"He sat through a lesson in physics and then tried to drop a cannonball off the palace roof." - King of Scars by Leigh Bardugo, Pg 208
Cannonball
"As Newton's First Law of Thermodynamics tell us, energy can neither be created nor destroyed and thus follows that an object in motion must stay in motion until acted upon by an object of equal or greater force," His professor droned on and it was all Nikolai could do to stay awake. It wasn't that he didn't find physics interesting. Quite the opposite really. It was a puzzle he found intriguing. Except his decrepit instructor made it sound as interesting as watching paint dry, no matter how intrigued Nikolai was. "Now!" his professor slammed the accursed ruler on the desk, no doubt to try and get him to pay attention. "Nikolai! Can you pray tell me how we find the amount of kinetic energy an object has?"
"Take ½ the mass times velocity, squared."
"Hmph. And when might such an equation prove useful?"
"Calculating the acceleration of a moving object over distance, sir." Nikolai had to stop himself from challenging "Now do you have any actually interesting questions?" He glanced out the window, coming up with an idea that would get him through the class.
"Nikolai, are. You. Paying. Attention. Or do I need Dominik here to remind you?"
If Nikolai could burn the man with his eyes, he would. "No, sir. I was simply pondering your previous statement. We know that two objects fall at the same rate due to gravity, but with different force. But, how does applying more force overcome that if energy is neither created nor destroyed? And how much decreased force would it take to have the bowling ball's force match that of a feather?"
His professor coughed on his jurda a few times and for few a fleeting moments Nikolai thought his prayers might be answered and his professor would choke. Alas. It was almost as entertaining to realize the professor was simply buying time to try and find a passable answer.
"Well." Cough-cough-cough. "Well, you see," finally clearing his throat. "The potential energy applied to give it more force is simply transferred to the object in question. As for the second part, that's an excellent question. Perhaps that should be your homework to try experimenting with.
Nikolai was too pleased with having coaxed the old brute into giving him permission to potentially destroy something in the palace to goad him with the fact his explanation still didn't make sound sense. He simply grinned. "Excellent idea, sir. I'll do just that."
"Nikolai," Dominik complained, "We're going to get caught."
"Nonsense," Nikolai responded, "Caught would imply we're doing something wrong. And the old codger expressly told us to experiment."
"I don't think he meant sneaking into the armory to steal a cannonball!" Dominik whispered loudly. "Besides, I thought you said you solved it in small scale. Increase friction around the launch and add padding to the landing."
"Precisely. But small scale doesn't mean anything if you can't prove it in real world scale."
He sighed, "How we even gonna get it out?
Nikolai grinned. "Not out. Up. And simple: a pulley system," he pulled ropes out of the bucket he'd brought with them. Dominik just groaned.
Also in the bucket, Nikolai took out the rug swaths he'd rescued from the recycling bin. He helped Dominik load the cannonball into the bucket, looped the rope twice over the handle to ensure it wouldn't snap and scampered up the ladder to the roof, looping the other end of the rope around the top rung.
Once they'd hoisted up the cannonball, Dominik brought up the rug swaths and they set to work laying the first right side up and the second upside down in what would be the cannonball's launch path.
"NIKOLAI LANTSOV!"
Nikolai had seen his father just a hair too late, but still quick enough to step in front to hide Dominik from view. "Quickly, get out of here!" he hissed and heard the quiet patter of Dominik scampering off. He froze appropriately and turned to wave at his father, trying to buy his friend as much time in distraction as he could. "Father! Lovely day to enjoy the grounds, isn't it? I just thought the roof might prove a better viewpoint."
His father was not amused. Damn the Grisha Squallor that must have given him up. Still, he couldn't blame them. He supposed king trumped prince offering sweets. He should have known better. But so be it, he was already caught. And, technically, he still had an assignment. His father wouldn't be able to stop him in time. Using more force than he'd realized he'd need, Nikolai shoved the cannonball off the roof, relishing in the resounding crash it made. Sure, there'd be hell to pay but he did have an excuse. He'd made sure of it. And sure, the experiment had gone to shambles without being able to account for created air drag by a Squallor, but he still got to launch a cannonball off the palace roof.
A/N: I despised Physics, so I had a ton of fun going after the professor. That being said, I was also quite terrible at Physics; but this was too good a mention to pass up. If anyone knows better and finds an error in my physics, please let me know so I can correct it.