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[My Name is Immaterial]

[snip]

I'm fairly sure that blueturtle mentioned that gravity is the same on this planet as it is on earth, and that we already had a base understanding of it. Could be wrong.

We do have a basic understanding of Newtonian physics, and gravity is .8 of Earth.

[Emral282]

We know that liquids can compress, but do they compress uniformly?
Take various liquids (Water, Blood, Oil, Juice, etc) and compress them, then compare how much each of them compressed.

[blueturtle1134]

I...

...am sick and cannot do this for a bit. Sorry.

[Madman198237]

That's fine, you've been doing well so far.

Being sick gives you an excuse to draft up a rough evolutionary tree! (But seriously, do NOT try to make it more than a rough "And then this feature developed" IF EVEN)

[blueturtle1134]

This world has canyons and the like, yes? If so:

Try to find fossils. Catalog any fossils and note any similarities they may have to current organisms.

Between river canyons and the mines you dug earlier you have access to the following geological strata:

• A layer of uncompressed, recently deposited sedimentary rock
• A light, thin, almost homogenous layer of sandstone
• Denser, more compressed rock
• Another layer of sandstone

A thorough inspection of the mines and canyons yields the following fossil discoveries:

• In the topmost layer, a skull. It is about the size of a dog’s skull, four inches wide, eight long, three tall. There is a pair of holes in the back top of the skull, where the temples would be on a human.
• A few meters down into the second non-sandstone layer, you find a leg bone. It is thin and long, with a joint at one end and a break at the other. It measures 40 cm, but it is evident that a good bit has been broken off. A barrel-shaped structure is attached at one end.
• In the first sandstone layer, a conch shell. As in, a shell with a cone shaped spiral. Looking at it from the top, it spirals clockwise out. It is four inches wide and six tall.

Experiments

Spoiler: Felissan Water Weight Experiment (click to show/hide)

Let's see how water reacts to high pressure, shall we?

The water compresses slightly - the volume goes down by around a fifth.

Spoiler: Immaterial's Simple Refraction Telescope (click to show/hide)

Interesting. I'm assuming that we have telescopes?

Two shaped lenses of glass are used to magnify the heavens.

The magnification achieved is substantial, even at low lengths. Just a few inches of separation gives around 100x.

Spoiler: Immaterial Project: Star Watching (click to show/hide)

Project Proposal: Stars: Do they move in the sky?
Objective: Attempt to determine if stars shift position in the sky over time.
Expected outcome: Understanding the movement of the stars will help us understand if the planet we reside on is fixed in the sky.
Hypothesis: The position of stars will shift over time, eventually returning to an original position.
Method: For a period of 35040 hours (4 years in our world), observe several groups of stars whenever they are most visible, preferably on a nightly basis, if night exists. Record their positions in the sky with a sextant and telescope. At the end of the period, note how or if they shift positions in the night sky.
Materials: 1 Landmark (specifically, large, fixed, and unchanging: ie, a mountaintop or monolith), 1 Telescope, 1 Journal, TBD Pens (quill), TBD Ink Pots, and 1 Sextant.

Almost at the first night, you notice that stars do seem to rise and set over time! A few days and drawings later, you've concluded that the stars don't move relative to each other, and that they rotate with the same period as the sun, aka 24 hours.

(edit)

The locations of the stars are found to vary with the seasons. No change in axial tilt or direction (liberation/precession/nutation) is visible.

Spoiler: OceanSoul Water Refraction (click to show/hide)

OS Test #1- Basic Water Refraction
Aim a laser light an a 45 degree angle to the bottom of a rectangular container with a flat stone bottom, glass sides, and no top. Then fill the container with water, and observe how the point illuminated by the laser moves.

We haven't got lasers, but this can be done with a flashlight.

The beam seems to bend to 33 degrees after hitting the water. This calculator may be relevant for real-world physics.

Spoiler: OceanSoul Biology (click to show/hide)

OS Question #1- Basic Biology
Is there any known natural life in this universe, other than us foreigners? Does plant life exist? Does it exist in similar forms?

We aren't foreigners; we're assuming the position of humans that evolved in this universe. On a superficial level, we appear the same as real world humans, as does most of the flora and fauna.

There's a very common omnivore that looks like a dog with an anteater's snout that inhabits grasslands.

Spoiler: OceanSoul Oil and Water (click to show/hide)

OS Test #2- Oil and Water
Pour water into a glass container, then oil. Observe how the two coexist, then attempt to stir.

The oil sinks below the water; no amount of stirring can merge them.

