Chapter 42 Chapter 41 "A Thousand Suns"

The cavalry is a branch that has long been eliminated in the United States, and the "First Cavalry Division" with the same designation has not even had a single horse.But this ancient unit has come in handy again in today's Alamos.The vast desert wasteland inside and outside the test site is full of potholes, there are no roads, and vehicles cannot drive, so the soldiers patrolled heroically on tall horses.No enemy was found, only a herd of antelope two or three miles away from "Zone Zero". The other best kind of patrol is the aircraft, which can see everything on the ground, even see the lightning on the horizon and report to the base-information that worries commanders and scientists a lot.Because this shows that there is a thunderstorm lurking, the test cannot be carried out... At 5 o'clock in the morning on July 16th, the four soldiers guarding the foot of the steel tower and the explosive chemist Kistikov were finally evacuated in three jeeps. During a one-hundred-ton-equivalent "fake atomic bomb" exercise, the only jeep suddenly broke down, making everyone flustered.This time, three vehicles were dispatched for insurance.According to calculations, even if two of the three cars break down, the remaining one is enough for five people; taking a step back, even if all three cars are broken down, thirty minutes is enough for them to run a few miles. It can be counted as a safe zone.Before they left, they turned on more than a dozen headlights, illuminating the steel tower from all directions, marking the observation aircraft, and allowing the "frontline" commanders and scientists to see it through the telescope.

After five o'clock in the morning, the sky cleared.Even if it does not turn sunny, the test will no longer be determined by the weather but by the president's decision, and the president's decision is already understood by everyone.A gigantic "fat man," the plutonium explosive device, slowly rose to the top of the hundred-foot steel tower.Many tweeters are distributed on the "First" and "Second Line", and most of the time they broadcast dance music or marching music; but the broadcast is interrupted from time to time to report the progress of the final stage of preparations.There are too many Dr. Alamos, and even the announcer is a young doctor.His ever-thick baritone voice became shrill and hoarse like a siren, echoing over the desert wasteland: "There are still twenty minutes before the test explosion!" Then he reported every minute, "Nineteen minutes", "Fifteen minutes" minutes", "ten minutes"...

Hundreds of scientists in the "second line" began to smear ointment on their faces to prevent the skin from being burned by the blazing light; they also began to prepare black protective goggles, because looking directly at the explosion may cause blindness... There are far fewer people on the "front line".Twenty-one major scientists and generals including Dr. Olmhos gathered beside a large platform in the main control room.There are hundreds of instruments lined up on the control panel, countless indicator needles are constantly beating, countless red or blue curves are extending up and down, and countless large or small lights of various colors are flickering on and off.Orm turned a knob and started the automatic timer.Dr. Carmon kept a close eye on a row of lamps. Once the control system fails, this set of alarms will send out a signal so that measures can be taken in time.More people are waiting on periscopes and other observation equipment, trying to get a sneak peek at the explosion...

"Dear neighbor," said Collins Brown, dean of the Carnegie Institute of Technology, who was a little breathless with nervousness, "I heard that 20,000 tons is your number?" "Yes." Ding Jieqiong replied. "In case you miscalculated by two decimal places..." "Two hundred tons?" said the female scientist, "One of my colleagues calculated that." "No, I said two to the right—" Brown drawled. "Two million tons—so what?" "Carnegie Institute of Technology needs a new dean!" Probably to relax the tense nerves, Aum turned his face and asked, "Joan, do you know the origin of this 'countdown'?"

"Is there a reason for this?" Joan looked at the doctor curiously, "Really, I never knew, I never even thought about it." Aum talked eloquently. At the beginning of the 20th century, the Wright brothers in the United States invented the airplane.In 1926, the world's first liquid rocket was successfully launched in Auburn, Massachusetts, USA.In 1927, Germany established the "Space Travel Association" and published the magazine "Cosmonautics". On the cover of the first issue, a spaceship was painted and the words "Around the Earth in one and a half hours" were printed, which was sensational and fresh.German Ufa Film Company seized the opportunity and made a science fiction film "Moon Girl".Director Langer uses a "countdown" procedure in the rocket launch scene: "...four, three, two,—one fire!"

"From the movies?" Joan couldn't believe it. "Yes, this is an example of scientists learning from artists. Rocket scientists believe that the design in the movie is correct. The 'countdown' is very scientific and in line with psychological principles. It is simple, clear and accurate, and it makes people concentrate, always Thinking that the preparation time is coming to an end and the launch is coming..." Aum talked eloquently, but his eyes never left the automatic timer.At this point, he reminded, "Your turn, Joan!" The timer ticked at five twenty-seven.The last three minutes were controlled by Ding Jieqiong.The so-called "holding" is to stare at the control panel intently, give relevant instructions, find any abnormal movement at the first time and take corresponding measures...

