The art of SCIENCE!

[allegedprisoner]

Sender: L. Balsa
To: Everyone
Subject: A potential solution

Good afternoon, everyone. As some of you may be aware, a kind of crystal that powers appliances has been discovered. In its current state it seems rather inefficient, as one must provide the crystal a steady source of strong dreammotion energy to keep it charged.

But what if you only had to give it one strong burst?

In the past, I believe I had a fascination with perpetual motion. While this is allegedly impossible due to the first and second laws of thermodynamics, but I don't think that will be much of a problem in these conditions. Allow me to explain through diagrams.
[ Here he sketches out a rough draft. It looks like some weird fusion of a tesla coil, a water wheel, and whatever this is. ]


The machine you see here requires only a single crystal, preferably spherical in shape. Hypothetically, as I have said, you would only need to provide a single burst of dreammotion energy to propel the crystal forwards. This will make the wheel turn, and as the crystal is already energized, the wheel should remain in motion and generate a decent amount of power for your home or business. I realize this is not true perpetual motion, but it should solve our electrical woes.

A special thanks to
[ There's a pause in writing. ]
Ms. Zelda for gifting me that crystal for Christmas. It has proved instrumental for my research. I've already made several prototypes for testing, so if anyone is willing to provide devices or appliances to experiment with I would greatly appreciate it. I'll even repair any damage that may occur in the process.

Comments

Sender: Otto Octavius

[sciencesquid]

[Two days in this world, and at last, Otto comes across something that makes sense. Relatively. The 'dreamotion' aspect of it rubs him the wrong way, but the theory behind it is sound. He knows it well. Never worked on a grander scale, unfortunately.]

How do you plan to convert the kinetic energy of the perpetual motion into electrical energy? Is there a generator involved?

[allegedprisoner]

Technically speaking, this is the generator. The first part of it, anyway. I'm thinking the wheel itself could function as a rotor and build it into either a dynamo or an alternator- Whichever one would prove more useful in this world.

This is all in theory, of course, hence the experiments.

Sender: Jiang Cheng

[legbreakings]

[ Here comes a reply from someone who knows almost nothing about modern technology and absolutely nothing about how it works, except... ]

Does it let you use the cold box?

[ Not electric lights or indoor plumbing, no, it is the fridge that has left a lasting impression on him while encountering it before. ]

[allegedprisoner]

[ It takes Luca a moment to figure out what this person is trying to ask. ]

I'm assuming you're talking about the icebox? Those require electricity to function, so yes.

How did you manage to get your hands on one, by the by?

[legbreakings]

I was taken to a different place before. It had all kinds of gadgets from the future. Light and warmth and running hot water. I found most of it useless but the cold box was useful.

You can store food in it. Or corpses, I guess.

[sciencesquid]

[Oop, he should've specified he meant a turbine generator. But it's fine.]

Ideally, you would want an alternator. A three phase alternating current is more energy-efficient, as it allows for a higher charge rate. Aside from that, an alternator is more durable. It does have a greater risk of overheating, though in modest household usage, that shouldn't be a problem. The grander issue would be that you will need rectifier diodes to convert the alternating current back to direct current.

If you've been preparing for experiments, I assume you already have all the materials, yes?

[allegedprisoner]

I'll keep those in mind, thank you Mr. Octavius.

More or less. I happen to be on good terms with the local hat maker, who graciously lets me use his workspace in exchange for attending his tea parties. Brilliant fellow, that man. Built some incredible machines himself, inner workings and all.

Besides that, I've been working on this project for [ How long was it? Did this place have a calendar? This place needs one... ] a few months now. Why do you ask?

[allegedprisoner]

Fascinating! The last place I've been wasn't nearly as advanced, but I have meet a few people from the future who have described the technology from their world. For instance, did you know they will develop wireless telephones that fit in the palm of your hand?

[ If Luca was dropped in a modern setting, he would surely adapt to the technology in the span of a few weeks. ]

Corpses? Are you a mortician?

[legbreakings]

No, but you never know when you might need to store a corpse. Not that I ever kept one. We stored our food in the box, that would have been disgusting.

We had these "mobile phone" objects in the place I was before. They were annoying.

[allegedprisoner]

[ . . . ]

Why would you need to store a corpse in an icebox?

Also, what did you find annoying about the mobile phones? Were they difficult to use?

[sciencesquid]

Dr. Octavius, actually.

[Meanwhile, Otto's already taking note that some local hat maker apparently has a workspace full of technical goodies. He'll have to find out where that is so he confiscate materials from there, should he ever need them.]

From what I've seen of this place so far, I've gotten the impression there's a bit of scarcity when it comes to technical materials. Do all the necessary parts even exist here?

[allegedprisoner]

My apologies, Doctor.

[ Good luck with that, Otto. The Hat Maker happens to be inhumanly tall and does not tolerate rudeness.

