Murphy handed over the Goblin metal smelting technology to the Magic Research Institute.
They had been grappling with a long-standing issue: the compatibility between magic and technology products.
As is well known, an environment rich in magic can cause precision technological devices to fail, a phenomenon Murphy had experienced firsthand at Hogwarts. This could be a significant obstacle on Murphy's path to integrating science and magic.
If science and magic were fundamentally incompatible, there would be no point in discussing their integration.
Fortunately, early research had ruled out the possibility of a "conceptual conflict" between the two. The failure of technology in a magic-rich environment is likely due to the interference caused by fluctuations in magic.
To this end, Holden believed that the essence of this conflict might be the "possibility expansion effect" of magic, making electronic devices unstable. Designs that should not leak electricity do, and components that should conduct electricity become insulators, etc. The more precise the electronic device, the more susceptible it is to this disturbance.
For example, microchips, after over a year of development by the Umbrella Corporation, have achieved a minimum process size of 0.1 microns. A single field-effect transistor is so small it can only be seen under a microscope, and altering such a tiny circuit's state is much easier than changing the state of a standard macroscopic circuit.
This is the inevitable result under the "magic probability payment hypothesis."
To ensure precision technology products, like microchips, remain stable in a magical environment, scientists proposed two solutions.
One is the magic isolation scheme, where some scientists believe a magic-isolating material can be designed, similar to anti-electromagnetic interference designs, to isolate magic disturbances.
The second is the magic substitution scheme. This group of scientists, quite radical in their views, believes that isolating magic goes against the goal of integrating science and magic. Since magic can influence electricity, why not operate in reverse and directly replace electricity with magic to power technological creations?
In fact, this approach is quite feasible. They had already discovered many technological creations could be powered by magic, although devices powered by magic often undergo unexpected changes, like cars becoming capable of autopilot or adding ejector seats – even if such features were not intended by the designers.
Controlling magic to operate according to the designers' intentions is the challenge of this approach.
To this end, they were trying to use enchantment rituals developed by the Weasley twins to control magic, and Goblin metal seemed very compatible with this route.
The Magic Research Institute had accumulated a lot of experience in magic research. Two weeks after Murphy sent the Goblin metal smelting scheme, they had completed the analysis of the technical route.
"Goblin metal mainly comes in three types," Holden showed Murphy several metal ingots.
"Copper forged with magic is called mountain copper, silver is called mithril, and gold is called fine gold. These have appeared in ancient legends, some not forged by goblins but indeed the same substance as Goblin metal."
"The good enchantability of the Goblin coins we've used is because their base material is fine gold."
"However, our research found that this magic forging method can act not only on metals like copper, silver, and gold but also on iron, aluminum, magnesium, and other metals, even non-metallic substances like carbon and silicon can undergo unique changes under the influence of magic."
"This might be the essence behind the magical glow of gems. We are delving deeper into this..."
"Back to Goblin metal, its manufacturing method is quite simple, essentially involving the smelting and doping of metals with magic," explained Holden. "It's very similar to electric furnace steelmaking in metallurgy, where metals are melted and burned by a rapidly changing magical field. Different magical attributes forge metals that result in specific crystal cells, causing great variations in their permeability to different attributes and frequencies of magic."
"This metal has a very high affinity for magic and can easily be endowed with specific magical properties."
"Being able to add magic isn't anything special, but being able to add specific magical properties is very useful. Combined with enchantment rituals and magic-blocking materials, we can create magic circuits that only produce certain magical effects and are less susceptible to interference from other magics."
Murphy nodded, understanding why he valued Goblin metal, "Can this be used to design magic chips?"
The ultimate goal of the magic substitution scheme, naturally, is chips, the pinnacle of precision manufacturing, which could be powered by magic instead of electricity.
"In theory, it's possible, but our research on magic-doped materials is just beginning, and finding the right material will require a lot of experimentation."
Murphy nodded, "Let me know what you need."
Now, with Gringotts at his disposal, Murphy's Muggle and wizarding finances were thoroughly interconnected. Aside from needing to ensure not to disrupt the wizarding world's fragile economy, there were virtually no limits to what could be achieved with money.
"The biggest issue with metal smelting now is a stable source of magic," Holden said.
"Currently, magic smelting still requires manual operation by wizards, and the fluctuation in manually inputted magic makes it difficult to precisely control the properties of magical metals."
"In fact, this is one of the reasons for the inconsistency in the quality of Goblin metals. A Goblin craftsman's skill is largely reflected in their ability to control the stability of magic during smelting."
"Using magical creatures or wizard blood to make magical potions as a source of magic faces the problems of too little magic and decay, making it unsuitable for large-scale production."
Murphy was aware of this issue, but it seemed all known sources of magic were biological in nature.
"Perhaps... the Philosopher's Stone?"
Murphy thought of a possibility.
He had pondered the abilities of the Philosopher's Stone before. Its miraculous ability to transmute base metals into gold implied a powerful energy conversion function, possibly making it a vast source of magic.
Thinking of this, Murphy felt frustrated with Dumbledore.
Damn, that old man really hindered progress.
But fortunately, he had obtained Nicolas Flamel's alchemy materials. Without the Philosopher's Stone, couldn't he just make one himself?
Speaking of which, although those materials had been sorted, he hadn't had the chance to study them properly.
Even the Elixir of Life, hard won, hadn't been consumed but was given to Snape and the institute for testing and research.
Snape was also responsible for researching and manufacturing the Philosopher's Stone. Murphy wondered how far he had progressed.
Perhaps it was time to visit the new headmaster at Hogwarts.
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