Chapter 103 - 81: Heat Source (2)
Miao Shian put on his glasses and looked at Chen Zhuo and Lin Yi.
Lin Yi sat down.
The system was right in front of her.
The black semiconductor cooling chip lay flat on a soaked paper towel.
Red and black wires were connected to it.
The other end of the wires was connected to a breadboard.
The transparent red LED was plugged into the breadboard.
"Put both hands on it."
Chen Zhuo pointed to the black ceramic chip.
"Cover it completely. Leave no gaps."
Lin Yi glanced down at the square black chip.
Then she looked at the white paper towel underneath, which was still seeping water.
She didn’t ask what it was.
Nor did she ask what placing her hands on it would do.
She reached out with both hands.
"Palms down, flat against it," Chen Zhuo added.
Lin Yi followed his instructions.
She pressed the palm of her right hand against the ceramic chip.
The size was a perfect fit.
It was a little cool; the moisture from below was conducting the temperature upward.
Then, she placed her left hand on top of her right.
"Don’t press too hard," Chen Zhuo said, watching her. "Just make sure it’s snug. Find a comfortable position and hold still."
Lin Yi adjusted the angle of her arms.
She pulled her chair a little closer.
Her elbows spread apart, resting securely on the wooden tabletop.
Then, she relaxed her shoulders.
Her neck went limp as she rested her chin directly on the back of her stacked hands.
The weight of her head on the back of her hands provided a stable, even, and gently yielding downward pressure.
This ensured her palm made perfect, seamless contact with the ceramic chip.
After doing all this,
Lin Yi closed her eyes.
She nuzzled her chin against the back of her hand, finding the most comfortable angle.
Everyone around them was stunned.
Wang Huashao stood with his mouth agape, the hand towel still clutched in his fist.
Zhou Kai’s gaze darted back and forth between Lin Yi and the breadboard.
Chen Zhuo didn’t look at the others.
He picked up the scissors on the table and snipped the red and black connecting wire, which was damp with cold sweat.
He stripped a new section of the copper core, its lacquer scraped clean.
He reinserted it into a slot on the breadboard.
"Shian."
Chen Zhuo called out.
Miao Shian reacted instantly.
He picked up the multimeter from the table.
Without asking a single question, he pressed the red and black probes directly onto the two pins of the light-emitting diode.
His eyes were glued to the LCD screen.
Time passed, second by second.
One second.
Two seconds.
The heat from Lin Yi’s palm began to conduct into the ceramic chip.
There was no sweat to act as a barrier.
No interference from the sympathetic nervous system.
Her dry skin was in direct contact with the semiconductor material.
Heat spread downward through the crystal lattice.
The bottom of the ceramic chip was pressed tightly against the paper towel soaked in cold water.
Water molecules continuously evaporated at room temperature.
An aluminum alloy base plate rapidly stabilized the temperature of the paper towel.
The temperature at the bottom was locked into a constant low value.
A hot source and a cold source.
An incredibly perfect separation was created between the top and bottom of the semiconductor cooling chip.
The temperature gradient curve shot up instantly.
Three seconds.
The Seebeck effect occurred between the P-type and N-type semiconductors.
Charge carriers on the hot side gained energy and began to diffuse toward the cold side.
The movement of electrons and holes established a weak potential difference across the red and black wires.
Four seconds.
On the screen of the multimeter in Miao Shian’s hand, the number jumped.
0.08 became 0.35.
Then 0.62.
Current flowed along the wire and surged into the crude breadboard.
It flowed through the hand-wound green magnetic ring.
It flowed through the resistor that cost a few cents.
It flowed through the most common NPN-type transistor.
Five seconds.
The magnetic flux inside the ring began to change dramatically.
The change in current in the primary coil induced a voltage in the secondary coil.
The positive feedback network was established instantly.
The transistor entered a high-frequency state of saturation and cutoff.
The oscillation began.
The frequency exceeded tens of kilohertz.
The numbers on the multimeter began to climb wildly.
1.2.
1.8.
2.1.
Six seconds.
Inside the transparent light-emitting diode.
The PN junction on the semiconductor wafer.
Driven by the electric field, electrons and holes crossed the depletion layer.
At the moment of recombination, they released their excess energy in the form of photons.
A faint red glow flashed within the transparent resin casing.
Like an ember fanned to life in a pile of ash.
Seven seconds.
The number on the multimeter broke through the diode’s forward voltage threshold.
2.45.
2.62.
2.68.
The number stopped there.
It no longer jumped or fell.
The red light erupted.
No flickering.
No struggling between light and dark.
A piercing, pure red light burst forth from the tiny LED bead.
The light pierced the transparent plastic shell, shining on the surrounding breadboard and the intricate web of thin wires.
It cast a red halo on the wooden surface of the workbench.
Wang Huashao’s mouth slowly closed. His Adam’s apple bobbed.
Eight seconds.
The light remained stable.
There was no sign of decay.
The high-frequency oscillating circuit was running at its perfect operating point.
It continuously converted the biological heat from Lin Yi’s body into electrical energy.
Nine seconds.
Ten seconds.
The rules on the big screen required it to be lit for ten seconds.
They had done it.
The light didn’t go out.
Chen Zhuo said nothing.
Miao Shian didn’t remove the probes.
They just watched.
Fifteen seconds.
Thirty seconds.
One minute.
The red LED was like it had been welded into the ’on’ position.
Its brightness didn’t diminish in the slightest.
The voltage reading on the multimeter remained steady at 2.68 volts, as if etched onto the screen.
The system’s thermal equilibrium had been perfectly broken and reshaped.
Lin Yi remained in her position.
Her body was a massive, self-regulating, constant-temperature source.