The female scientist's first command was sent to the announcer: "From now on, tell the time every ten seconds!" The young doctor's voice was still shrill and hoarse like a siren, and it was heard far and wide in the desert wasteland. "Two minutes and fifty seconds", "two minutes and forty seconds", "two minutes and thirty seconds"... Twenty pairs of anxious eyes focused on Ding Jieqiong's beautiful and stern face, and no one said a word.The last two or three minutes were almost endless.Everyone was lost in thought.In addition to hearing the slightest breathing, you can almost hear people's heartbeats.

With a calm demeanor and a high chest, Ding Jieqiong leaned back in the high-backed swivel chair, scanning the countless indicator lights and dials on the control panel with her focused eyes.With the sound of "jingle", the automatic timer rang like an alarm clock, and the hour hand pointed to 5:29:15... Ding Jieqiong gave the second instruction to the announcer: "From now on, tell the time by the second!" She then flipped the main control switch.From this moment on, the automatic detonation system enters the "countdown".Sophisticated electronic instruments start running in microsecond timing, the second and third stage chain drives are activated...

"Forty-four, forty-three, forty-two," the young doctor announced the time in a loud voice, the sound from countless tweeters was like thunder rolling across the earth, "forty-one, forty..." Fei Mi suddenly said loudly: "Maybe it won't explode, and that will prove us all wrong!" Perry gave Fermi a hard look, and really wanted to curse "nonsense", but he managed to hold back. "It will work," Kistikov shook his head vigorously at Fermi, "because it's my invention!" Kistikov was born in "White Russia".He is a professor at Harvard University, a famous chemist, and the inventor of the "implosion" principle and structure.After evacuating from under the steel tower, he had just rushed back in a world full of dust.

"Ten, nine, eight..." The tweeter was still roaring.It does fit the "psychological principles," simplicity, clarity, precision, concentration, etc.; but it's not as simple as Aum just said. "Brown was thinking the experiment was 'too successful,' and Carnegie was going to have a new dean," Perry told Joan—afterwards, of course. uniform, and then start dealing with the endless pestering of Congress - where are the billions? They won't let me go." "Seven, six, five..." Regardless of the "first line" or "second line", scientists and soldiers climbed out of bunkers and trenches to avoid being buried alive in case the concrete collapsed.When they came to the open ground, they all lay prone on the ground, face down, feet facing the steel tower...

