Chapter 46: Experiment.
Entry 46:
Day 74, morning:
I had a nightmare last night. I was drowning in a sea of children. Yeah, exactly what Merry wants to have. I guess I cannot help but feel overwhelmed. Forget anything I have ever been prepared for, I am treading in waters normally reserved for Nigerian princes. A sea of children? How am I supposed to provide for that? Yes, I know that Merry will provide most of the food; I know the children I have with TNA will be small and not require much food; I know that monsters girls become self-sufficient much earlier than human children; and I know that in this world it is unusual for the father to be the primary provider. But they will be my daughters and I want to provide for them. I know it is just values I brought from my old world, and even there it could be considered old fashioned, but my pride as a man will not allow me to be out done by my wife, especially when not all the children will be hers.
But what shall I do? If I'm lucky, Victoria will hire me as Veronica's tutor again. That job did provide us with plenty of money but a sea of children would be on a whole other scale. I spent all those years in college studying electrical engineering so I could make money, it just sucks that it hasn't really done much for me. I have heard that there are some steam powered devices in this world but electricity seems a long way from being used. Perhaps I could be the one to bring electricity to this world? That would certainly open some possibilities to make a lot of money. It would certainly be strange to have a world with wide spread use of electricity before steam but not impossible. The technological level required to generate electricity is actually very low, but the knowledge required to put it to use took centuries to build. I could put some of the knowledge from my old world to use but where would I even start? Sure I have the theory but all the practical use I got was done with premade parts. I wouldn't know how to build anything from scratch. It might be possible to make a battery but I'm not a chemist so I wouldn't know what chemicals to use or how to get them. Maybe thinking about this is pointless after all?
Entry 47:
Day 74, afternoon:
The sea has been getting rougher, looks like our days of smooth sailing are coming to an end. We've already had a few showers but nothing major yet. Regardless, Una has been having me spend most of my time in the crow's nest watching the clouds as they grow and change. She has been doing her best to teach me but unless I see the clouds on the horizon I have no idea if rain is approaching. Una, on the other hand, seems to be able to feel encroaching storms. But despite the rain it has not been an entirely gloomy day. I have found some items that helped me rekindle some of my passion for electricity.
It started at lunch. Kelsey was serving us potatoes she had bought from Veldemir. Delighted to have one of my favorite food items again I happily dug in, each bite filled with memories from the other world. As I was eating I was reminded of various properties that potatoes have, but at the time I simply chuckled at the bit of seemingly useless information I was reminded of. However, potatoes were not the only things I just happened across today that have interesting properties. The other things were found as I was helping Riona do an inventory check. TNA had been rummaging through crates again and we had to make sure they didn't take anything. Riona would search through one crate while she listed off items for me to look for in another crate. I just happened to get assigned to a crate containing some jewelry. The crate contained many things but the thing that caught my eye was a necklace made of several thin looping strands of gold. To the inhabitants of this world it was simply a decorative piece but in my eyes I saw an entirely different application.
The wheels in my head slowly began to turn, after I remembered we had potatoes on board, I asked Riona if any of the jewelry was made of zinc. Being the humanoid catalog that she is she could immediately confirm that there were pieces of jewelry containing zinc. With that confirmed I had all the pieces I would need: a potato, wire (from the gold jewelry in this case), zinc, copper (I have some change in my pocket), an iron nail (from Una), and a compass (also borrowed from Una). All the components needed to make an electro magnet using a potato battery. But there were still a couple problems to deal with. First, while I could simply borrow the gold necklace the same could not be said for the zinc because running the battery will cause the zinc to corrode. When I asked if I could have or buy any of the zinc jewelry she refused because all the pieces were ordered and it would look bad if any were missing. However, she is not unreasonable and after explaining to her that I wanted the zinc for an experiment she suggested that I use a zinc ingot instead. The ingots are melted down to make the jewelry and it is not uncommon for them to have some slight corrosion. I would have to keep my experiment brief but I should be able to run the battery for a few minutes.
It wasn't until after my shift with Una was over that I could ask for the nail and the compass and then go about solving my second problem: Gold is a near perfect conductor, the gold strands for the necklace are ideal for a short electric wire, however they are un-insulated, there is no shock hazard but the electromagnet will short circuit if the gold comes into direct contact with the iron nail, therefore I need a way to temporarily insulate the wire. Just a thin layer of non-conducting material would suffice and I knew just the material that we had on hand: spider web. Spindla was insistent on trading her web for something just as white that comes out of my body but thankfully I did not have to go through with the negotiations. Michaela called her down for something and she used her own web as a bungee cord, I just had to scrape it off the wood.
