Logbook Entry 182: Diamond Heart

This is the second time we have had the use of the word ‘Heart’ in the chapter title, along with a relevant scientific invention. The first time was in Chapter 57 with Heat Heart, the chapter where they first made the tungsten filament. There is a very fitting parallel between that chapter and this one, which I will mention later in this post.

Senku asks Xeno if he will help in research that is intended on petrifying his childhood friend, and Xeno says staying out of it would be more dangerous. Basic research is simply something a scientist does not exclude themselves from. He does, however, add on that in case he lands upon a discovery which Senku is unaware of, he will not share his findings.

Chrome joins the two scientists in their research, though at first, he gets lost when they use terms such as refractive index. This makes it the second time he has participated in a brain storming session with the two (The first being when they were trying to locate Ground Zero). And again, just like the previous time, Xeno does not send him away or belittle him (Showing that to a degree, he respects Chrome as an aspiring scientist)

Chrome’s participation ends up being beneficial, since he finds a diamond that is in top shape. Kohaku manages to find a Medusa with a clean diamond as well (Her vision is quite possibly the best in the series).

She tests out the device using the command for activating the Medusa, but there is no effect. Ukyo compares this to a dormant bomb. Dormant bombs are still discovered around the world today, most of them from the previous two World Wars. Like dormant land mines.

Xeno studies the clean diamond, realizing it is cracked along its cleavage planes. Unlike the charred diamonds which are out of power (Making them unable to function), the cracks in these clean diamonds are the ones rendering them useless. To counter this, Senku decides on making a diamond. And here we have the first parallel with Chapter 57.

The diamond making process makes use of tungsten, which is also the material that they worked with in Heat Heart.

Yo marvels at how such a process could make him rich, displaying more of his (twisted?) sense of morality. Despite being a former police officer. Minami and Kinro wonder how they can make a diamond without a Science expert around. Senku tells them that anyone can work with Science, and it does not belong to specific individuals. This is the same thing he told Taiju in Chapter 150 about Xeno. Must admit, it is lovely seeing such consistency in his character.

For this chemical reaction, they need methanol. This is a VERY poisonous compound. In case any of you are thinking of trying to make diamonds at home, do keep in mind that methanol is fatal. So, proceed with the process at your own risk.

Magma is involved in the process, though with a comical conclusion- He gets blown away. Another parallel with Heat Heart, where he was the one who pounded the tungsten into a fine powder. Back then however, he was the one blowing the tungsten to bits.

A large amount of heat is required for the process as well, which was like the 1000 degrees needed in making the tungsten filament. Yo wonders if they should seek Brody’s help. Nikki says that this is something they should do by themselves, choosing to withhold a piece of information from Brody. In chapter 177, she approached him for help in regards with the Medusa.

This time, she chooses the latter, displaying that she still does not trust him fully. Also reminding us that she is the leader of the Kingdom of Science members left behind in America.

A bit of tinkering later, they successfully manage to complete the diamond. Like with the tungsten filament before, the result is something small. But of course, this being something that was worked on by a lot of people (Such as Ishigami village beforehand), their efforts were not small by any means.

Best thing about this chapter? Seeing the rest of the Kingdom of Science members in America. This series has an insanely rich cast. You can make a case for any of them being your favorite, or favorites. So, having the POV shift between the Stealth Ship and the America group made for a fantastic chapter.

Oh, and Minami did her sleeping pose again. See chapter 85 Page 1 for more of this. She’s very cute, isn’t she?

“Following the same steps yields the same results. That’s the whole point of science.”

The scientific process is the discovery of what those steps are to achieve a result. We see this process twice in this chapter, and it’s one of the best examples of the scientific process we’ve seen since Senku found the revival recipe. It’s when they are testing the endless supply of medusas, and when the Corn City team is trying to follow Senku’s instructions to make a diamond.

Tinkering around is one thing, but you normally begin with a question or goal. What questions were they trying to answer when they were testing the medusa devices?

• How can they be reactivated?

• What causes it to become blackened?

• Why are the blackening patterns different?

• Why are some diamonds not blackened?
  

They were trying to learn the science that Whyman had already developed. However in Corn City, Senku was relaying the science steps across the radio, while the team in Corn City had to use the process to solve problems that came with the task and fill in the gaps.

• Why did it explode when heat was applied?

• Why did the tungsten filament become charred?

Next is a cycle of forming a hypothesis, testing it, learning from it, learning from others, and repeating this until you might call it a success. New questions can pop up during these steps as well. What are some hypotheses that our traveling scientists came up with? What led them to that guess? However, often in Dr. Stone hypotheses can’t be tested to be sure before using them and relying on them to work!

• Covering the ship in medusas will make the ship hard to detect.

• The lack of a pattern in the blackening of the diamonds is caused by damage.

• A medusa that contains a clean diamond can still activate.

• A medusa that contains a clean and flawless diamond can still activate.

In Corn City:

• Some air was in the container when heat was applied.

• The temperature of the tungsten was too low.

The last point I want to make about the process is “learning from others”, which is the scientific community. If a scientist was to do every step of the work alone, he would probably miss some things, and it would take a lot longer than it had to. Unfortunately, this is how Senku had to research the revival recipe, by himself. However, the moment he gets input from Taiju about the grapes, the research gets the boost it needs. It’s always helpful, not to mention fun and interesting, to bring in other minds to find ideas. So much fun, that Xeno can’t help but share his findings.

The diamond research was well above Chrome’s head, but he still noticed something that he thought could be important – a clean diamond. What’s been mentioned before in Dr. Stone is that the villagers such as Kohaku and Chrome have no preconceived notions, and as a result their input can be more creative. In Corn City, they knew full well that they would need to bring all of their brains together to successfully make a diamond and that’s exactly what we saw.

To be honest, everyday people go through this process all the time with all kinds of things, big and small. It’s how we learn and satisfy our curiosity.

Hopefully Dr. Stone inspires fans to find answers to things that they wonder about.

Thank you for coming to Sammzor-sensei’s science lesson (Actually I was a science teacher for a while, can you tell?).