Law of Conservation of Energy
2206 Words
Law of Conservation of Energy : a law of science that states that energy cannot be created or destroyed, but only changed from one form into another or transferred from one object to another.
Calibration of a thermometer was not the hardest thing in the world. In fact, it was pretty easy.
All you really needed was a substance that you knew definitely the boiling point and the freezing point.
And water was that substance. Water boils at 100 degrees Celsius and freezes at 0 degrees Celsius.
As a pharmacy student, while Ebony knew the boiling and freezing points of various substances, she also knew that water was the most accessible and the easiest substance to use in a jiffy.
Uncorking the strengthened beaker, she walked to the sink in the room before realizing she could not operate the tap.
“Ulrich, please I need a little water. Can you help me with this?”
Ulrich used his index finger to draw a cross over the tap and the water came gushing out.
“Thank you.”
Ebony placed the beaker under the flow, filled it halfway and returned to the table. She put the beaker to her right and began to examine the Temperature-monitoring rod.
The rod was divided into seven different regions. All equal and all differently coloured. The colours were indigo, violet, blue, green, yellow, orange and red. Indigo was at the bottom of the rod, while red was at the top.
Her plan was to first immerse the rod in freezing water so she could determine the equivalent of 0 degrees Celsius on the rod.
Then she would immerse the rod in boiling water to determine the equivalent of 100 degrees Celsius.
The coloured regions within the range would then be divided accordingly to obtain what each region represented.
Picking up the beaker again, she corked it and put the rod through one of the holes she drilled, with water swishing round it and turned to Ferdinand. “Prince, I need your help.”
Ferdinand also turned to face her, leaning his hip on the table. “I’m listening.”
“Can you please freeze the water in this beaker?”
He reached and took the beaker from her. “Freeze the water?”
“Yes. Freeze it all through please.”
Ebony initially planned to ask Ulrich to do the heating and the cooling during the distillation but since the Prince was here and according to Reuentahl, had enough power to go round, then why not use him.
“Okay, then.”
Ferdinand held the beaker in one hand and Ebony watched in increasing awe as ice formed where his fingers came in contact with the glass and began to spread outward.
Within seconds, the entire beaker was totally frozen, like it had been stuck in the freezer for days and forgotten.
He placed the beaker on the table. “Is that fine?”
It was more than fine. It was excellent. “Yes, it is very fine, Prince.”
She waited for a while to allow the thermometer to measure the temperature accurately and give a good reading.
Ebony began to struggle with the task of removing the Temperature-monitoring rod from the beaker without breaking the glass or damaging the rod itself.
Finally, she pulled the rod out with a grunt. Raisin the Temperature-monitoring rod to the light, she noted where the indicator marked. Exactly at the line between the violet and the blue region.
Ebony smiled. 0 degrees Celsius, check. Next, 100 degrees Celsius.
She returned the rod to its position and handed the beaker back to Ferdinand.
“Please boil the water.”
This time around, Ferdinand placed the beaker back on the table. With a wave of his hand, the beaker levitated a small distance over the wood and a small bright blue flame burned intensely underneath it. In no time, the ice in the beaker began to melt.
It was a pretty sight but Ebony’s mind rebelled against it.
The freezing, she could accept. Somehow. But seeing a flame burn without any fuel, it just did not sit right with her. Why?
The law of conservation of energy.
Energy cannot be created or destroyed. It can only be transformed from one form to the other.
For a fire to burn, to give off energy as heat, it needs to source the energy from something. It needs something to fuel it.
So how? How was a flame burning without any fuel in any form? No gas, no kerosene, no petrol, no wood. Not even paper.
This world had magic, yes, but this was one of the most fundamental principles of the universe and the fire in front of her was ignoring it merrily. It just had to be explained somehow.
She tilted her head to look at Ferdinand. This was a person who threatened to kill her a mere fifteen minutes ago. How could she ask him about the flame and its fuel source.
Ebony returned to stare at the beaker. The ice had completely melted and the water was beginning to bubble gently. Like the blue persistent flame, curiosity burned deep within her. She had to ask.
Clearing her throat, she asked in a subdued voice, “Prince, the flame…how did you…uhm…conjure it?”
“Conjure?” Ferdinand asked, in a confused tone.
“Yes. I mean, how is the fire burning with no fuel?”
“Fuel? I’m afraid I don’t understand you, Ebony.”
Ebony took a deep breath and tried to explain. “One of the most fundamental principles of the world and the universe is that energy cannot be created or destroyed. It can only be recycled. That is, energy can only come from already existing energy. So the heat, or heat energy, that is melting the ice is from the flam. Where is the flame getting its energy from? What is fueling it?”
Ferdinand tapped the table and hummed as he gave her question a thought. “If there is to be a fuel, then the fuel is from me. My magic.”
“Your magic.”
“Yes, my magic.”
Ebony scrunched her brows. What did that mean?
Ferdinand saw her reaction and said, “Let me explain it in this manner. Everyone in this world is born with a pool of…energy…let’s use your word…a pool of “energy” in them. That energy is called magic. It is out of that pool of power that we are all able to do the simple things like opening a tap, or freezing and boiling water. Speaking of which, the water has boiled, Ebony.”
Ebony started. She had totally forgotten about the water. The flame disappeared and the beaker gently returned to the table’s surface.
Carefully, so as not to get burnt by the steam, Ebony removed the Temperature-monitoring rod and noted the point that was measured.
Right at the top. At the end of the red region.
She quickly counted how many coloured regions lay between 0 degrees and 100 degrees. Five.
