“I will investigate Fuelstone Tone Mag, a mysterious substance that is close at hand and inexplicable, and can be examined in Telek Port City!”
About a week after arriving in Telek Port City, Asahi declared that.
Up to now she had been moving around however she pleased, but it seemed she had decided that she had to produce some kind of results.
If it were Commander Sister, she would probably tell her not to worry and to spend her time however she liked, but it seems that doing nothing but fooling around made her conscience sting.
“What we know so far is that it generates heat when pressure is applied, and that its mass decreases as it generates heat. In other words, it produces heat while consuming mass!”
It seems <Ringo> also investigated Fuelstone to some extent, but left it alone without examining the detailed conditions.
To be precise, it seems more accurate to say she was bewildered, because the scientific approach was failing too badly.
“The constituent elements are unknown! It is a mysterious substance!”
Since contact was possible, it existed as a material substance. However, no matter what approach was taken, it seemed that no scientifically explainable element matched it.
More precisely, depending on the method of approach, the identified element differed.
Even if one test judged it to be carbon, another test would produce iron.
And it seems that even with the same test, the determination result could change.
“It really is a mysterious fantasy substance!”
First, she conducted additional tests on its physical properties.
That it generated heat when pressure was applied could be confirmed by actually clamping it in a vise.
The amount of heat generated stayed constant for a while. After that, the heat output gradually dropped, and it stopped generating heat.
During heat generation, its mass decreased at a constant rate.
If the applied pressure was adjusted, the heat output also changed. Basically, it seemed proportional to the integrated value of the pressure.
If the crystal was small, it would generate heat and eventually vanish completely.
The smaller the fragment, the faster the disappearance speed became. However, since the heat output was proportional to the applied pressure, the smaller it was, the more easily it disappeared—meaning that its heating efficiency seemed worse.
“Hmm... I don’t really understand it, but pressure, heat generation, and disappearance speed all seem to depend on mass. And the results aren’t changing every time we do it, so this result seems reliable!”
Unlike the investigation of constituent elements, the results did not change with each verification. Just confirming that was a major step forward.
“The larger the crystal, the slower the speed of mass disappearance. The heat output doesn’t change. In other words, the larger the crystal, the better the efficiency. Science can’t explain it, but let’s just accept that it’s like this! Honestly, <Ringo> needs to accept things as they are, too!”
Asahi continued her verification while casually insulting <Ringo>.
At this point, eight hours had passed since she started testing.
She was still full of energy.
Next, she exposed Fuelstone to flame.
When she shoved a fragment into the flame of a gas burner, she confirmed that it also generated heat and then disappeared.
“Hmm, so if you burn it, it generates heat the same way as when you apply pressure?”
After various tests, she learned that giving it heat would start heat generation.
Basically, in proportion to the amount of heat given, the heat output and duration of heat generation were determined. This was the same as pressure.
“If you feed additional Fuelstone to Fuelstone while it’s generating heat, you can use it so it keeps generating heat one after another. Well, let’s understand that part as similar to ordinary fuel.”
Giving it heat did not require roasting it with flame. Heating it with microwaves or laser light also worked fine. It also seemed fine to soak it in high-temperature oil.
“Hmm, does this generate heat even underwater?”
Underwater, she clamped it in a vise and applied pressure.
“...Oh? It doesn’t generate heat.”
After trying several times, she confirmed that it was generating a tiny amount of heat. The water temperature rose slightly.
“Hmm. Underwater it’s harder to generate heat. It doesn’t seem to be simply that the water is stealing the heat, either.”
After repeated measurements, she confirmed that the heat output was less than about one-hundredth compared to in air. More precisely, she confirmed a value of 1/121.13.
“Is that some kind of constant? I checked the library, but there’s no corresponding number. It’s either a Fuelstone-specific value, or something related to magic. For now, I’ll just record it.”
Because the equipment she was currently using could only measure to two decimal places, she decided to confirm this on another occasion.
“It generated heat in oil without any problem, but maybe water is what matters?”
When it was submerged halfway, the heat output became about half.
From the measurements, she found that the portion in the water had its heat output reduced to 1/121.
“Just getting it wet doesn’t work. It seems that unless it has a certain amount of mass, it won’t be judged as being submerged in water.”
Continuing measurement confirmed that it applied when the mass was heavier than the amount of Fuelstone mass judged to be submerged. More precisely, it seemed that the water surface in contact was the reference.
The judgment of the water surface depended on the state of the water in contact. For example, if three droplets were attached, it seemed that the plane connecting the surfaces farthest from the droplets’ center of mass was judged as the water surface.
She was also interested in what would happen in a zero-gravity state, but she could measure that on another occasion.
These ◆ Nоvеlіgһt ◆ (Only on Nоvеlіgһt) results were the same even with ice, and even after freezing it while submerged halfway, the same result was confirmed.
Simply pressing ice against it did not confirm the phenomenon, but when heat generation melted the ice contact surface, suppression by water occurred. There seemed to be no distinction between ice and water, and the contact area seemed to be important. If there was air in between, it seemed that the judgment of being submerged in water was not made.
“Metal or oil in between doesn’t work either. It seems that the state of being in contact with water is what matters.”
After that, she tried various liquids other than water, such as silicone oil and alcohol, and also various aqueous solutions such as seawater.
As a result, she learned that moisture, as a component, was what mattered.
“Hmm. Even if there are impurities mixed in, if water is the main component, it seems to be judged as water.”
If the impurity content other than water exceeded about 25%, it seemed that it would no longer be judged as water.
“It might be unexpected that it’s not 50%.”
Whether 25% was exactly 25% was unknown due to the accuracy of the equipment, so she decided to investigate that in detail on another occasion.
“With alcohol of about 30% strength, it’s not judged as water. What is this—fantasy-wise, is it judged as alcohol rather than water?”
It was not that heat suppression was performed depending on the amount of water contained. In any case, when it came into contact with an aqueous solution that was 75% or more water, a fixed heat suppression effect seemed to occur.
It was a mysterious phenomenon, but she had no choice but to accept it as simply how it worked.
Now, next was the verification of whether Fuelstone could be cut.
“I was able to scratch it with a hard cutting bit.”
When she rubbed it with a machine-tool cutting bit, scratches formed on the surface.
At the same time, a slight amount of heat was generated.
“It can be cut, but it also generates heat. Hmm, is that judged the same as applying pressure?”
She repeated experiments while measuring the area of the blade tip.
It looked like less than the pressure being applied, but it did seem certain that heat was being generated due to pressure.
“Well, the fact that it can be cut is good news. Is its hardness about the same as quartz? Since cutting makes it generate heat and lose mass, if we process it, we need to calculate that in. If we process it underwater, it seems like we can process it fairly freely!”
At this point, thirty hours had passed since she started verification.
As expected, it was too much, and <Ringo> personally lodged a complaint, so for the rest of her Brain Unit, Asahi ended up taking a short sleep.