Spoiler: OceanSoul Temperature and Phase Change (click to show/hide)

OS Test #3- Basic Temperature Study: Boiling/Freezing, and Daily Fluxuations
Fill a glass container with water, provide it a thermometer, then heat it until it boils. At what temperature does it boil, and what phenomena are observable? Do the same, but freezing it instead. Lastly, check what the temperature is in the general air every 15 minutes over a 72 hour period.

At a certain temperature, dubbed "100C", agitated bubbles begin to form throughout the water, which then merge with the air and disappear, reducing the volume of water.

At another temperature, dubbed "0C", the water freezes to ice, which promptly sinks.

Temperature in general air is a superficial similarity.

Spoiler: Madman's Astronomical Survey (click to show/hide)

However, I will ask for that telescope to be used to scan the surface of our moon (We DO have one, right? Otherwise life would be much, MUCH less possible on Earth).

Also...
Set up a skywatching program, figure out if there are any planets/not-stars in the sky. Things that don't move with the background of stars.

We have one moon, an ominous red disk hanging in the sky, maybe 1/4 the size of Real Moon. Telescopic surveys show smooth areas as well as a few craters.

We can see three planets so far. One clearly orbits closer to the Sun, one clearly orbits farther, and another wobbles around a single point in the night sky.

Spoiler: Immaterial's Size Estimates (click to show/hide)

Project Proposal: Estimating the Size of the Planet
Objective: Estimate the diameter, circumference, and volume of the planet.
Expected outcome: Having an estimate of these metrics can help us understand the cosmology of the solar system better.
Hypothesis: N/A
Method: Replicate Eratosthenes's attempt to measure the size of the Earth. Measure the distance between two arbitrarily distant points, one of which is on the equator, determined by the measurements made in the seasonal observations. The other point should be directly north or south. Erect a tall pole at the location not on the equator. When it is noon on the summer solstice, measure the length of the pole's shadow, and the height of the pole. Use trigonometry to determine the angle of the shadow. Divide 360 degrees by the angle, and multiply the distance between the two points to achieve the circumference of the Earth. Use basic geometry to determine the other three values.
Materials: 1 Researcher, 1 Shovel, 1 Pole, 1 Ruler, 1 Journal, 1 Pen (quill), 1 Ink Pot.

Project Proposal: Estimating the Distance Between the Planet and the Moon.
Objective: Estimate the distance between the planet we reside on and its moon.
Expected outcome: This number can be used to calculate further astronomical figures.
Hypothesis: N/A
Method: Replicate Hipparchus 's attempt to measure the distance between the Earth and the moon with the Planet and its own moon. I will not relate it here, because I'm not very familiar with the math. Use this to value to make estimates as to the size of the moon.
Materials: 2 Researcher, 2 Sextants, 2 Journals, 2 Pens (quill), 2 Ink Pots.

Project Proposal: Estimating the Distance Between the Planet and Cassini.
Objective: Estimate the distance between the planet we reside on and the planet I have decided to refer to as Cassini, instead of "not the close one, the one we're on, or the wobbling one, the other one".
Expected outcome: This number can be used to calculate further astronomical figures.
Hypothesis: N/A
Method: Replicate Giovanni Domenico Cassini's attempt to measure the distance between the Earth and Mars with the Planet and Cassini. I will not relate it here, because I'm not very familiar with a lot of this stuff. Then, use that method to estimate distances between other planetary bodies, including the sun.
Materials: 2 Researcher, 2 Sextants, 2 Journals, 2 Pens (quill), 2 Ink Pots.

Radius of Earth: 6,350 km
Distance to Moon: 542,550 km
Distance to Cassini: 130 million km

These are all estimates, but even as estimates, they broaden our horizons considerably and humble everyone on Earth.

Spoiler: Paxiecrunchle's Gas Compression (click to show/hide)

I have a simple hypothesis to put out there, perhaps since liquids appear to be acting more like gas is in this universe, gases might behave more like liquids?

Let's see if gases are still compressible, I'm not quite sure of a method for this though.

The gas compresses.

Spoiler: Felissan Flag Experiment (click to show/hide)

Measuring the speeds of sound and light:
Give 2 researchers a bell and a flag. Set them up in a field at a relatively long distance. The first researcher rings his bell, and the second one waits to hear it to ring his own 2 seconds later to account for reaction time. The first researcher measures the interval between the moments when he rung his bell and he heard the second one and calculates the speed of sound based on it.
Afterwards, they repeat the same experience with the flags by raising it when waiting and waving it as the signal.
If any signal seems to travel instantly, experiments to measure its speed will be postponed to when we get appropriate material for the experiment.

Doesn't work.

I mean, I don't understand how the two-second delay "compensates for reaction time", but either way you can't detect this sort of thing with a field and a bell.

Try harder.


(addendum)

The field-and-bell experiment will work, in fact.

