be smelted by electrolysis, but the electrolysis method must first have electricity!

In other words, without the burning phenomenon, it is impossible to enter the age of bronze or black iron. Their technological progress can only stay in the Stone Age, and productivity is difficult to improve.

The development of science is gradual. Even if they already have good scientific thinking, they still need experiments to support their opinions.

Science is a methodology. After proposing a point of view, if it is in line with the experimental results, then this point of view can be considered correct for the time being.

If it does not conform to the facts, this view will undoubtedly be discarded.

But the question is, how to experiment?

For a simple example, if you want to study biological cells, you must first have a microscope, right? If you want to own a microscope, you have to learn to burn glass and make a lens, right? But there is no fire, how to burn glass?

Inventing new experimental tools is no less important for scientific research than proposing new theories.

There are too many similar difficulties, even if the Gliese people, under the guidance of the Enlightenment’s civilization, already know that the magical natural phenomenon of "electricity" exists, and it can be transformed into a huge force. But there is no iron, no copper, no conductors, how to study electricity?

The scholar sitting in front of Zhang Yuan turned his head and discussed: "In this case, I can think of two ways. The first is to clearly know what electricity is all about. Just like us This group of people has already mastered this knowledge. If they suddenly run into the Stone Age, they can skip technology and skip bronze and black iron."

Zhang Yuan shook his head: "No, I don’t know why. Enlightened civilization only told them the existence of electricity, but did not tell them the nature of electricity, let alone the phenomenon of electromagnetic induction, so they only Can blindly explore in the fog."

"So, the second plan is to put the power of the country as the first priority, relying on a large number of talents to attack these bottlenecks. Their planet has low oxygen content, iron, copper, and magnets. There are also simple substances in nature...relying on these natural materials, there is still a little possibility."

"Professor, your statement is too difficult and too ideal..." Another expert questioned: "It can only be a dictatorship... Only the dictator goes crazy before issuing such an order. Democracy. The government has no such possibility, and the people have been ousted from office a long time ago."

Listening to these discussions, Zhang Yuan sighed: "That is to say, human beings will get stuck in that situation with a high probability. There is no excuse. How could they try to study when they only know the term electricity? What wire, magnet, electromagnetic induction?"

"Continue to deduce, in the universe, there is no oxygen in the planet, it is difficult to develop real technology? This is really...very strange."

"I thought of another method, biological smelting! Life changes are unlimited. On the earth, there are some bacteria that accumulate soluble metals under high temperature conditions. Maybe some planets Can organisms smelt metals on their own?"

"This probability is not unavailable, but it is very low. You can't ask the creatures of those anaerobic planets, each of which has the ability to evolve biological smelting..."

When he came to this conclusion, Zhang Yuan had to sigh for the good luck of mankind.

This condition is indeed a bit harsh. There must be a small number of planets with a lot of oxygen. Oxygen is produced by photosynthesis of plants and cannot be born out of thin air. The active chemical nature of oxygen means that if it cannot be produced continuously, it will quickly react with other substances and be exhausted.

Oxygen-free planets are the majority.

Because of this, the productivity of Gliese civilization has always been in the Stone Age. There is no way to separate natural elements in chemistry, and there is no way to study electrical energy in physics.

When it rains in strong winds, lightning occurs. This is the only natural phenomenon they can observe that is related to electricity. Various physical models have been proposed one after another, and some people even gave their lives in order to touch the lightning!

But what is the point of all this when the production tools are still stone and wood?

This kind of tragedy and the degree of difficulty are really hard for outsiders to tell...

"I don’t know, we don’t know anything... We don’t know anything about this world, as if a layer of darkness covers our eyes and obscures our way forward. We know the existence of electricity and know that it can perform magic Power."

"But all the attempts have yielded nothing..."

This wise man studied from youth to middle age, and then to the old age. He exhausted all his efforts, but achieved nothing. He sadly wrote in his diary: "Damn What on earth is this electricity?!"

At this moment, it has been... 30,000 years since the Enlightenment's civilization left.

The moment I saw this passage, it seemed that something hit Zhang Yuan's heartstrings. As a scientific researcher, didn't he often express such emotions?

The universe is so ruthless, a civilization is stuck to death, only a small catalyst is missing.

Just because there is no oxygen.

There is no ridicule. Compared with the Gliese civilization, human beings are just a little bit more lucky. At least they have developed their own technology and penetrated the sporadic truth of the universe.

"Oh...the technology of earth civilization~IndoMTL.com~ has been stuck for a long time. Is it also missing something we don't know?"

"Some thoughts are missing, or reasons we don't know...or something else..."

The evolution of history is still going on, and it will not be shifted for the will of any life...

In the absence of fruitful long-term exploration, science has slowly lost its momentum. Physics, chemistry, biology, and medicine are all in a state of stagnation, and no one is willing to study these things anymore.

Mathematics is booming. Because mathematics does not require experimental verification, it is not limited to productivity, as long as it is logical.

Year after year, 10,000 years after 10,000 years...

The science and technology tree of Gliese civilization began to have serious deviations, mathematics took the lead, and other subjects were in a mess!

A ridiculous thing happened, and its mathematics level has even surpassed that of humans! However, the tools used are still the most primitive tools such as stone and wood!