Chapter 532 This May Be Related to Asteroids
After briefly asking about the other party's recent situation, Xu You took Xu Zhou to his laboratory.
"Dad, let me give you a brief introduction of the situation."
Next, Xu You repeated the main information to Xu Zhou in the most concise language.
After listening to Xu You's story, Xu Zhou also frowned, feeling unexpected about this situation.
"You mean, we discovered a new type of iron on the moon that we've never seen before?"
"Yes, that's right. This iron is not ordinary iron connected by atomic structure. It is a bit like the iron atom cluster we made before, but there are some differences."
"There's a new type of iron structure that I haven't discovered yet? Come, let me see it!"
Xu Zhou was very curious about the structure of this new type of iron, and immediately asked Xu You to give him the relevant information.
Upon hearing this, Xu You found out the information related to the new type of iron and brought it to Xu Zhou.
After Xu Zhou got the information, he read it for an hour before he finally breathed a sigh of relief.
"Wow, this is really a magical structure. I can't figure out what kind of force allows iron atoms to connect in this way." Xu Zhou said.
From the data, Xu Zhou could see that the smallest structure of this new type of iron was not the iron atoms, but every four iron atoms were connected together by a very tight chemical bond.
It is this special structure that gives the new iron such outstanding physical properties.
"Dad, when you were studying iron clusters, you didn't succeed in synthesizing a similar structure, right?" Xu You asked.
"Yes, no similar structure has been successfully synthesized. This is completely untenable in theory, unless..."
At this moment, Xu Zhou seemed to suddenly think of something and fell into deep thought.
After a brief thought, Xu Zhou said: "No, this is impossible."
Upon hearing this, Xu You hurriedly asked:
"What's wrong? What did you think of?"
"According to my experience, such a special structure can only be formed under extreme conditions such as severe high temperature and high pressure. I am not sure about the specific conditions required, but it is definitely beyond our current capabilities."
After hearing what Xu Zhou said, Xu You immediately thought of something.
"According to the data we and SAM have, these minerals are mainly found underground on the far side of the moon, especially near the south pole of the moon, where the content is particularly high. These areas are often hit by meteorites and asteroids. The most serious one was when a huge asteroid with a diameter of about 170 kilometers hit near the south pole of the moon."
"You mean the formation of this new type of iron is related to the impact of an asteroid?"
"Yes, theoretically, this is possible. The energy released by such a huge asteroid during the impact is immeasurable. With such huge energy, some special substances may indeed be born."
After this analysis, Xu You felt a little disappointed.
If this new type of iron was really produced by an asteroid impact.
It is difficult to replicate a similar situation in the laboratory and produce the same type of iron.
You know, even if it is an asteroid with a diameter of only tens or hundreds of meters, when it collides with a planet at high speed, the energy released is several times that of a nuclear weapon.
Not to mention, it is an asteroid of such a huge size.
"Alas, it seems that it is really impossible to synthesize this new type of iron in the laboratory."
Seeing Xu You looked a little disappointed, Xu Zhou said:
"Of course, this is just our guess. As for how this new type of iron structure was formed, it is not possible to draw a conclusion right away. Maybe one day, we will get the correct answer."
"That's true. But if this new type of iron can really be made in a laboratory, there's no need to go all the way to the moon to mine it."
"Xu You, can we now infer how much of this mineral there is on the moon?"
"According to current estimates, it is probably in the millions or tens of millions of tons level," said Xu You.
"Millions of tons or tens of millions of tons... this is enough to build many aircraft carriers." Xu Zhou said with emotion.
Like Xu You, Xu Zhou immediately thought of the aircraft carrier.
After all, the performance of the steel used on aircraft carriers has reached the pinnacle of the industry.
"Although the reserves are sufficient, it is not realistic to transport these resources back. With the current capabilities, transporting hundreds of kilograms of ore at a time cannot be used in these fields at all," said Xu You.
"Yes, after all, the distance between the earth and the moon is too far, and transporting them back and forth is a very big problem, unless there is a major breakthrough in aerospace technology. In comparison, building a base on the moon may be a more realistic thing."
"Yes, this is indeed our more ideal direction. In addition, I prefer to apply the new type of iron to the aerospace field rather than aircraft carriers. Compared to the sea, the starry sky is a broader field."
At this stage, Xu You’s vision is no longer limited to Earth.
If we can take control of the starry sky, then the competition for various resources on Earth will become meaningless in comparison.
After some discussion, the two began to determine the next research direction.
"I personally think that it is very difficult, if not impossible, to artificially produce this new type of iron. From the existing experimental data, it can be seen that the new type of iron releases a lot of energy when it undergoes a chemical reaction. Even if we have enough ability to prepare it, the cost of the process is extremely high. Experimental production can still be tried, but the application-oriented production like aircraft carrier steel will definitely not meet such conditions."
Xu Zhou’s meaning was very clear. Even if a method to prepare this new type of iron was found, it would still be a better choice to mine minerals directly from the moon.
After a pause, Xu Zhou continued:
"Compared to studying how to prepare new iron, a better research direction for us now is how to make the new iron have better performance."
Hearing Xu Zhou's words, Xu You also nodded.
"We have the same idea. Even though the performance of the new iron exceeds that of all other steels, it does not mean that this is its limit. If we add some other substances to it, it is possible to form an alloy with better performance."
"Yes, I also think that alloy is the ultimate answer. However, it is not easy to get the optimal formula ."
