Hey everyone! I'm really calling it close, I figure by the time this goes up, it'll probably be 11:30.
So, I know I've mentioned a couple of these are my near favorite prompts, but today's prompt is hands down my favorite out of all of them. It's Geeking Out About Something. My science and math mind just gets super excited about this. (Ps, don't worry. I won't be having them talk about integral calculus. As interesting as that can be, I don't think it would make for good story, and I don't want to confuse anybody).
Anyway, I'll stop chatting. You're all here to read about Jay and Nya geek out about stuff, not me, so sorry for rambling.
BlueJ and Joey: Thanks so much guys!
Endeavour16: Thanks. I'm so glad to see someone shares my theories and views on thunderstorms at night.
Jay and Nya love their workshop. It's their favorite room in the whole monastery. In this room they've designed several mechs and vehicles together. And they've shared a fair amount of explosions. Today they're not really working on anything, just hanging out when Jay remembers one of the greatest experiments he's ever tried.
"Nya, in high school did you ever use lemons to make batteries?" Jay asks. Out of all the things he's ever said, this is definitely the weirdest thing to come out of his mouth.
"Oh yeah! My ap physics classes made generators out of them, and all the lab groups had a competition to see who could light up the most bulbs with them," Nya replies excitedly.
"We did that too, except we used them to power miniature dune buggies, then we went out in the desert and raced them. I wish I could've recorded that, it was awesome!" Jay laughs. Memories of the dune buggies flying around the makeshift track at a solid two miles per hour (you'd need a lot, a lot of lemons to get faster than that) flood Jay's brain. All though it was never not sweltering hot, growing up in the Sea of Sand had its benefits, lemon dune buggies being one of them.
"What if we tried to make a car that runs solely on lemon batteries?" Nya suggests, a wide grin spreading across her face. They've never tried something so crazy before, just for the sake of fun.
"Let's do it! I'll get the lemons, you get the copper and galvanized nails. Maybe we can find a used car for really cheap and replace its engine."
Hours later, Jay and Nya arrive back at the monastery with multiple grocery stores worth of lemons, copper and galvanized nails, plenty of crab wires, and the frame of a very old and beaten up car in tow.
"Hey guy!" Kai says as they begin setting everything up outside the monastery door, "Whatcha workin' on... whoa! What's with all the lemons?"
"We're using them to create a lemon battery run car!" Jay says.
"Is that even possible?"
"Sure it is!" Nya explains, "The electrolytes in the lemon make it extremely conductive. So, if you put a galvanized nail on one side, and a copper one on the other, it operates like a battery. If you put enough of them in series, they'll acquire enough voltage to light up a small bulb. Hypothetically, if you have enough lemons you can generate enough voltage to run a car, which is what we want to try."
"You see, the potential difference in the circuit generates current, that's the flow of electrons, Kai, which is..." Jay adds before Kai cuts him off.
"Okay! I really don't care that much. You two are such nerds. The only thing is, why would you want to try this? Like seriously, how on earth do you guys even come up with things like this?"
Jay laughs, "You know what they say, 'When life gives you lemons, turn them into a lemon battery operated car!'"
"Nobody says that," Kai groans, "I'm out of here before you guys keep spouting more sciency stuff I won't understand.
Jay and Nya grin at each other as Kai walks back into the monastery shaking his head.
"I guess we got rid of him," Nya says.
"Yeah," Jay sighs, "Shall we get back to making those batteries?"
It takes hours for them to get all the lemons connected in series. Their car may turn out really cool, but it would definitely not be efficient. They spend the afternoon laughing as they work and wondering what in the world they're going to do with this car once they get it working. They can't possibly afford enough lemons to make it fast enough to go out on the street. It could serve as a really slow golf cart at best. Or, they could just keep it around the monastery and park it in really awkward spots until the other's lose their minds. Finally, all the lemons are in tact, and they replace the engine with it. It's time to see if it actually works.
Jay and Nya climb in. Jay puts a hand on top of the shifter, "Ready?" he asks.
Nya nods and puts her hand atop Jay's, "We'll do it together."
The two of them shift the car into drive. Nothing happens for a second, but then they lurch forward in a slow crawl.
"We did it!" they cheer.
Jay slams his hand on the horn a couple times until the others come out to see what all the commotion is.
"What's going on?" Kai asked.
Jay sticks his head out the window, "Nothing, just wanted to let you know that the lemon battery car works."
"That's great!" Kai rolls his eyes, "I know I said this earlier, but you guys are the biggest nerds I know."
Nya sticks her head out the opposite window, "That's okay, bro. When you think about it, nerds really rule the world. Just look at Cyrus Borg, how would you survive without many of his gadgets?"
Kai slides his Borg Phone in his pocket and out of sight, a sharp red hue coloring his face, "Ouch!"
"Get burned!" Jay chuckles.
"Don't let all that regular people need nerds to survive stuff go to your head," Kai says.
Jay honks the horn until Kai (and subsequently the others) leave, even more annoyed than when they first came out. After honking a few more times for good measure, Jay and Nya fall back into their seats laughing hysterically. Already, their minds are spinning with ideas about what to try next. Like Kai said, they'll both readily admit that they're nerds. But they're each other's nerds. And it doesn't really matter what the next project is as long as they work on it together.
Alright, alright, I know that the ending is a little cheesy, you'll all just have to deal with it, but overall, I hope you enjoyed this.
I should probably clarify one thing. As Nya states in dialogue, it is hypothetically possible to create a car that runs on lemons, but that is only hypothetical. What Jay and Nya said about current, circuits, and voltage is entirely true, but the electrolytes in lemons are so small that it would take trillions upon trillions of lemons to get a car to run, which is why we've never seen this in real life (but, hey, this is fiction, so who cares if laws of physics are slightly altered!).
Also, I have in fact used lemon batteries to light a bulb before. My ap physics class is currently doing e&m (electricity and magnetism), and it is awesome! I love science! I know that probably sounds weird coming from a fanfiction author, but I'm actually majoring in environmental science and engineering when I go to college next year. Writing is really only a hobby. Question: who else around here is planning on or is already in a career not related to writing at all? Am I the only one? I kinda want to know now.
Anyway, enough rambling. Thank you all for reading. I'll see you all in about 24 hours!
#God's Not Dead!