429 Being A Teacher (2/2)

Annick's face slightly flushed. ”Mr. Evans, I've been studying electron as well. Since free electrons are the cause of gas discharge, I wonder if the electric current is caused by electrons as well.”

”Interesting. Go on.” Lucien slowed down his pace and walked with Annick side by side. The other apprentices were also looking at Annick curiously.

It was a rare experience for Annick to attract so much attention, so he got a bit nervous. ”I've been trying to design an experiment to prove it, but my knowledge in Electromagnetics is too shallow, so I could not find a way out. I-I then turned to some of the books by Mr. Brook, including Electromagnetics and his most recent papers, and his paper discussing the surprising result of the photoelectric effect experiment inspired me.”

”So you've figured this out?” Asked Lucien, feeling a bit amused. Obviously, Brook had great faith in his quantum theory, which had been forgotten by most arcanists. Right now most arcanists were directly using the thermal radiance equation without giving any thoughts to why it works.

Annick hurriedly shook his head. ”No, no… There's no way that I can figure out something that has been able to bother Mr. Brook for so long. I was inspired because the paper showed that, when casting a certain frequency of light on a piece of metal, there were electric currents. As a piece of metal itself does not carry any electricity, and light cannot be converted into electric currents, then what created the currents?

”If it's like what I assumed… that an electric current is related to electrons, does it mean that the projection of light makes the piece of metal carry electrons? If the answer is yes, does it prove, from the other way around, that an electron is part of the inner structure of an atom?” Explained Annick.

”Good, very good. A very daring hypothesis…” Lucien was generous with his compliments, ”So the next step is to prove it. You will need a carefully-designed experiment to show that the photoelectric effect produces electrons.”

Hearing the encouraging words, Annick's face turned into a red, ripe apple. He nodded hard. ”I… I'll try my best.”

Annick was not afraid of Mr. Evans stealing his idea, as Mr. Evans was always surrounded by the highest awards in different fields: He had won Holm Crown prize and Immortal Throne, and he was going to win Arcana Scepter.

There was no way that a teacher like Mr. Evans would steal his student's idea.

Also, as Mr. Evans was present, the rest of the apprentices would not dare to put their hands upon it, unless Annick invited them, or he gave up upon the project on his own.

The rest of the apprentices more or less envied and had some dark thoughts flashing past. But seeing Mr. Evans's warm smile, they quickly drove the dark thoughts away.

”Soon you'll all be real sorcerers…” Lucien paused a bit on purpose, and continued when the apprentices' face lit up, ”… but don't think that you do not need to study hard anymore after that. On the contrary, more profound knowledge is waiting for you. To get you all more prepared for the future study after becoming sorcerers, I've prepared many sets of calculus and math analysis exercises.”

The lovely smile on the apprentices' face suddenly disappeared.

”Also, I will turn the contents from the school of Electromagnetics, Light-darkness, Force Field, Thermodynamics, Element, Alchemy, Illusion, Astrology, Transformation, Necromancy into basic modules and exercises. So you guys can learn better,” said Lucien.

Summoning was not Lucien's strength, and he was not planning on delving into it any sooner.

The apprentices were now very dispirited. Heidi murmured to herself,

”May I'm not in a hurry to promote…”

......

After the apprentices left, Lucien's villa had a new visitor.

”Mr. Evans, my teacher, Mr. Douglas, wants to invite you to his demiplane to talk about artificial planets,” said the young man not even in his thirties.

He had the typical black hair and blue eyes of Holms and was wearing a monocle. The young man with fine features looked gracious and gentle, but the badges in front of his chest clearly showed that he was a level-six arcanist and eighth circle sorcerer, as well as the member of the Affair Committee.

Is it about to begin?

Lucien has some unreal feeling in his mind.