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fandomweekly2025-04-21 11:20 am
shivver) wrote in fandomweekly2025-04-21 11:20 am
Entry tags:
[#257] Real Science (Doctor Who)
Theme Prompt: 257 - Chemistry
Title: Real Science
Fandom: Doctor Who
Rating/Warnings: General
Bonus: No
Word Count: 985
Summary: Hex learns about science and why Ace loves it.
Hex stopped cold as he entered the lab, staring at a side of Ace he’d never seen before. Perched on a high stool, she hunched over a lab bench, studying a thick book on the table in front of her and comparing it to the scribbles on her notepad. Three other texts lay open around her, and a hand calculator with at least forty tiny buttons lay atop a stack of papers at her elbow. Nodding at something under her finger that traced the page, she crossed something off her notes and scratched a correction above it.
Ace glanced up. “Hey, Hex. What’s wrong?” she asked, noting his surprise.
“I thought you said you were coming down here to work on your nitro-9.”
Her face lit up as it always did when the topic was explosives. “I am.” When he glanced around the lab, she tapped the papers in front of her. “This right here.”
“Really?” He stepped to one of the other lab benches and picked up a beaker a quarter-filled with a golden liquid. “I thought you’d be mixing stuff together and seeing what blew.”
With a laugh, she leapt off the chair and snagged the container from him, gulping down the contents before dropping it back on the bench.
“Er, Ace?”
“Apple juice.” She blotted her lips on the back of her hand. “You’re thinking chemistry’s all bunsen burners and complicated glassware and colorful liquids all bubbling away. That’s for the cinema, mate. It’s mostly maths, actually. Equations and stoichiometry, enthalpy and entropy, knowing what you’re putting in and exactly how much bang you’re getting out. Science is about accurate prediction, and if it comes out different than you thought, then you chuck your theory and start all over again.”
“Okay…”
“Also, you don’t just mix stuff together on a lab bench. Always use a fume hood at least.” She jerked her head toward what looked like a huge cabinet with a heavy glass door that slid downward to close it off. An exhaust hood, larger than any home’s stove might have, covered the entire ceiling of the cabinet.
Ace was already moving on. “See here?”
Grabbing her notepad, she led him to another bench, atop which sat a number of tightly-sealed bottles, a spool of twine, and a thimble-sized metal cylinder. “Designing a new fuse. Actual burning one, made of cord I got when we were on that one planet. I’m a bit rubbish at mechanical fuzes.” She tapped a few figures on the paper. “I’ve already infused the cord with gunpowder, and I just finished calculating the length I need based on the rate of combustion of the material, the diameter and density, and the air pressure and composition in the room.”
Hex frowned at the papers. “And that’s chemistry?”
“Of course! A material reacting with oxygen after an applied activation energy and producing carbon dioxide and heat? Definition of chemistry.”
He tapped one of the books on the table. “This is kind of a waste of time, though, isn’t it? Why not just burn lengths of the cord and see how long they take?”
“That’s kids’ stuff. Besides, I’ve only got this one spool. So now…”
Hex watched silently as she measured and cut a piece of the cord, weighed it and noted the result, then attached it to the cap of the cylinder. He only ventured a question once she stood back.
“Now what?”
“Now we test it with a bit of nitro-9. But, safety first!” She put away her supplies and books then, trotting to the next room, she set up the cylinder in a metal frame, connecting the end of the fuse to a contraption that Hex assumed would light it remotely. Shooing him back out, she sealed the heavy door and nodded at the large glass window. “The Professor said you could shell it with a tank and it wouldn’t even chip. The walls, too.”
She pointed at a nearby computer console. “That button there’ll light the fuse and time the detonation, and I’m also measuring the heat output and explosive power, over there. Still…” She pulled two pairs of darkened safety glasses from a cabinet, and they put them on.
“If it’s all the same to you, I’ll stand back here.” He leant back against the wall furthest from the testing room.
“Suit yourself.” Ace turned to the computer console. “All right. Should be 7.6 seconds. Cover your ears.” She pressed the button and clapped her hands to her own ears as the digital readout on the computer panel counted upwards from 0:00.000. The fuse sparked as it burned.
Despite the Doctor’s and Ace’s assurances about the integrity of the testing room, Hex instinctively threw himself down as the window flashed and the shockwave from the explosion tore through the lab, rattling the equipment which had, for the most part and quite wisely, been secured in place. The few stools in the room scattered, crashing to the floor. Ace’s juice beaker leapt from the bench and smashed into a wall.
Covering his ears hadn’t been quite enough and he shook his head to clear the shock as he climbed to his feet. For a moment before his vision returned, his sight was filled with the afterimage of Ace silhouetted against a bright rectangle. “What the hell?” he coughed out.
Ace had grabbed her notepad and was madly scribbling on it. “7.563 seconds!” she yelled. “Within tolerance! This new fuse is ace!”
Still trembling, Hex glanced through the window. The holding frame was gone, the room scattered with shreds of metal. “I thought this was a little test! I thought it was about the fuse!”
Ace nodded, her ponytail bouncing. “It was about the fuse. See, 7.563 seconds! Perfect!”
From somewhere outside the lab, an angry voice bellowed, “Ace!”
Ace grinned. “I never said that science can’t also be fun.”