With all the items gathered I just had to assemble the final product. I brought everything into our room and laid things out on the floor. I certainly drew the attention of TNA but thankfully they were curious about what I was making and did not bother to interrupt me. The steps are fairly simple: 1. Inset the copper object into one end of the potato. 2. Insert the zinc object into the other end of the potato. 3. Tightly wrap the conducting wire around the iron nail. 4. Ensure both ends of the wire make good contact with the copper and zinc objects, clothes pins work nicely for this. If done correctly the needle of the compass should move when the nail is brought close to it and reverse direction if the nail is flipped around. It did not take me long to assemble the simple battery and electromagnet but Merry had perfect timing to walk in right as I was testing it.
Merry opened the door and paused for a moment to give me a quizzical look as she saw me sitting in the floor with TNA gathered around me. "What are you doing, darling?" She asked.
"Ah, perfect!" I excitedly looked up at her. It was nice to finally be able to work with electricity again and I was getting rather giddy about my accomplishment. "Come here for a minute honey, I want to show you something." Curious, Merry kneeled next to me. "Watch the compass carefully." I let the clothespin holding the gold necklace to the copper coin clamp shut and the compass needle slowly points toward the nail. "See, isn't it neat?"
I was hoping that Merry would be at least a little intrigued but it was clear that she had no idea what was going on. "I'm afraid I don't…"
"Let me see it!" Su interjects as she snatches up the compass and roughly examines it. But there are no hidden tricks to the compass, it is simply an ornate wood disk with a glass dome to house the magnetic needle. "I don't get it. How do you make it move? What's the trick?"
"There's no trick. It's just…"
"I know!" Ina shouts as she takes the compass and quickly spins it back and forth so that the needle's momentum causes it to sway back and forth before settling on north again. "See?!"
"Is that really how it's done?" Doe asks.
"Did you see me touch the compass?!" I quickly take the compass and place it on the ground to make it clear that no contact is being made between it and the nail. "Nothing is touching it. I am just using an invisible force of nature."
"Ah, I get it!" Merry happily clasps her hands. "It's just like our rings." She holds up her finger to show me the glowing rune on the side closest to me.
"No, it's…" I had to think about it for a moment. In all honesty I don't know how the magic in our rings works. "Well, I suppose that is close enough."
The next moment, Veronica walks into the room and pauses when she sees us all kneeling on the floor. "What are you all doing?"
"Big bro is using a nail to move a compass without touching it!" Abigail happily explains.
"Big deal," Veronica scoffs as she joins us, "iron is a magnetic material, anyone could do that."
"That may be true…" I was surprised that Veronica knew that fact. "… but this way I can move it from further away."
"Oh really?" Veronica raises an eyebrow. "How much further away?"
"A few inches."
Veronica looks at the setup it took to get those few inches. "A whole lot of work for a few inches." To easy, even Tiki didn't touch that, but you could hear her holding back her laughter. "Seems unnecessary to me." What do you expect? It's a potato battery.
"Oh don't mind her, darling." Merry happily clasped her hands when she saw me starting to become depressed. "I think it's fascinating. So how does it work?"
I think Merry was just trying to score points in my favor after Veronica showed up. But whatever, I wanted to explain it anyway. "From what I recall:" I placed my hand on the potato. "The potato juices contain positive ions." I then moved to the zinc ingot. "Upon contact with the zinc, the metal will corrode and negative electrons will be used to balance the charges. This causes the overall charge of the zinc to become positive." I ran my fingers across the wire to the copper coin. "The gold wire acts as a bridge to allow more electrons to flow from the copper to the zinc, creating an electric current in the gold." Then I picked up the nail with the wire coiled around it. "All electric currents produce a magnetic field the same as the compass. Wrapping the wire around the nail helps guide the magnetic field in a single direction to produce a magnet." Finally I went back to playing around with the compass. "The compass then lines up with the magnetic field." When I finally look back up at my audience I see a lot of blank faces. "D-did any of that get through?"
Doe, brimming with new questions quickly flew up to me. "What are ions? Why are they positive? Are they happy? What is zinc? What are electrons? Why are they negative? Are they sad? What's electric? What's magnetic?"
"Well…" How does one go about explaining something to someone who has no knowledge of it? "…all of that would take a long time to explain."
"I'm afraid I've got the same questions, darling." Merry apologetically admits.
"Yeah! Me too!" Nip giggles.
"I don't get it either." Annie says.