"Four, three, two, one—detonate!" At 5:30 in the morning, a high-speed camera equipped with heavy protection devices captured the scene at that moment from a long distance: a ball of flames rose into the air, and a dazzling fire expanded rapidly, several times, dozens of times, hundreds of times swell, swell... No one saw the first flash.Everyone turned their feet towards the steel tower, and all they could see was the reflection of the sand dunes in front of them and the sky in the distance. They saw that the sand dunes and the sky suddenly seemed to be on fire and became fiery red! "You know, I couldn't hold back my curiosity, so I ventured back." Dr. Neumann said to the female scientist—of course, afterward: "Hey, I can see what you can't see! A Blinding fireball, this fireball is getting bigger and bigger... Guess what I was thinking at the time? I thought, my God, the end of the world is coming! This fireball will expand endlessly until it swallows everything, including me!" After seeing the first flash of light, all the observers in the "first line" and "second line" immediately put on protective goggles, turned over and sat up, and some stood up... The fireball jumped into the sky and expanded even bigger in the air, and the entire desert was illuminated in a vast expanse of whiteness, like nine suns suddenly rising in the sky!The sand was sucked into an orange-red, rotating column; the column became taller and darker, and suddenly a thinner column of smoke rose from the middle, spreading into a mushroom shape at high altitude.Billows of white smoke billowed all around, and ghostly blue lights shone—this was "ionized gas," or what physicists often call "nuclear ghost fire." In the bunker of the main control room, the scientists in front of the periscope were all stunned, and it took a while to realize what happened.They were in charge of controlling the camera and the movie camera that went with the periscope, but now it's nothing but joy, hugs, cheers, tears... Perry was flanked by Fermi and Kistikov.The three of them climbed up from the ground almost at the same time, put on protective goggles and looked back at the same time, and entered a state of excitement at the same time.But the three of them were different from those young people. They were all trying to restrain their emotional impulses, and silently but vigorously held the three hands together.Fermi leaned closer and whispered, "I'm sorry, General, I said that on purpose just now..." Perry didn't react for a moment: "What did you just say?" "He said maybe it wouldn't explode, and that would prove us all wrong," Kistikov interrupted. "He forgot that I invented the 'implosion', and I never make mistakes— Oh, by the way, there is another person who never makes mistakes, and that is General Perry." All three of them laughed heartily. "At that time, everyone's hearts were about to jump out of their chests! I said that because I was afraid that someone would be induced with a heart attack. Let everyone relax." Fermi said with a smile, "The war is over—is it, General? " "Yes," Perry pulled back his smile, "but after we throw it in Japan!" Seeing everything, Olmhos couldn't help but recall the ancient Indian poem describing the mysterious prehistoric war—— He turned his head, but there was no female scientist in the visible world.He feels uneasy.Anyway, the mission in the bunker was over, so he immediately walked to the ground, but he was almost blown down by the strong wind just as he landed on the ground!He managed to gain a firm foothold and searched around with his eyes. The scene in front of him stunned him: Ding Jieqiong stood on the top of the concrete bunker, loosened the bun at the back of her head, and her head was full of chestnut black thick long hair. Shining and fluttering in the wild wind, the hair was almost four feet long!Her body was slightly bent forward, her head was tilted, her eyes were focused, as if she was looking at something, and she seemed to be pitying herself.In the distance, the light of the atomic bomb was still shining and continued, projecting on the female scientist, making her a shimmering gilded bronze statue... "God!" Orm yelled.For eleven years, he had never seen Joan in this "shape".Joan is used to putting her long chestnut black hair in a bun behind her head, looking dignified and elegant.Aum has never seen another hairstyle for Joan, and she never thought that Joan would have long, fluttering hair with a special charm... "Aum, it's you!" Joan lifted her long hair with both hands, and walked down from the top of the bunker with a smile on her face, "You know, my calculation is correct." "What calculation?" "I predicted that the explosion would have a yield of 20,000 tons." "Yes!" "The measurements just now confirmed this." "What instrument did you use to measure it?" "Oh, with hair, my hair!" The fastest propagation speed is of course light; followed by the nuclear explosion shock wave and sound wave-the shock wave travels faster than the speed of sound, which Aum did not expect.Shock waves take the form of storms or gusts of wind.According to Ding Jieqiong's calculations, according to the altitude of Alamos and the current temperature conditions, the storm or strong wind will reach the "line" in 47 seconds.So she started the stopwatch when she saw the first flash of light and immediately ran out of the bunker.What happened next confirmed her prediction.As she climbed to the top of the bunker, she skillfully loosened the round beard on the back of her head, and her long chestnut black thick hair fluttered in the gust of wind that came... "I measured the length, density, and specific gravity of my hair beforehand, and then used a wind tunnel to test and obtain relevant data." Ding Jieqiong smiled, "The angle at which my hair fluttered just now confirmed my prediction about the explosive equivalent." "Joan! You..." Aum was very excited, hugged each other, opened his mouth but couldn't say anything. After the strong wind hit for a while, there was a terrible roar. I don't know if it was a strong and continuous sound wave or a tremor in the earth's crust. "Come on, let's go down!" Ding Jieqiong broke away from Aum and dragged him down the bunker: "The explosion was really strong, but it wasn't enough to ignite the atmosphere." Aum was pulled by someone.He looked back, but heard Collins Brown asking loudly, "What are you and Joan talking about?" "Oh, she said, the explosion was really powerful," Aum replied loudly, "but it's not so big that Carnegie Institute of Technology needs to change a dean!" "You know what I'm trying to say?" Brown yelled. "Hey, we're all sons of a bitch!" A few days later, Ding Jieqiong introduced the scene of the world's first atomic bomb test in a letter to Su Guanlan—— Scientists are even less sure about plutonium than they are about uranium.No one knows how much energy will be released. There are "estimated" as many as a dozen types, ranging from several hundred tons to several thousand tons equivalent.It was later proved that Professor Ding Jieqiong's prediction was the most accurate: 20,000 tons.She used her fluttering hair as "experimental material", and the actual measurement method using aerodynamic equations as mathematical tools simply caused a "sensational effect", and the difference between the calculation and the instrument measurement results was only 3%! Fermi, who has always been calm, couldn't drive the car after the successful experiment, so he had to ask a colleague to do it for him-and he never let others touch his car.Afterwards, he said, the car "jumped" back to Alamos as if "riding the clouds". Ding Jieqiong wrote——