Chapter 228 The range of ion beam weapons

"Huh..."

Lv Yongchang took a deep breath and opened his eyes.

A strong sense of fatigue came from deep in his eyes.

This is the sequelae of getting the "hint".

Although it is a bit uncomfortable, it is much better than the result of fainting directly before.

"Professor?"

Wilson's voice came from the side: "Are you okay?"

Lv Yongchang raised his head, looked at Wilson's worried face, chuckled, waved his hand and said: "It's okay."

As he said, he supported himself on his knees and stood up.

"Particle beam weapon!"

Lv Yongchang glanced at the researchers around him and suddenly said in a deep voice.

"What?" Wilson didn't react for a while and asked subconsciously.

"Our next research direction." Lv Yongchang said as he walked straight out of the laboratory, "Wilson, follow me."

Looking at the figure gradually going away, Wilson was slightly stunned and quickly followed.

...

"Particle beam weapons?" Wilson looked at the holographic image data in front of him, frowned, and muttered to himself.

Lv Yongchang nodded and said, "To be precise, it's an ion beam weapon."

"After all, we can't accelerate neutral particles such as neutrons."

"This is also one of the directions we need to study in the future."

"Imagine it." Lv Yongchang's tone suddenly became excited, "If we can manipulate a large number of neutrons, let them accurately attack enemy ships."

"We can completely bypass the armor and directly attack the personnel inside the enemy ship!"

"Just like... a neutron bomb."

Wilson took a breath of cold air.

"Of course, this is just my idea." Lv Yongchang shrugged, with a bit of regret in his eyes, "At present, this technology is still a little far away from us."

"We can only accelerate charged particles now."

Wilson pondered for a moment, with a bit of hesitation on his face.

"Professor, I have also learned about this kind of weapon before."

"It's just that... compared with lasers, the range of ion beam weapons seems to be shorter."

"Affected by the dispersion effect, once the ion beam leaves the emitter, it will begin to spread on its own."

Faced with Wilson's doubts, Lv Yongchang smiled bitterly and nodded: "I know this too."

"But compared with laser weapons, ion beams have more advantages."

"For example?" Wilson's eyes were more puzzled.

"First, it lasts." Lv Yongchang took a long breath, "On this point alone, laser weapons can never compare to it."

Wilson's face was suddenly full of bitter smiles.

He awkwardly reached out and touched the tip of his nose, nodding repeatedly.

As a researcher of laser weapons, he naturally knew the biggest drawback of laser weapons.

"Second, although the speed is not as fast as lasers, the sub-light speed ion beam has advantages that laser weapons cannot match."

Lv Yongchang's mouth corners slightly raised, and continued: "It has mass."

"You can think of it as a weapon that combines the advantages of laser weapons and kinetic weapons."

Wilson could not help but stand there.

That's right.

This is the biggest difference between laser weapons and ion beam weapons, and also the biggest advantage of ion beam weapons.

E=mc², the mass-energy formula determines that it can carry a lot of energy!

Compared with the attack method of laser weapons burning the surface, the way ion beam weapons cause damage is more brutal and weird!

The specially modulated ion beam can completely "penetrate" the starship armor and directly attack the internal facilities or personnel of the starship!

In the case of being unable to "penetrate" the starship armor, its main damage is similar to that of lasers-releasing a lot of heat and burning through the armor directly!

"Then... what should we do?" Wilson asked with a slightly hurried breath.

"It's very simple." Lv Yongchang smiled and stretched out his hand in the air, opening a holographic projection.

"What we have to do is to reduce its dispersion effect and extend its range."

...

2037.12

In the laboratory, Wilson sighed slightly and turned off the small particle accelerator next to him.

"Professor, we failed again."

Wilson smiled bitterly and shook his head: "I think we chose the wrong direction."

"Changing the type of ions is not the right research direction."

Lv Yongchang did not speak, but frowned as he looked at the experimental data in front of him.

During this period, they have tested a large number of different types of ions, trying to find an ion with the weakest dispersion effect.

At present, the best performing ions can maintain an effective killing distance of about 500km in space.

This distance is obviously not enough.

However, the experiment is not without any gains.

At least, after so many experiments, Lv Yongchang probably knows what type of ions to choose as "ammunition".

Not protons, nor electrons, they are too "light".

Heavy ions.

To put it simply, they are ions with atomic weights larger than helium atoms.

Of course, the "heavier" the better.

On the one hand, the "heavier" the ion, the weaker the dispersion effect and the longer the range.

On the other hand, the "heavier" the ion, the more energy is consumed for acceleration, the slower the ion beam speed, and the killing effect caused may even decrease instead of increase.

In addition, light ions are more likely to penetrate starship armor and cause damage to the interior, while heavy ions are more likely to cause damage to starship armor.

This requires them to find a balance point in the middle.

"Tsk..."

Lv Yongchang tsks a little irritably.

There are too many things to consider, and more importantly, they have not solved the most basic problem.

Range problem!

You can't just get close to the output at that time? !

Just when Lu Yongchang was irritated, Zero's holographic image suddenly appeared.

"Professor, there is something I need to remind you."

Lv Yongchang, whose train of thought was interrupted, looked at Zero impatiently.

He frowned and asked, "What is it? If it's not something important, you can just go to Fang Xu."

Zero's tone did not fluctuate at all, and he said calmly: "Professor, in a week, the sun will completely swallow Mercury."

"..."

The laboratory fell into silence again.

Wilson looked at Zero's holographic image with horror.

Although he knew that this was an inevitable phenomenon during the process of the sun becoming a red giant, but...

When the incident really happened, Wilson had to admit that this news was still too shocking for humans.

Lv Yongchang sighed hard, rubbed his cheeks with his hands, and stood up from his seat.

"Time flies so fast..."

"Zero, you can start preparing various protective measures." Lv Yongchang said in a deep voice, "In addition, always monitor the conditions of Mercury and the sun."

"Received."

The holographic image disappeared instantly.