A few days later, during lunch, Harry Potter received a Nimbus 2000, inciting envy among the other first-year students.
This gave Gryffindor its youngest Seeker in a century.
Due to Quidditch training, Harry and Ron had less time to cozy up to Hagrid. To earn a new wand, Ron joined Murphy's research group.
However, Ron's math skills were far behind Hermione and Tom's, so he mainly served as a test subject.
Ron actually enjoyed this, as he simply had to follow orders. It was much less taxing than the heavy math Hermione and Tom had to deal with.
Moreover, Murphy promised him a new wand once the research was over.
The next month was busy for the group. Harry had Quidditch training on top of his studies, and Ron had to work as Murphy's test subject every day after school and on weekends. His spellcasting improved rapidly, making him the fastest progressing student in the class after Hermione and Tom.
Hermione and Tom were even busier, managing their studies, wand testing, math learning, and completing group project tasks on topics like ghosts and Legilimency. They were also secretly concerned about the secrets behind the trapdoor.
Tom even had to investigate his own lineage.
Murphy sometimes watched them and felt tired on their behalf. He had never worked this hard during his own school days.
The burden on these students was indeed heavy, but Murphy had no intention of lightening their load.
If you're talented, you have to work harder than others, or else it's a waste of potential.
By mid-October, Murphy had nearly completed his theory on wand principles.
He convened the ninth group meeting.
"Over the past month, we've clarified several things through various experiments."
"First, through tests with and without wands, we confirmed that wands amplify magical power. But we didn't yet understand the mechanism of this amplification."
"Second, by testing the flow of magic around wizards, we discovered the fluidity of magic. That is, magic naturally dissipates when idle, but concentrates according to the wizard's will when needed."
"When casting spells, magic gathers from all over the body to the arm and then fires through the wand."
"Third, following the concept of magic flow, we verified the first mechanism of wands as amplifiers: the Magic Tip Theory."
"Miss Granger suggested, after observing magical creatures, that most of them release magic from a tip, like horned creatures using their horns. This tip helps concentrate magic, increasing its density and strength, thereby enhancing the magic's effects."
"The wand is a man-made magic tip."
"It concentrates a wizard's magic, amplifying it many times over. This concentration also results in magic being emitted as beams or jets, preventing dissipation and greatly extending range."
"This trait is why most wand-cast spells are single-target directional."
"But the Magic Tip Theory doesn't explain non-directional spells, like Apparition, Accio, or Aparecium. After all, spells like Apparition sometimes need to cross tens of kilometers, beyond the range of a wizard's magic."
"So, we proposed the Magic Antenna Theory. This is the second mechanism of the wand amplifier."
"For non-directional spells, we hypothesize they work on an instructive basis: the wizard issues a command, and the world's magic realizes it."
"The command signal to the world's magic—or the 'Magic Net,' as we call it—is emitted through the wand, which acts as a signal amplifier."
"Now, we have two theories about wands: the Magic Tip Theory for directional spells, and the Magic Antenna Theory for non-directional spells."
"Based on these, we can infer the performance of wands."
"According to the Magic Tip Theory, a wand's role is to constrain and concentrate a wizard's magic, increasing its density, strength, range, and precision."
"Here, we can liken a wand to a water pipe or gun barrel, with magic being the water or bullet shot through it."
"Theoretically, the wider the pipe, the more dispersed the water; the narrower, the more concentrated and pressurized."
"But a sudden increase in pressure from the wizard's body to the wand can strain it, potentially shattering it under excessive force."
"Thus, wands typically have a conical structure, thicker at the handle and tapering towards the tip, gradually concentrating the magic."
"For accuracy, the longer the barrel, the more precise the bullet's trajectory. But too long a barrel leads to more energy dissipation and waste."
"There's a balance here."
"On the other hand, according to the Magic Antenna Theory, the wand's role is as a signal emitter and receiver, an amplifier. And magical signals, whatever their form—ether or elemental—are waves."
"Everything in the world is a wave. Magic is no exception."
"We proved this with interference experiments."
"Being waves, they can be described by four physical quantities: wavelength, frequency, amplitude, and wave speed."
"The speed of magical signals is very fast; we haven't reached its limit in our tests but it's likely similar to the speed of light."
"Their frequency and wavelength depend on the strength of the magic; stronger magic has shorter wavelengths and higher frequencies, similar to electromagnetic waves. Amplitude depends on the amount of magic; more energy results in larger amplitude."
"Understanding the similarities between magical signals and electromagnetic waves, we can refer to Muggle technology to design wands."
"Antennas perform best at a quarter of the wavelength."
"Our tests show that with a wizard's magical strength, the emitted signal waves are close to medium or short waves. Stronger wizards have stronger magic and shorter wavelengths, while small wizards' magic approaches medium waves, and average adult wizards fall between short and medium waves, around 100 meters in wavelength."
"If we calculate based on this, wands should be about 25 meters long to be effective."
"Clearly, wands can't be that long, so the longer the better for signal strength."
"In fact, ancient wands were very long."
"Look up 'Wand Development History' in the library, and you'll find that early wands were two-meter-tall staffs."
"They had magical metal cores and precious gems at the tip or core to enhance their power."
"They were not just expensive, but could literally be used as clubs."
"Later, through the efforts of numerous wandmakers, wand cores shifted from magical metals to lighter magical animals and plants, making wands more manageable."
"But this raises a question: how do our current short wands have a signal strength comparable to ancient wands?"
"Muggle antennas don't look long because many use loading techniques, adding inductance coils at certain points to physically shorten the antenna. Sometimes spiral coils are used directly."
"Our dissection revealed a similar structure in wand cores!"
"The wand core is the antenna's wire. After processing, cores like dragon heartstring, phoenix feather, or unicorn hair, usually no more than 15 centimeters long, grow like roots when fused with the wand body, intertwining and significantly extending their length."
"The knots and loops formed by these roots are magical inductance coils, and the numerous parallel roots form an antenna array, greatly enhancing the wand's signal."
"These structural changes allow today's wands to be about a dozen inches long."
"We don't know if wandmakers understand Magic Antenna Theory, but they certainly achieved this technical advancement over generations."
"But we can take their achievements further, using Muggle technology to elevate wand strength to a new level."
"For instance, a wand is like an omnidirectional rod antenna, dispersing signals quickly, limiting range. But what if we make it a directional antenna? Could we achieve transcontinental Apparition or Accio over kilometers?"
"Also, the natural growth of wand cores forms an antenna array, but its chaotic directionality and signal interference, both boosting and canceling effects, weaken signal strength."
"If we control core growth to form a regular antenna array, wand signal strength will significantly increase."
"Next, our research will split into two parts."
"Tom and Hermione, use your recently learned modeling knowledge to design the wand body according to the Magic Tip Theory, analogous to fluid dynamics. And if possible, incorporate some simple antenna designs, like spiral coils."
"I'll handle the directive fusion potion and core structure design."
These two aspects involved advanced potion knowledge and strong modeling and calculation abilities, beyond the two students' current level.
"Professor, what about me?" Ron asked.
"You…" Murphy pondered, struggling to find a task for Ron, "Go make me a cup of tea."
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