The Shadow of Great Britain

51: Chapter 13 The Duke Summons 51: Chapter 13 The Duke Summons As soon as Faraday’s question was out, Arthur immediately sensed that something was amiss.

As a top graduate from the history department of the University of London, he knew virtually nothing about the current advancements in science.

To prevent bringing up a whole bunch of yet-to-be-invented new concepts while explaining the Lorentz force, this time he cleverly employed the dodging and evasive techniques he had honed at Scotland Yard and in the Magistrates’ Courts.

Touching the back of his head and feigning an apologetic look, Arthur began to speak.

“Mr.

Faraday, I apologize for making you misunderstand.

I’m from Yorkshire, so my spoken language doesn’t have the standard London accent.

What I actually meant was not ‘Lorenz’ but ‘Lawrence’.”

Faraday replied in surprise, “Lawrence?

Indeed, the two words do sound quite similar.”

Arthur responded, “Let’s not talk about this for the moment.

Did you get confused by anything else I mentioned when outlining the left-hand rule?”

Faraday recalled briefly, “I don’t think there was anything else.

Concepts like electric charges are quite basic.

And you don’t have such a strong accent when speaking about other things, I heard everything very clearly.”

Hearing this, Arthur finally let out a sigh of relief.

It didn’t matter that there were no electrons, as long as the concept of electric charge existed.

With this reassured foundation, Arthur’s tone also became a lot more relaxed.

“Mr.

Faraday, you should know that ‘Lawrence’ implies laurels and honor.

It also represents my view of the Lawrence force; it appears to exist like honor, but in reality, it may not exist.

Perhaps, it only exists in people’s imaginations.

In other words, I hypothesize that it could exist, but I cannot confirm its existence—it may just be a nominal force.”

Frowning in thought at these words, Faraday pondered aloud, “Are you saying that this so-called Lawrence force is merely your conjecture?”

“Exactly.”

“Then what would be your definition of it?”

Seeing that Faraday and the audience were now thoroughly led by his narrative, Arthur confidently began to dive into evasions.

“May I ask you, how is electric current currently defined by the academic community?”

Without a second’s hesitation, Faraday answered, “Firstly, electric current was proposed by the Italian scientist Galvani.

After a long period of debate, Mr.

Benjamin Franklin discovered positive and negative electric charges in the 1750s.

Since then, following years of discussion, the academic community eventually agreed to define the direction of the movement of positive charges as the movement direction of electric current.”

Upon hearing this, Arthur finally said with a smile, “As you said in your lecture and demonstrated in your experiment, electricity can produce magnetism, and magnetism, in turn, can generate electricity.

And as you ought to know, there is a force exerted between electricity and magnetism.

So, as I watched your experiments, I started to speculate that if the electric current is composed of electric charges, then during the process of magnetism producing electricity, those newly generated charges in motion should also be acted upon by a force.

Ampere’s force is the force that the magnetic field exerts on electric currents, while the Lawrence force I’m talking about is the force experienced by moving charges in a magnetic field.

Although both are forces experienced by electricity, one is from a macroscopic perspective, the other from a microscopic one.”

Upon hearing Arthur’s explanation, Faraday’s eyebrows suddenly furrowed.

He pondered for a moment, then seemed to have an epiphany.

He asked, “So you are suggesting that Ampere’s force might be the resultant of this so-called Lawrence force?”

Arthur nodded, “Indeed, that’s exactly what I mean.”

Touching his forehead, Faraday smiled and said, “I must say, that’s a very interesting conjecture, and it sounds quite logical too.

However, as far as current scientific research is concerned, although we know that electric charges exist, they are merely idealized models we imagine as mass points without volume or shape.

No wonder you refer to this force as the Lawrence force; given the current situation, it truly seems like a laurel and honor that can be felt but not grasped.”

Arthur replied with a smile, “I’m sorry I couldn’t bring any substantial progress.

This is just a little impractical guess of mine.”

As Arthur finished speaking, the Red Devil beside him muttered quietly, “Hey!

Damn it, Arthur, your guess was pretty accurate.”

Although the so-called Lawrence Force was merely a hypothesis, Faraday still didn’t hide his admiration for Arthur.

He smiled and patted Arthur on the shoulder, “Young man, science needs conjecture.

Before anyone proves you wrong, there’s a chance you are right, and nobody can easily dismiss you.

Before I obtained experimental results, many people didn’t believe that electricity could be generated by magnetism, but it can, and that’s the wonder of science.

Maybe one day, the Lawrence Force you speak of will become reality, who knows?

By the way, I have yet to ask for your name.”

Arthur bowed slightly, saying, “Arthur Hastings.”

“Arthur Hastings?” Faraday blinked at the name, then mused, “I seem to have heard this name somewhere before.”

No sooner had he finished speaking than a lady sitting not far away suddenly exclaimed, “Scotland Yard police uniform, gleaming epaulets, named Arthur Hastings, and also very young.

My God!

Could he be the officer Arthur who saved the life of a poor child in the Magistrates’ Court?”

“The officer who was all over the newspapers a short time ago?”

“The embodiment of justice, a role model for the public, Scotland Yard’s finest?”

“Oh!

It might really be him!

Youthful and ambitious, and so knowledgeable, only such a person could persuade the jury and the magistrates.”

In an instant, the once quiet venue was abuzz again.

Everyone began to stand and applaud, both to honor Faraday’s new discovery and to show respect for Arthur’s vast knowledge and past experiences.

Seeing the audience rise to their feet and Arthur, who was slightly blushing but still calm, waving his hand in response, Faraday, the pioneer of electromagnetism, could not help laughing as he spoke.

“Officer Arthur, who says Lawrence stands for laurels and honor?

Look at this standing, applauding audience; your esteemed surname Hastings is the true laurel and honor.

Let’s not call it Lawrence Force anymore; let’s call it Hastings Force.

Even if it’s invisible and intangible, as long as the public recognizes it, your name will forever be set there!”

At these words, Arthur asked in surprise, “Can this really be done?”

“Of course it can,” Faraday said with a smile, offering his hand to Arthur.

“Moreover, I hope you will permit me to cite your two principles in my forthcoming paper to explain them; would you agree to that?”

Arthur looked at Faraday’s outstretched hand and thought for a moment before replying.

“I can agree to your citation, but before that, I hope you can fulfill a request of mine.”

“What request?”

Arthur said earnestly, “To tell you the truth, I actually came here to listen to a lecture on chemistry today.

But…”

Upon hearing this, Faraday laughed heartily, “So that’s what you’re here for; I’m more confident in chemistry than in electromagnetism.

If you want to learn about that, you can find me anytime.

If I’m not here, I’ll surely be in the Royal Society’s lab.

Oh, and I can go and ask the president to get you a Royal Society pass so you can come and go freely within the academy.”

Having said this, Faraday was just about to turn his head to look for the president.

However, just as he turned around, he saw a servant dressed in a dark black suit rushing towards Arthur.

The servant bowed slightly and said to Arthur, “Mr.

Hastings, the Duke of Sussex, President of the Royal Society, requests your presence.”