Chapter 15
Dust Applications, a class delving into the branch of chemistry surrounding "dust" and it's uses in the field, was considered by many alumni of Beacon to be the hardest class for the majority of students, as the study of dust up until only a hundred years ago was no different that of the still disputed study of "magic," and so was filled with contradictions of preconceived "facts" and changes to subject matter on a seemingly yearly basis.
The class's teams were split into their initiation partners on the first day, and given their initial rundown on dust.
"Dust" in it's four most basic forms, were superheavy atomic elements that were only recently recognized as part of the periodic table, occupying "the island of stability," as elements one hundred twenty two, through one hundred twenty five, all four of which were considered part of the transitional metal group. Non radioactive, crystalline, highly reactive to the reactive nonmetal group, and naturally occurring, the names for these elements were derived from the color of their natural states, as well as what they could seemingly create.
In their natural solid states, the four elements were remarkably stable, chemically speaking, however once broken down to a fine enough powder, the increase in surface area made such elements highly volatile, and that state which they are most volatile is what earned them their ancient namesakes.
The first of the four types of atomic dust by atomic number, was Caerulium, symbolically Cea. When exposed to oxygen it would react chemically to create a type of heavy water, hence it's common name "water dust."
The second, Fuscusium, symbolically Fu, when exposed to carbon would rapidly bond with other elements, creating solid earthen structures, and so to the layman it is "earth dust."
The third, Rubrumium, simply an R on the periodic table, when exposed to hydrogen would first bond, creating highly flammable Hydrorubrumiums, which were liquids or gasses, and much like the Hydrocarbons they mimicked, they were incredibly flammable. Moreso even. Ignition could be achieved with a sneeze. Before it's discovery as an element it was, and still often is called, "fire dust."
The fourth, and last of the monatomic dusts, was Patetium, sometimes spelled Patatium, atomic symbol Pe. Upon exposure to nitrogen, Patetium would rapidly bond to it, the friction created, beginning the process of thermal runaway, the expanding heat creating gusts of wind, until the Patetium is exhausted. The common name "air dust" was fitting.
Of course, that was day one knowledge, and the class was on their seventh day of class. Their professor for the class, a former Vale Reserve Army NCO, and chemical engineer, "Gunny" as everyone called him, was going over the physical differences between natural crystal dust, and the powdered equivalent, before the class would be tested on the material. "Dust is reactive. Violently so. To aura, to enough blunt force, to the air we breathe. but can anyone tell me why it is, I can stomp on this fire dust crystal..." He started, before dropping the red stone to the ground, before slamming his foot into it. "But I can't so much as breathe on the powdered stuff too hard?" He asked, before blowing a handful of the red granules in his hand with enough force to make it look like he'd spat fire. Halcyone was the only one to raise their hand. "You, short haired blond girl." Gunny said, unable to remember names since he'd taken that bullet to the head 20 years ago.
"Surface area, the four atomic dusts needs a certain amount of surface area to react to the nitrogen, oxygen, carbon, or hydrogen in the air. If it's powdered, or cut it becomes more reactive. If you blew on the fire dust crystal it would get a little warm, but blowing on powdered dust will set it off. Stepping on the crystal isn't enough to set it off, but shooting it would do the trick because it blows the crystal to shit and then it ignites."
"Outstanding." Gunny tossed Halcyone the fire dust crystal. "Alright class, you and your lab partner have one task before you can leave my room today. I want each table to instigate a reaction in an atomic dust of your choosing. I'll be roaming around to check people's work when you're ready, but as a caveat, you better not blow up the room."
As the majority of the class went about grabbing small dust crystals from the lab room's material pantry, Jaune looked around confused. Chemistry wasn't his best subject when he went to a normal school. He knew dust was expensive, dangerous in the right circumstances, and that SHI was the largest net excavator of the stuff, but beyond that, he drew a blank. "So…" He said, turning to face Pyrrha. "Do you have any idea what the best way to do this would be?"
Pyrrha rubbed her arm sheepishly. "Actually, I'm not as well versed in the uses of dust as you might think."
"Really?" Jaune asked, surprised that his partner, someone supposedly so far ahead of her peers, wouldn't know more than him about dust.
"Dust use is prohibited in the Mistral regional tournaments, along with a wide variety of chemical, biological, and explosive weapons. I never needed to worry about it until I came to Beacon." Pyrrha explained.