As I was struggling to find a common ground to even begin, Veronica picks up the electromagnet and starts moving it around. "You know, I think I might have heard about something like this before. It was in my mother's favorite book about the other world, something about using the power of lightning to light a city. I think it was called electricity." She then looked at me with an honestly curious expression. "Is that what this is?"
"That's exactly it!" I was so happy to have someone, anyone, who had some knowledge about electricity that I excitedly clasped Veronica's hands. "It's the same thing as lightning…"
"Lightning?!" Many members of TNA shouted as they rushed away from the potato.
"Lightning is scary, big bro!" Abigail quivered behind Sis.
"Yeah! Get that the fuck away from me!" Sara shouted.
"Calm down, calm down." I motioned for them to settle down with a chuckle, I've never seen them like this. "It may be the same as lightning but it is so weak that this is literally the most it can manage." Despite my reassurances, TNA refused to go near it.
"Alright, it's neat and all but what's the point?" Veronica interjected. "If this is the most it can do then why even bother?"
"The concept is far more important than the actual execution at the moment." I explained.
"Being able to make a magnet?" Merry was trying her best to stay in the conversation but I could tell that I lost her long ago. I do appreciate the effort though.
I happily smiled at her, knowing she is trying. "Actually, the reverse is far more important."
"What do you mean?" Merry asked.
"Just as an electric current can make a magnetic field, a magnetic field can make an electric current." Again I was meet with blank stares, so I tried to elaborate. "Take this coil of wire." I held up my electromagnet and carefully remove the nail from the coil of wire. "If I replaced this nail with a bar magnet and moved it back and forth it would produce an electric current."
"Move it back and forth and back and forth and then bam! Right?!" Tiki giggled. Seems like the chance at an innuendo brought her back.
I just shook my head and laughed. "Say what you want, but the ability to convert mechanical motion into electrical power is one of the greatest discoveries ever made. It changed the other world."
"What about this world?" Veronica asked. "Could it change this world."
"Definitely." I readily nodded. "And if it were combined with magic from this world I don't think there is anything that can't be done."
"Is that so?" Veronica stood up and chuckled a bit. "If that is the case then perhaps you should speak with my mother when we return. I'm sure she would love to sink her teeth into the new technology you could bring about."
Veronica gave me a confident smirk that sent me into a panic. "I'm afraid you got the wrong idea!" I shouted as I flailed my hands in refusal. "I never said I could bring the technology to this world! Sure I may know the basic concepts on how they work but I have too many gaps in my knowledge to put them to practical use!"
"Then just fill them." Veronica quickly retorted. "You at least know what it is you don't know, right?" She narrowed her eyes and intensified her smirk. As she did I could definitely see that she is her mother's daughter and has the pride of a vampire. She knew I could do it, she knew she could not be wrong, and she was trying to make me realize that. "'It is important to know how you would find out if you do not know,' that is one of the first things you taught me. So tell me, how would you find out?"
"How?" In the face of such confidence I could not be unsure of myself. I rubbed my chin as I thought of what would be needed to bring electricity to this world. "Well… before anything else a stable source of source of power would be needed. Batteries are nice for small scale but anything substantial would require a generator. That means a large magnet and wire, lots and lots of wire. I will have to find a way to acquire the wire and then a way to turn the magnet at a reliable speed, perhaps a water wheel? But what to do with the electricity? A light bulb perhaps? But how…"
Veronica just laughs as she listens to me rattle on and on about something I was just saying I did not know enough about. "Looks like you know plenty enough to get started." After a moment of laughter she gives me her confident smirk again. "Have some more confidence in yourself. You can do more than what you think." Then, as if she had said her peace she left the room so I was alone with Merry and TNA.
"She's right you know." Merry must have gotten into a bad mood after watching Veronica give me confidence instead of her. She had her arms crossed, her cheeks puffed out, and her face was cringed into a grimace as she was thinking about something. "I don't like that I agree with her but you do need to have more confidence." After another moment she gave me her usual cheerful smile. "Just give it your best shot, I know you can do it." Merry quickly embraced me and gave me a quick kiss. "And even if you can't, you will always have me for comfort."
"And we will always tease you for your failures." Tally interjected before looking at her sisters with a playful grin. "Right?" The other members of TNA gave a cheer in agreement.
TNA may say they will have a laugh at my expense but they have always done that and knowing that they always will gives a kind of comfort in itself. The love of my life, ten playful girls, and a surprisingly helpful spoiled brat, I really am lucky to have such support. I may have some daunting challenges ahead of me but with them by my side I am sure I can handle anything.
