Only now that he had truly mastered the Grand Unification Formula and pushed his technological level to that of a Strong Core Civilization did Li Qingsong realize just how vastly more powerful it was compared to an Electroweak Civilization.
Although Li Qingsong had yet to master any of the applied technologies of a Strong Core Civilization, this didn't stop him from exploring the possibilities based on his current foundation.
First, there was the matter of energy.
For an Electroweak Civilization, such as Li Qingsong's was before and still was at this moment, the primary energy source was deuterium-tritium fusion.
The energy conversion efficiency of deuterium-tritium fusion is approximately 0.375%. In contrast, protium-protium fusion—that is, the proton-proton chain fusion that only involves ordinary hydrogen—has an energy conversion efficiency as high as 0.7%, nearly double that of deuterium-tritium fusion!
Furthermore, by combining proton-proton chain fusion with deuterium-helium-3 fusion, the energy conversion efficiency could be boosted to over 1%—a threefold increase compared to deuterium-tritium fusion!
Just imagine: what would it mean for a single ship, or an entire fleet, to carry the same mass of fuel but release three times the energy?
Of course, switching from deuterium-tritium fusion to a proton-proton chain and deuterium-helium-3 fusion model would be extremely difficult.
This is because proton-proton chain fusion has extremely high temperature and pressure requirements. Even the core of the Sun, or that of a massive star like the Pegasus V432 Star, cannot meet these conditions.
Now, the type of fusion that occurs in the core of a star like the Sun is indeed proton-proton chain fusion, but this doesn't change the fact that the core's conditions don't actually meet the requirements for it.
This might seem contradictory. Why can proton-proton chain fusion occur if the requirements aren't met?
The reason is quantum tunneling.
At an extremely low probability, a proton within one hydrogen atom can tunnel directly next to a proton in another. When the two protons combine, proton-proton chain fusion occurs.
In other words, the protons don't combine because of sufficient temperature and pressure, but purely due to the probability of quantum tunneling allowing them to fuse.
So, is the probability of quantum tunneling leading to proton-proton chain fusion high?
The answer is no, not at all. In fact, it's extremely low—less than one in a hundred million.
Then why can a star like the Sun maintain such a high rate of fusion?
The answer is simple: it is too big. It contains far too many protons. Even with such a low probability, there will always be a massive number of protons that seemingly "tunnel" for no reason next to others and undergo fusion.
From this point of view, according to conventional theory, stars shouldn't even exist. But the marvel of quantum mechanics allows them to.
This illustrates the difficulty of achieving proton-proton chain fusion.
If the core of such a massive star can't reach the necessary temperature and pressure, how could an intelligent species?
The answer is, once again, simple.
After mastering the Grand Unification Formula, an intelligent civilization can influence the Strong Core Force to alter the strength of various forces within the atomic nucleus. This lowers the difficulty of proton-proton chain fusion, making it a controllable reality.
Furthermore, the main byproduct of conventional proton-proton chain fusion is the neutrino. Over 90% of the energy is carried away by neutrinos, making it impossible to harness.
Likewise, having mastered the Grand Unification Formula, Li Qingsong was confident he could find a way to alter the fusion patterns of Particles, reduce the neutrino byproduct, and thus harness more of the energy.
Although Li Qingsong could not yet achieve any of these concepts, the Grand Unification Formula had already removed the theoretical barriers and pointed the way toward future engineering applications.
Beyond the enormous leap in energy supply, Li Qingsong also saw the future path for ion thrusters.
By influencing and manipulating the Strong Core Force, he would be able to create an electromagnetic acceleration device based on entirely different principles, boosting the speed of the ions ejected by the thruster by tens, or even hundreds, of times.
The reverse thrust produced per unit of propellant is directly proportional to its ejection velocity.
The faster the propellant is ejected, the greater the reverse thrust it generates. In other words, its efficiency is higher.
The change in fusion modes brought a huge increase in energy supply, reaching about three times the previous level.
The increase in propellant ejection velocity brought a massive boost to propellant efficiency, potentially reaching tens of times the previous level.
What did the combination of the two mean?
Obviously: higher cruising speeds!
Li Qingsong was certain this was the reason the Intelligent Mechanical Calamity Fleet could achieve such high speeds.
Mastering the Grand Unification Formula also allowed Li Qingsong to finally understand the principle behind the Intelligent Mechanical Calamity Fleet's Energy Shields—the ones so miraculous they had nearly crushed him.
It, too, was based on the manipulation of the Strong Core Force!
Through a special device—though Li Qingsong didn't yet know its working principles, the Grand Unification Formula predicted its existence—a Strong Core Level civilization could alter matter into a thin layer of gluon-plasma and then coat the surface of a starship.
The different Particles in this layer of gluon-plasma were interconnected by the Strong Core Force. Its strength surpassed even the toughest special fibers Li Qingsong could create, such as the material used for his space elevator.
This was equivalent to fitting a spaceship or any other facility with a suit of super-strong body armor.
Best of all, this layer of magnetically-controlled gluon-plasma could also be conveniently and precisely manipulated.
It could be a seamless, perfect whole, or it could easily open an aperture to allow its own projectiles or other weapons to pass through.
When needed, it could envelop the entire ship in an extremely short time. When not, it could dissipate completely in an instant.
In addition, Li Qingsong found another possibility predicted by the Grand Unification Formula.
Energy Cannons!
Energy Cannons were similar to Electromagnetic Cannons in that they both fired projectiles.
Of course, being based on a more advanced mechanism, the projectiles fired by Energy Cannons were faster.
They also possessed another, even more crucial improvement.
A Strong Core Civilization could also influence the Strong Core Force to place its projectiles into a "Strong Core Excited State" and maintain their stability.
The fundamental reason atomic bombs and Hydrogen Bombs were called nuclear weapons was because their energy came from releasing the Strong Core Force within elementary particles.
After being placed in a Strong Core Excited State, an Energy Cannon's projectile could similarly release a small fraction of the immense energy contained within the Strong Core Force.
From this perspective, a projectile in a Strong Core Excited State, fired from an Energy Cannon, wasn't really a projectile at all. It was, in essence, a type of Super Micro-Nuclear Bomb, albeit a low-efficiency one!
But no matter how small or inefficient, it was still a nuclear bomb.
On one side, you have an ordinary Electromagnetic Cannon Projectile, which is just a bit faster and has a bit more kinetic energy, but ultimately relies on that kinetic energy to inflict damage.
But now, the projectiles used by a Strong Core Civilization were Super Micro-Nuclear Bombs. How could anyone possibly fight that?