imeeji_frontstage | (no subject)

[ it feels a little bit like glass so maybe that might be what it is ]

Microporous means it has a lot of tiny little holes in its structure, and silica is a type of compound—you'd find it naturally in sand and in quartz! Not like this, though. I made this!

[ while she reaches for a bunsen burner ]

[Maybe????]

I see.

....no offense, it is an interesting material, but what would something like this be even used for?

[ grins ]

That's a good question. It's really delicate, after all—the gaps in the structure means it's really easy to break.

But the gaps have another quality, too. Here, you can put it on this.

[ she's set up a bunsen burner and ring stand, with a watchglass on the ringstand. gesturing to the watchglass ]

[????]

[He will put it on the watchglass?]

[ and she will turn on the bunsen burner. ]

What is your understanding of heat?

...I....understand it?

I guess how you mean?

Uhm. . . So you know heat is energy, right? And there are three methods of heat transfer?

Edited 2022-01-27 11:29 (UTC)

Oh!

Yes.

There's conduction which is direct contact, convection which is through moving water or air, and when its radiated out by another kind of energy like magic. [WHICH. Is close enough to electromagnetic waves, okay.]

[ close enough ]

Ahaha. . . in our world, radiation would be electromagnetic waves. But okay! So, this microporous silica is a great insulator, since it can block two out of three methods of heat transfer. See?

[ the fire's been on the watchglass for a while now, and felicity is reaching over to just. stick her finger on the top of the aerogel ]

Electromagnetic wave?

[wejaioejwaioew] Felicity!

[Reaching for hand because]

[HONESTLY]

[He has plenty of reason to believe she'd stick her hand in Literal Fire, okay.]

[ because she absolutely would

and she absolutely just took his panic as enthusiasm ]

See? Isn't it cool!

[Felicity please!]

[Also looking over her hand.] You could have burned yourself-

[ completely uninjured hand. it isn't even like, More Warm than usual ]

It's okay, I'm not hurt. And I wouldn't have burned myself—well, if I fell, I could have, but see, I didn't!

[Oh]

[Ooooh]

[Feeling her hand.]

...its an insulator?

Mmhm, yep! It can withstand up to about 600 degrees Celsius. Which. . . uhmm. . .

[ pausing ]

That's about around the melting point of aluminum!

[~~tmw I have to wonder what metal forms in a giant's corpse-~~]

And it just...keeps all the heat out?

Well, it won't keep out radiating heat, but otherwise, yes!

You said you don't know what this would be used for. It's not a material I remember from back in my world, but on this planet, they use it for all sorts of things—like building infrastructure and making blankets and clothing retain more heat.

It doesn't withstand enough heat for what I want to use it for, so I don't have much of a use for these, but it was a fun first experiment.

[ turning off the bunsen burner, now ]

Just this...electromagnetic kind, or things like magic? [Paaaause.] We could actually test that. [WHAT WOULD THERMODYNAMIC DO IT TO IT????]

That does make sense. Keeping a house cool is pretty hard to do without magic. Need proper air flow and structure and things like that. If a material kept out heat, it would help a lot. Probably help keep heat in when they needed it warm too.

What are you looking to do?

[ that's a good question. it would be warmed but not boiling which doesn't mean it couldn't melt??? ]

I'm looking to research volcanoes, of course!

...looking for lava proof, huh?

Ehehehe . . .

[ another shelf is moving off the wall too, pulling itself out to approach the workbench ]

Fortunately, tantalum carbide works well for at least surface-level lava.

Edited 2022-01-27 14:06 (UTC)

You are making sure to test that not-you things are surviving in anything made of this stuff, right? Like...I dunno. A tomato seems like it'd turn to mush if it was cooked.

[HE. Has to check.]

[He Has To Be Sure.]

Edited 2022-01-27 14:08 (UTC)

I have Albert take the temperature, but yes. I'm making sure to test first.

Tantalum carbide is pretty easy to get, and it can survive up to around 3,800 degrees Celsius. Lava is around 1,250 degrees Celsius at its hottest.

[ reaching into the new shelf, before pausing ]

Uhmm. . .

Hunter, would you close your eyes for a second?

[He relaxes.] Okay, good. Just...you can get...distracted when there's a lava flow nearby.

Albert is a good sheep.

[He pauses.] Okay?

[He closes his eyes.]

[ there's some rustling, and then a dark berry red jacket is being draped over his shoulders. in addition to the style in the picture it also comes with a hood with a stretchable cloth at the base to pull up into a mask if he so desired it ]

. . . Okay, you can open your eyes now.

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