Chapter 181: [Age of the Sun]

"Sometimes it is really fast." Ma Shao thought for a moment.

"It's incredible that you wrote a nearly perfect paper in such a short time." Thomson read it carefully and couldn't help but sigh again.

"Thank you for putting my name first. Frankly, after reading your paper, I am a little ashamed…"

After a pause, he hesitated and said, "I feel that even without the discussion just now, you can establish a complete thermodynamic temperature scale on your own."

Ma Shao: "Professor Thomson, you inspired me, not just just now, but also your research results in the past few years have deeply inspired me, just like Joule, Carnot, and Rumford."

"In comparison, writing this paper is more like hard work. All achievements in the world are derived from 99% perspiration and 1% inspiration, but the 1% inspiration is often more important."

Thomson's expression changed slightly, as if he was thinking about what he said, and then he smiled: "Ninety-nine percent perspiration and one percent inspiration... I like this sentence!"

"Today's work is over. Mr. Ma Shao, please come to my house and have a seat. I think we have a lot to talk about regarding the new thermodynamics."

Ma Shao: "I'd love to."

The two left the University of Glasgow and went to Thomson's house.

Ma Shao met Thomson's parents, or to be precise, his father, as Thomson's mother had died more than ten years ago.

Old Thomson was an old professor of mathematics who was knowledgeable and kind.

Obviously, Thomson was able to grow into a genius that everyone admired, on the one hand because of his extraordinary talent, and on the other hand because of his father's good teaching.

In the opinion of Ma Shao, an education practitioner, the latter is more important.

Professional education can even allow gorillas to learn sign language and communicate with humans, not to mention turning ordinary people into geniuses.

Of course, the opposite is also true - stupid education can turn a genius into an ordinary person, or even turn a person into a gorilla.

At first, Thomson's father was naturally surprised and had a hint of disgust at Ma Shao's arrival.

But because of the common language of mathematics and physics, old Thomson soon became as comfortable talking to Ma Shao as his son, and put aside the second-hand prejudices he had acquired from public opinion.

Ma Shao talked a lot with the father and son, including some serious mathematics and physics problems, as well as some less serious ones.

"How old do you think the sun is?" Thomson asked this seemingly fantastical question at the dinner table.

"Maybe only God knows." Old Thomson said casually while eating a piece of bread.

Thomson added: "After reading the papers of Joule and Ma Shao, I recently thought about this problem. I think the energy used by the sun to burn may be converted from the potential energy of gravity."

Old Thomson: "Why can't it be chemical combustion?"

Thomson blurted out: "It can't be chemical combustion. If the sun burns coal, it will burn out in a few thousand years at most."

"The gravitational potential energy on the solar scale is indeed much larger than the chemical energy," said Ma Shao.

Thomson's eyes lit up: "You also think that the energy of the sun comes from potential energy?"

Ma Shao was silent for two seconds.

The sun's energy certainly comes from nuclear energy, but people knew nothing about nuclear energy at that time.

At this time, the most powerful source of energy that scientists can think of is the gravity of the sun. It is indeed very powerful, at least much stronger than burning coal - many people really think that the sun is burned by coal.

But compared with nuclear energy, this is still a seriously underestimate.

"I think the sun has other ways to obtain energy," said Ma Shao.

"In what way?"

Ma Shao shook his head: "I don't know, it's just a hunch. I estimated that the conversion of the sun's gravitational potential energy into heat energy can last for tens of millions of years, but I feel that this time is a bit short, so I suspect that the sun has some other way of obtaining energy that we don't know about."

"Are tens of millions of years still short?" Old Thomson said with a smile, "Many people believe that the sun is only 6,000 years old, especially those in the church."

Ma Shao: "I read some articles about geology. Some geologists estimate that the Earth may be hundreds of millions of years old. The Sun should be older than the Earth, at least hundreds of millions of years, or even billions of years old."

"Of course, this is more of my wishful thinking." He changed the subject and said, "Science is about evidence. We can make as many conclusions as there is evidence."

After a pause, Ma Shao continued, "Therefore, William, I agree with your theory. This is a reasonable explanation - the energy of the sun comes from gravitational potential energy."

Old Thomson: "Yes, evidence is the most important."

Thomson thought for a moment and said, "Ma Shao, do you think the calculation of the sun's age is still there?"

Ma Shao: "It's gone. I just made a few random calculations on a scrap of paper. I might have made a mistake."

He never calculated it at all.

He just knew about this period of scientific history, which is how scientists first estimated the age of the sun.

If he remembered correctly, Kelvin also played an important role in this history.

This now appears to be the case, and Thomson has shown a keen interest in the issue.

"I think we should take a serious look at this question and try to figure out how the sun gets its energy and what its most likely age is," Thomson said. "It's an important question."

Ma Shao nodded: "It is undeniable that this is at least an interesting question."

So for a period of time afterwards, estimating the age of the sun became the main work of him and Thomson.

They proposed several models in succession, and the calculated age of the sun increased from 20 million years at the beginning to 500 million years at the end.

The reason for such a long span is mainly because Ma Shao repeatedly emphasized that "the sun should be older." After Thomson proposed the model, he modified and supplemented the assumptions many times to extend the life of the sun in the theory.

Despite this, after 500 million years, the two could no longer continue.

"It can't be any older." Thomson frowned as he held the manuscript. "We have fully considered the energy of gravity and meteorites. Five hundred million years is the limit. This should be the maximum age of the sun."

Ma Shao nodded: "Okay, but I still think the sun should be older..."

"…"

After a while, he said, "Let's publish several models and results."

"Okay." Thomson nodded.

The two men organized their assumptions and calculation process into a paper, and Ma Shao once again put Thomson's name before his own.

Looking at the two names in the author column, Thomson was silent for a while.

Ma Shao: "What?"

Thomson said slowly: "I have never really believed that humility is a virtue... until I met a truly humble person."