The dark and long-term light generation is deep, and the smoke and aroma are both deep. I don't know where the people at the beginning are, but I only see that the fire of that year is still there - Luo Yin
Chinese civilization has a long history, leaving too many unsolved mysteries in the inheritance of thousands of years, although science and technology is constantly evolving, but the wisdom of the ancients still impresses us, there are many things that can not be realized until now, including the Changming Lantern in the mausoleum of Qin Shi Huang.
According to ancient books, there is a Changming lantern made of mermaid paste in the mausoleum of Qin Shi Huang, which has not been extinguished for thousands of years, although there is no excavation of the Qin Shi Huang Mausoleum to find the legendary Changming lantern, but the world has appeared to burn for more than hundreds of years.
A real long light
Records of changming lanterns, both in China and Europe, in 527 AD, an army of the Roman Empire opened an ancient tomb, and when they opened the tomb, there was an oil lamp that kept burning, which surprised them.
Perhaps out of fear, or perhaps to cover up something, the Roman Empire generals at that time personally destroyed this changming lamp, and later according to research, this changming lamp was built 500 years ago, that is, it continued to burn for more than 500 years.
So can the long lamp really not be extinguished for thousands of years?
To maintain continuous combustion, three conditions must be met: respectively, combustibles, temperature and oxygen, about combustibles, the combustibles used in Changming lamps are different from traditional lamps, although many ancient books record that ancient Changming lamps were made of mermaid paste, but mermaids are legendary after all, not true, because until now no evidence of the existence of any mermaid has been found.
More reliable lamp oil is still a whale paste mentioned in an ancient book, whale paste is indeed a very suitable fuel for making lamp oil, according to calculations, a ton or so of whale paste can continue to burn for 14 years, theoretically, as long as the whale paste is enough, the long lamp can burn for thousands of years.
In addition, there are many alternatives to combustibles, but only oxygen has become the key point for the existence of Changming lamps, to know that ancient tombs are buried deep in the ground, how to ensure the oxygen required for the thousands of years of burning of Changming lamps.
At the beginning, many experts around the world devoted themselves to the study of changming lanterns, but as the research continued to deepen, basically everyone chose to give up, except for an American physics teacher named Simon Chang, who devoted himself to the study of changming lanterns, and he finally found the answer.
The secret of the long lamp
As one of the world's unsolved mysteries, the long lamp is not so easy to crack, Simon also spent a full 31 years to finally find the secret of the long lamp, he made a lamp that can burn for more than 50 hours, on the basis of abandoning modern technology products, this is already a historic breakthrough.
So how did Simon's long lamp achieve such a long burning time, and then Simon published his research results.
First of all, Simon clearly pointed out that the so-called Changming lantern in the tomb is not always burning, when the tomb is closed, the Changming lamp will gradually extinguish with the exhaustion of oxygen in the tomb, but because of the existence of special organs, so the tomb is opened again, the Changming lamp will immediately burn again, which is the secret of the Changming lamp, just like returning home will turn on the light, the Changming lamp in the ancient tomb will only be lit when the door is opened.
Secondly, in order to ensure that the lanterns in the tomb are easier to ignite, Simon proposed to replace the general combustibles with yellow phosphorus, and many materials in the traditional sense must reach a sufficient temperature to ignite, but yellow phosphorus is different, yellow phosphorus only needs 40 degrees to ignite.
When the tomb is opened, oxygen will quickly enter the tomb, the yellow phosphorus wick will produce an oxidation reaction when in contact with oxygen, the oxidation reaction will make the temperature of the yellow phosphorus itself reach 40 degrees, so that the lamp will soon be ignited; although Simon's statement still has many loopholes, it is already the most reliable statement about the lamp.
Of course, in addition to Simon's theory, there are many speculations about the long light, which are also waiting for further proof.
Different long lights
In Western European countries, the speculation about the long lamp has another direction, that is, the lamp is not a dead thing, but a living thing, in nature can use their own luminous organisms are very many, such as insects in the fireflies, lanternfish in the sea, etc., they can produce light without the help of fuel and combustibles, especially fireflies.
Insects are one of the most tenacious and most fertile species in nature, and there are many examples of the use of fireflies for illumination in ancient times, so whether the long lamp can be made of insects such as fireflies, there is theoretically such a possibility.
First of all, the insects' demand for oxygen is not high, so they are fully able to survive and reproduce in such an environment as the tomb, even if the insects need oxygen and nutrients, they can be absorbed through the soil around the tomb, so that they can ensure that there is always light in the tomb for thousands of years.
But this statement also has its loopholes, that is, how to control fireflies, if there is really a large number of fireflies in the tomb, it is difficult for them to stay in the tomb honestly, and it is very likely to leave the tomb through the soil.
And in the mainland there is another hypothesis, that is, there are bubbles in the combustibles, some people speculate that in the production process of lamp oil will produce countless bubbles, whenever the lamp burns to a certain extent, the bubbles in the fuel will be released, and provide a part of the oxygen for combustion, as long as the planning is reasonable, then the bubbles in the fuel can continuously provide oxygen, so as to ensure that the lamp can continue to burn.
If the above theories are based on modern science and ancient technology, then it is not possible to consider another possibility, that is, the ancients have mastered a level of technology far beyond the currently known archaeological discoveries.
Ancient contact with alien civilizations have always existed, if this statement is true, then the alien civilization is likely to leave their own lighting system, such as electricity, nuclear energy, etc., in theory, as long as the power supply is sufficient, and will not be damaged by the external lighting system can be maintained for a long time lighting, if there is really a similar technology products appear, then the existence of long lights is also understandable, but there is no similar discovery in archaeology.
Considering the current level of science and technology, the mainland has suspended the archaeological work of many ancient tombs, and whether there is really a Changming lantern in the mausoleum of Qin Shi Huang is also an unknown, which means that many speculations are possible, and some novels have carried out various conjectures about the Changming lantern, such as the night pearl, some animals, etc. Before the official archaeological discovery, these speculations can not be vetoed, and perhaps the archaeological discovery will also make our technology reach a new height.