A hundred degrees divided by five regions was equal to twenty. Therefore, each of the coloured regions represented a 20 degree increase in temperature. And since alcohol boiled at approximately eighty degrees, once the temperature got to the boundary between the orange and red region, then she would know that the alcohol was boiling out and to switch off the heating source soon.
Putting that aside, she beckoned to Ferdinand to continue his explanation.
“Where was I? Yes, the pool of energy. To cast spells and draws runes, we have to expel energy from ourselves. The energy we expel is, of course, in proregion to the work that has to be done. Unlocking a door, opening a tap; all it takes is a breath. Barely worth any notice. But constructing, farming, healing are all very power-intensive tasks so it takes a lot of energy to accomplish those tasks.”
Ferdinand paused and looked at his new student. Ebony’s face was a mask of total concentration, she hung on his every word. It was as if she was back in school and receiving a lecture.
“I would love to continue with this topic, Ebony but I think we should leave this discussion for another day and focus on your hand sanitizers.”
“Yes…yes, we should.” Ebony shook her head. That was definitely something to pursue. But at another time.
Now, it was time for coronavirus, hand sanitizers and chemistry.
“Right. Let’s get to work.” Ebony walked to the sink and emptied the entire beaker of the warm water in it. It was on her way back that she realized that Ferdinand’s Strengthening magic had worked and that the beaker had not shattered.
That was a plus.
She took the jar of vodka that Ulrich had brought for her and filled the beaker to three-quarters of the way. She replaced the Temperature-monitoring rod and fixed the connecting tube into the cork.
She also fixed the other end of the connecting tube into the second beaker.
Ebony stepped back to examine the set up. It was fine. She could not see any major flaws. Well, she guessed she would solve anything as it popped up.
Pointing to the first beaker, Ebony said, “Prince, please, I need a flame under this beaker.” Pointing to the second, she added, “And I need cooling magic, like the one you did before, on this beaker.”
“Your wish is my command,” Ferdinand said with a teasing smile.
A flame jumped up under the first beaker, much like the last time and she saw ice flakes form on the outside of the second one.
All she had to do now was to monitor the temperature and make sure nothing went wrong.
As the vodka was heating, Aische opened the door and curtsied. “Milady, the gel has been extracted.”
Already? Ebony asked in her mind. The amount of aloe vera leaves that Aische had to extract the gel from was profuse, so how… Magic. She used magic.
“Thank you, Aische. Can you please bring me a bowl of the gel and three equally-sized small cups?”
Aische blinked at the instruction but agreed. “Of course, milady.”
The vodka began to bubble gently, drawing Ebony’s attention to it. She bent forward and levelled her face with the bubbling beaker. The Temperature-monitoring rod told her that the temperature inside the beaker would soon be at 80 degrees Celsius.
Already, she could see a thin stream of gas passing through the connecting tube and condensing into the cooling beaker. Pure ethanol.
Okay, maybe not pure ethanol. But she was certain that the ethanol concentration within the beaker would be over 90% and that was enough for a fantasy world.
Beside her, Ferdinand and Ulrich watched in silence. They did not understand anything that was going on in the lab but they held their questions and allowed the lady to work.
Aische came back with the required items and placed them on the table. Ebony murmured her thanks but did not shift her gaze from the thermometer.
80 degrees Celsius.
“Prince, please halt the heating.”
Ferdinand obeyed and the flame disappeared. Ebony waited for the gas in the tube to condense in the other beaker and uncoupled the set up.
Ebony glanced at the first beaker, then at the second and back to the first. She knew what to expect in the two beakers. The liquid in the first beaker, which was originally strong vodka, would have been reduced to mostly water and a little alcohol because most of the alcohol, or ethanol, has been distilled and condensed in the second beaker.
Therefore, the second beaker would contain very strong and almost pure alcohol.
She had to test, or taste, it. But the problem was that she could barely hold her liquor and if she got drunk on the alcohol, the distillation process would stop. No distillation, no ethanol and thus, no hand sanitizer.
Uncorking both stoppers, she poured a healthy amount of the liquid in the first beaker into one of the cups Aische had provided and put about five drops of the distilled alcohol in the second one.
She raised her head, smiling nervously at Ulrich and Aische. She needed both of them to try the products. But how would she convince them that the drinks wouldn’t kill them?
“Uhmm, Ulrich, can you hold your liquor?”
Ulrich frowned. “I can try. Is there a problem?”
Not yet. There soon will be.
She asked Aische, “What about you? Can you hold your liquor?”
Aische shook her head. “Barely, milady.”
“Okay, then.”
She pushed the diluted vodka towards Aische and the concentrated alcohol towards Ulrich. “Can you both taste these and tell me what you think?”
Ebony felt Ferdinand tense up beside her and looked up at him to see what the issue was. She soon wished she didn’t.
Ferdinand’s eyes were narrowed, malice glinting in them. She shivered and turned away. His gaze did not hold the same hatred as it did in the carriage but it definitely was not a friendly gaze.
She drew the cups back. “Don’t bother. I’ll drink them myself.”
Ebony raised the first cup to her lips but Ferdinand stopped her before she could sip the vodka.
“Allow me, Ebony,” the Prince said, his hand encircling her wrist.
“You…want to drink…?”
“Yes, I’ll do the tasting myself.”
She nodded slowly, confused and a little scared but handed the cups over to him. He took them from her and sent her a look that clearly told her what would happen if they were poisoned.
Fear made stupid questions flit in Ebony’s head. What if the drinks were actually poisoned?
- Writer