Title: Real Science
Fandom: Doctor Who
Rating/Warnings: General
Bonus: No
Word Count: 985
Summary: Hex learns about science and why Ace loves it.
Hex stopped cold as he entered the lab, staring at a side of Ace he’d never seen before. Perched on a high stool, she hunched over a lab bench, studying a thick book on the table in front of her and comparing it to the scribbles on her notepad. Three other texts lay open around her, and a hand calculator with at least forty tiny buttons lay atop a stack of papers at her elbow. Nodding at something under her finger that traced the page, she crossed something off her notes and scratched a correction above it.
Ace glanced up. “Hey, Hex. What’s wrong?” she asked, noting his surprise.
“I thought you said you were coming down here to work on your nitro-9.”
Her face lit up as it always did when the topic was explosives. “I am.” When he glanced around the lab, she tapped the papers in front of her. “This right here.”
“Really?” He stepped to one of the other lab benches and picked up a beaker a quarter-filled with a golden liquid. “I thought you’d be mixing stuff together and seeing what blew.”
With a laugh, she leapt off the chair and snagged the container from him, gulping down the contents before dropping it back on the bench.
“Er, Ace?”
“Apple juice.” She blotted her lips on the back of her hand. “You’re thinking chemistry’s all bunsen burners and complicated glassware and colorful liquids all bubbling away. That’s for the cinema, mate. It’s mostly maths, actually. Equations and stoichiometry, enthalpy and entropy, knowing what you’re putting in and exactly how much bang you’re getting out. Science is about accurate prediction, and if it comes out different than you thought, then you chuck your theory and start all over again.”
“Okay…”
“Also, you don’t just mix stuff together on a lab bench. Always use a fume hood at least.” She jerked her head toward what looked like a huge cabinet with a heavy glass door that slid downward to close it off. An exhaust hood, larger than any home’s stove might have, covered the entire ceiling of the cabinet.
Ace was already moving on. “See here?”
Grabbing her notepad, she led him to another bench, atop which sat a number of tightly-sealed bottles, a spool of twine, and a thimble-sized metal cylinder. “Designing a new fuse. Actual burning one, made of cord I got when we were on that one planet. I’m a bit rubbish at mechanical fuzes.” She tapped a few figures on the paper. “I’ve already infused the cord with gunpowder, and I just finished calculating the length I need based on the rate of combustion of the material, the diameter and density, and the air pressure and composition in the room.”
Hex frowned at the papers. “And that’s chemistry?”
“Of course! A material reacting with oxygen after an applied activation energy and producing carbon dioxide and heat? Definition of chemistry.”
He tapped one of the books on the table. “This is kind of a waste of time, though, isn’t it? Why not just burn lengths of the cord and see how long they take?”
“That’s kids’ stuff. Besides, I’ve only got this one spool. So now…”
Hex watched silently as she measured and cut a piece of the cord, weighed it and noted the result, then attached it to the cap of the cylinder. He only ventured a question once she stood back.
“Now what?”
“Now we test it with a bit of nitro-9. But, safety first!” She put away her supplies and books then, trotting to the next room, she set up the cylinder in a metal frame, connecting the end of the fuse to a contraption that Hex assumed would light it remotely. Shooing him back out, she sealed the heavy door and nodded at the large glass window. “The Professor said you could shell it with a tank and it wouldn’t even chip. The walls, too.”
She pointed at a nearby computer console. “That button there’ll light the fuse and time the detonation, and I’m also measuring the heat output and explosive power, over there. Still…” She pulled two pairs of darkened safety glasses from a cabinet, and they put them on.
“If it’s all the same to you, I’ll stand back here.” He leant back against the wall furthest from the testing room.
“Suit yourself.” Ace turned to the computer console. “All right. Should be 7.6 seconds. Cover your ears.” She pressed the button and clapped her hands to her own ears as the digital readout on the computer panel counted upwards from 0:00.000. The fuse sparked as it burned.
Despite the Doctor’s and Ace’s assurances about the integrity of the testing room, Hex instinctively threw himself down as the window flashed and the shockwave from the explosion tore through the lab, rattling the equipment which had, for the most part and quite wisely, been secured in place. The few stools in the room scattered, crashing to the floor. Ace’s juice beaker leapt from the bench and smashed into a wall.
Covering his ears hadn’t been quite enough and he shook his head to clear the shock as he climbed to his feet. For a moment before his vision returned, his sight was filled with the afterimage of Ace silhouetted against a bright rectangle. “What the hell?” he coughed out.
Ace had grabbed her notepad and was madly scribbling on it. “7.563 seconds!” she yelled. “Within tolerance! This new fuse is ace!”
Still trembling, Hex glanced through the window. The holding frame was gone, the room scattered with shreds of metal. “I thought this was a little test! I thought it was about the fuse!”
Ace nodded, her ponytail bouncing. “It was about the fuse. See, 7.563 seconds! Perfect!”
From somewhere outside the lab, an angry voice bellowed, “Ace!”
Ace grinned. “I never said that science can’t also be fun.”
no subject
You get their voices. I could hear Hex's Liverpool accent. Though I'm with him. I figured "mixing stuff and seeing what blows up" would be Ace's main approach to chemistry, but it's nice seeing her do actual science.
no subject
no subject