Not that Luca's concerned about whatever Dr. Octavius is planning that at the moment. ]

Depends on how hard you look. People have come across artifacts that greatly resemble futuristic appliances (or modern appliances, depending on one's perspective) with those gems I mentioned earlier embedded in them. We've also found ourselves bringing back things from the occasional dreamshift.

[legbreakings]

I have learned it is good to prepare for everything.

The phones were very difficult to use. And they can't take any damage. Why would they be made to be so fragile when we are not supposed to break them.

[allegedprisoner]

[ Oh no, this is starting to sound like a person who should not be allowed anywhere near technology. ]

May I ask what exactly you were doing to those things?

[sciencesquid]

[At the moment, Otto's not planning just yet, nor even scheming. He's considering. Due to this whole 'other world' thing, he needs to completely reassess his situation and base necessity on that. Options are always beneficial, though.

It takes a moment for his next reply to come, because he's a bit preoccupied trying to remember all the gibberish that he learned (and basically dismissed) on his first day.]

A dreamshift is a collective journey to a very specific dream world, correct?

[legbreakings]

[ A very accurate assessment considering how many he has thrown into the lake into a fit of pique. ]

What is the point if they can't even be used to drive a nail into the wall?

And they aren't waterproof either.

[allegedprisoner]

[ OH NO. OH GOD NO. ]

With all due respect, sir, a telephone is NOT meant to be used for a hammer! Nor is it meant to be taken underwater! It's purpose is for long-distance communication purposes only!

[legbreakings]

[ His phone using habits are very refined, thank you very much! ]

Well they SHOULD be usable for hammering and throwing! What is the point of having something so fragile! You can use a calligraphy brush for stabbing people in a pinch!

Sender: Zelda

[multidisciplinary]

[ Zelda is delighted that her gift to Luca has been so helpful to him. When she first discovered it, she personally found the bizarre crystal-powered kettle to be interesting, but generally unreliable. Boiling water should not require a mastery of Songerein's fickle dreamotion; a proper copper kettle and a fireplace will serve Zelda just fine, thank you very much. So she decided to regift offer the crystal-powered teapot she thought might enjoy it more (or take it apart for science, it didn't matter to Zelda).

She recalls the first conversation she had with Luca, not long after their first arrival in Songerein months ago. Back then, he mentioned had been working on developing a perpetual motion generator in his homeland (or so he thought; it seems his memory has always been poor). So Zelda is excited to read not only that he is continuing this research, but that her crystal-powered kettle helped make a breakthrough. ]

Luca, that's marvelous! I never considered that the crystal could be used in such a way.

Does the dreamotion energy not fade from the crystal over time?

[allegedprisoner]

[ Luca has never had the honor of experiencing smartphones, but even he is horrified. ]

What sort of sentiment is that?! A calligraphy brush isn't too useful if there's nothing to write on, and I'm positive that paper makes for a poor stabbing or hammering implement. Besides, using a brush to stab someone is going to damage it!

Besides, didn't you have hammers or rocks where you were? It would be more sensible to use those instead of abusing the telephone!

[ Also Jiang Cheng is banned from helping with the experiments. ]

[allegedprisoner]

[ Ah, and this must be the woman who gave him that crystal. Wonderful to see she's around to help him out further. And to give him from respite from the mad phone crusher. ]

That's what I'm trying to figure out. In my home world, I think the experiments failed because the machines would lose momentum over time. I was hoping to find some way for a machine to be completely self-sustaining, but no luck with that.

However, the crystal could be used to provide the kinetic energy to keep the generator moving. I'm not entirely sure how long a single "charge" would last, but I'm hoping the generator would last long enough to only need to be recharged every so often. I'm aiming for a 168 hour lifespan for the device, but I would consider a 24 hour lifespan a success.

[allegedprisoner]

More or less. You have to try and blend in with the world, or you risk turning the dream into a nightmare and potentially doing damage to this world.

[ Yeah, that gibberish was important. ]

[legbreakings]

[ Rude! ]

That's why I said in a pinch, if I don't
have a sword at hand to stab with!

And we did have hammers and rocks, and all kinds of tools. But when I tried that, I was fixing the roof and the hammer was inside the house. My phone was right there. And I was annoyed with it.

Sender: Futaba Sakura

[mwehehe]

Heh, all of us are really tryin' with this, aren't we? I can bring by my laptop so you can look at it after I dissect it for ya, see if we can't update that sketch of yours into something else, huh?

[No, she hasn't forgotten.]

[allegedprisoner]

Excellent! I'll be at home. [ Here he attempts to describe where it is since we don't have addresses yet. ] Look for the hollowed out tree with my initials carved on the door (Had to use my sword to do it, it's the best I can manage until we can make plaques of some sort).

Come at your earliest convenience.