Looking over his partner's shoulder, finding Weiss Schnee holding up a pre-filled vial of granulated Rubrumium, inspecting it, with Ruby seated beside her, grinning ear to ear, a little lighter in hand. "Weiss should know what we're supposed to do." Jaune said, before Pyrrha turned to face the white haired girl.
"Excuse us." Pyrrha said, catching Weiss's attention. "I'm sorry if we're interrupting, bu Jaune and I were wondering if you knew the precise method to create an effective, but safe reaction of dust."
Weiss gently placed her vile on the table in front of her, before cocking an eyebrow. "I do suppose that not everyone can be good at everything…" She muttered to herself. "If you must know, the safest and easiest of the four atomic dust's to work with would be Patatium. The reactive nonmetal in the air that it reacts to, being nitrogen, is more abundant than the others, so it's grit size can be decently large, and it's reaction is relatively harmless compared to the others if you accidentally miscalculate and have far too much grain, it's not going to kill anyone or make a mess. If you're looking for an easy pass, go with eighty to one hundred grit granules, and throw them to the ground forcefully."
As Weiss diligently went back to inspecting the vial of dust, before pouring a quarter of it onto her lab table, Jaune took the information he'd been given, and went to the classes pantry. Finding a premade 200 grain vial of Patetium, ninety grit.
At her table, Weiss glanced at her partner, finding Ruby still smiling at her. "What?" She asked.
"That was nice of you." Ruby said.
Weiss scoffed. "Oh, please, assisting Pyrrha Niko achieve a passing grade reflects well on me."
"Yeah, but that was still you being Nice Weiss." Ruby said, poking her partner in the shoulder twice, only for Weiss to grab one of Ruby's fingers, and hold up her dust vial.
"I will dump this on you, and it will burn." Weiss said, threatening her teammate, before letting go of her finger.
"Geesh, I get it, you like being mean." Ruby huffed as Weiss held her hand out.
"Lighter." Weiss demanded, which Ruby forked over, crossing her arms.
Weiss held the lighter over the table, a fair distance away from the powder, before she thumbed the sparkwheel. Ruby looked unimpressed. "Are you going to light it or not?" Ruby asked.
"I'm trying not to burn my uniform!" Weiss snapped. "Besides, the dust is already starting to glow a little which means that it's combining with the hydrogen in the air, and creating combustible gasses. The gas is heavier than air, so it's spreading out across the table. I'm trying to get a nice fireball, and then a prolonged burn." Sparking the lighter on last time, the hydrogen bonded rubrumium ignited making a disk shaped fireball across the surface of the lab table, before the raw powder caught, and continued to burn, the flames reaching up to about Weiss chin.
"I guess being the heir to SHI has a couple of educational benefits huh?" Ruby asked.
"Naturally…" Weiss said. "I can't effectively run the company if I don't know about it's primary product."
"What else does SHI make?" Ruby inquired. "I know that they have the market basically cornered on dust, but I don't know what else your dad's into."
"What isn't he into?" Weiss said with something close to an eye roll. "Resource extraction is Schnee Heavy Industries primary means of capital generation, half of that figure being mined dust, the rest being other metals, oil, gravel, stuff like that. If it's pulled out of the ground it's worth something, but the company started out making heavy weapons right after the Great War, then branched out into automotives, the medical sector, mining… Private Security, you name it, SHI does it, or tried it… It might not be particularly profitable compared to mining, but…" Weiss shrugged.
"Oh wow, I didn't know your company makes medicine." Ruby said.
"It doesn't." Weiss said, as the fire dust finally burned itself out in front of her. "Getting pharmaceuticals passed Atlas's Drug and Substance Bureau isn't worth the headache if you aren't one of the three already established biotech companies in Atlas… Lousy corrupt lobbyists…" Weiss Muttered to herself. "So instead SHI makes medical equipment. Scalpels, textiles, imaging devices, things like that, mostly under the child company Mantle Medical Solutions."
"Oh… Yeah that makes sense." Ruby said, before Jaune held out a handful of Patetium dust to Pyrrha, who took half a handful, before the two threw their clumps of dust at the floor, the ensuing gust of wind blowing stacks of paper across the room, catching the ire of Professor Gunny.
"What did I say about blowing up the room?!" Gunny shouted at Jaune and Pyrrha, who both grinned nervously.
"And of course…" Weiss continued, with a small smirk, pulling a "dust for Dummies" pamphlet out of her school uniform jacket pocket, sliding it onto Pyrrha and Jaune's lab desk. "SHI also offers free information on the safe use of dust."
