“Calibre,” Vall said as his lab partner came into view. “Looks like we’ve got our hands full today, the Ara Search Team just found us a new gem to look at.” Calibre nodded as he took off his jacket and put on his lab coat, sighing. Ever since a meteor crashed into Pluto and split the poor planet in two with one of the pieces hurled towards Earth, Nethentron Space Department went wild with sending drones to get samples as soon as possible. Luckily the chunk of Pluto got caught in the asteroid belt, saving Earth from a head-on collision. From all the samples being taken, the Lab has been busy with few nights of sleep often making Chromie News Lines ask for more variation ‘just to be sure all the observations are correct of course!’ as they had put it. Calibre put on his gloves and glasses whilst strolling over to the element in front of Vall. If he hadn’t known better, he would have thought that the gem looked like a piece of obsidian. With that thought in his mind, “Did they tell you what they’re calling the substance this time?” Vall looked over to Calibre before he smirked, “Nope, we get to name it this time.” Calibre had a brief look of shock on his face before he put his finger on his chin to think of a name. “..Well let’s be ironic and call it Hearthstone. That’ll fit nicely with all the other dumb names the Search Team keeps on coming up with.” Vall laughed at Calibres’ response and quickly jotted the name onto his clipboard. “I thought you were going to call it Obfreezeion because I thought it was obsidian before I looked at it more closely.” Vall added before Calibre gave Vall a very disappointed look that had ‘are you kidding me?’ and ‘great observation, genius’ written into his face. Vall chuckled before waving it off “I was just joking you know. That would be something the Search Team would say on the spot and stick with it.” Snorting, Calibre rolled his eyes and began to experiment on a small corner of Hearthstone as Vall wrote down the data on a clipboard.
Vall Therion
Calibre Yher
October 21st, 3249
Hearthstone Hypothesis: We suspect that the substance known as Hearthstone will prove difficult to work with due to the fact that it is frozen solid. Given that we can get this coat of ice off the stone, our theory is that there must have been volcanoes on Pluto in order for this stone to form in the first place. As we further test this stone to the limits, we may uncover more secrets about our planet and just how it was made.
Qualitative Observation and Intensive Properties
Colour: Translucent black and dark blue – evenly coloured Hearthstone appears to be solid
When rubbed, turns to a fine grain
Quantitative Observation and Extensive Properties
Colour disappears after heating small specimens (500°C)
The mass of Hearthstone is 70% black and 30% blue
The molecular weight of Hearthstone comes to an average of 60.08 g
Physical Properties
Melting point: 1670°C to 1713°C
Boiling point: 2230°C
Density: about 2.65 g/cm3
Chemical Properties
After heated, does not regain its colour, leaving it a pale blue/grey
Dissolves in vinegar
When dissolved in an aqueous mixture, particles turn the liquid into a light blue homogeneous mixture
-Hearthstone has the compound of SiO2 (Silicon Dioxide [cations and both elements are a gas])
-Does not react with atoms in the air
-Is not a homogeneous mixture as the closer you get, you can see the small hints of blue
Vall’s hand was starting to hurt and it was getting late in the evening but a scientist’s job is never done. By this point, he was becoming somewhat sick of chemistry and wanted to take a day off.. But that would leave Calibre to do all the work by himself which by the looks from his physical state, could not handle. They were almost done the last phase of testing reactions before their small planed break. Vall was lost in thought for quite a while as for when he blinked almost five times and he shook his head, Calibre was looking at him over his shoulder. “Did you get that?” He asked. “Huh? Oh no.. sorry-” “Don’t worry about it, you seem kinda tired. Why don’t you head home and I can finish up the last bit of this, yeah?” Calibre interrupted as fully turned around to face his lab partner. Said lab partner gave him a look of shock “You sure…? I don’t need to get home right awa-” “Go, I know you have kids at home.” Calibre said sternly as he looked into Vall’s eyes. Vall sighed before nodding and turning around towards his small office. “Call me if you need any help okay?” Vall asked as he took off his lab coat and put on his jacket. From the corner of his eye he saw Calibre nod before he said a quick ‘Cya tomorrow’ before leaving the Lab. Calibre sighed as he turned back towards the heterogeneous mixture of a rock before him… It was going to be a long night.
Calibre’s interpretation of Hearthstone changed as the hours ticked on from fascinating to illogical. No matter how hard he tried, he could not isolate the molecules to their atom state and he really couldn’t find out why either. It seems as though the matter before him had its very own law that varied from Earth’s elements which made things all the more tedious. “Patience, Calibre, patience,” he told himself as he took a closer look at an isolated particle. He noticed that the system in which the electrons moved was almost mesmerizing and yet again, different from Earth’s elements. This new discovery made Calibre smile to himself as some of the anger slowly eased from his shoulders. Yawning, Calibre looked at the clock to see the bright neon 4:17AM flash back at him. Taking off a glove and running a hand through his hair he smiled at all the solutions that they ended up with although, they didn’t come across any pure substances or compounds. Calibre took off the remaining glove, his glasses and his lab coat before putting on his jacket and leaving the lab. His body ached with weariness but he knew that he couldn’t request a day off for it would be so rude to his younger lab partner. As he looked up to the sky, he noticed that it was just barely starting to get light out and that he would have to be at the lab in 4 hours. Sometimes, he wished that they would be more considerate of their scientists, but he knew that it was just the increased amount of hype for finding out more from Pluto. “Goodnight” he said before looking back down as he walked home.