Now, 1 rings his bell. 5 seconds later, 2 hears it. Instead of having slow reactions and ringing his bell late, he instead counts to two, and rings HIS bell.

1 hears the second bell, subtracts 2 seconds, and divides by 2. This is now the time required for the sound to travel from one end of the area to the other.

If the given distance was not enough, move backwards and try again. This is !!SCIENCE!!, people. Not some game where you give up if something goes wrong.

Ah, now I understand.

You still can't determine anything over the distance the bell can be heard.

Spoiler: Madman's Telescopic Survey of Cassini (click to show/hide)

Point the telescope at the planet that sort of wobbles in the sky, and watch it for a long time. What does it do, what does it look like?
[/b]

It's a dusty sort of yellowish orange, with something that looks like channels and rivers on it. Clear ice caps can be seen at the top and bottom.

Spoiler: Paxiecrunchle's Plant Tissue Disollution (click to show/hide)

Also we should probably examine some living cells from this universe and see if we can draw any conclusions just from looking at them, obviously fluids behaving differently in this universe will affect the way that cells function overall.

-attempt to dissolve some plant tissue with a strong acid, runs spectroscopy on it? This hopefully should give us some idea of the chemical composition of life on this alternate universe.

Yeah, you actually have strong acids.

The plant tissue dissolves in the acid and the resultant cell goop rather quickly splits into several layers:

• Clear oily layer at the top
• Thin, murky-purple film of semisolid stuff
• Clear yellowish oily layer
• Thick semisolid layer at the bottom

Spoiler: Glass's Plant Tissue Burning (click to show/hide)

Try burning the different parts of the plant that we got dissolved, to see how each one reacts.

Clear oily stuff: After prolonged exposure to heat source, burns with somewhat cloudy flame
Purple fluid: Decreases in volume, wisps of steam come off.
Yellow oily stuff: Doesn’t burn.
Thick goo at bottom: Doesn’t burn.

Spoiler: Madman’s Long Term Tracking of Cassini (click to show/hide)

Do a long-term study of the planet that wobbles in the sky.

Does it EVER leave the nighttime sky? Is it always present? How fast is it moving?


And what point is it wobbling around? Is there anything there?

Ah, crap. Please don't be what I think it might be, please don't be what I think it might be...

It is in the same place relative to the sun - 60 degrees west.

As you watch, that angle widens by a few tenths in a few months.

Spoiler: Immaterial Survey of the Depths (click to show/hide)

I like this; hopefully the geological work I'm planning will lead to some more Tools.

And I couldn't wait, I wanted to post a couple more experiments.

Project Proposal: Estimating the Mass of The Planet
Objective: Estimate the mass of The Planet.
Expected outcome: Having an estimate of this metric can help us understand the geological makeup of our planet, and of others.
Hypothesis: N/A
Method: Assuming we already know F_grav for an object at sea level and G, the gravitational constant, take the radius of The Planet we derived earlier, and an imaginary 1 kg weight, and plug them into F_grav=G*(m₁+m₂)/d, solving for m₂. Rewritten: m₂ = G * The Planet's radius * F_grav - 1 Kilogram
Materials: 1 Researcher, 1 Journal, 1 Pen (quill), 1 Ink Pot.

Project Proposal: Dirt: But What IS Dirt?
Objective: Attempt to discern the geological composition of The Planet.
Expected outcome: Understanding the geology of The Planet will help us discover new minerals, understand how The Planet works, and inform density calculations.
Hypothesis: That The Planet's geology is relatively uniform in a vertical context.
Method: Have several shafts dug, sloping down as steeply as is safe. Catalogue the recovered minerals for later experimentation.
Materials: 1 Researcher, TBD Research Assistants, TBD Miners, TBD Mining Equipment, 1 Journal, 1 Pen (quill), 1 Ink Pot.

Project Proposal: What's The Planet Made Of?
Objective: Attempt to determine the greater geological composition of The Planet.
Expected outcome: Understanding the general composition of our planet will help us understand the nature of planetary bodies, and could lead to some important realizations about the deeper nature of The Planet.
Hypothesis: That The Planet has a relatively uniform density.
Method: From the previous experiment, weigh the recovered minerals. Measure the volume of the mines they were removed from, and calculate the density. Compare it to the estimated density we can derive from the previously calculated size and mass of the planet.
Materials: TBD Scales (huge), 1 Researcher, 1 Journal, 1 Pen (quill), 1 Ink Pot.

I’ll just lump these together into one “survey of the depths”.


The mass of the planet is estimated to be 6.18×10^24 kg. The density is around 3.9, much more than the 2.4 maximum observed in our samples, so it must get denser later on. By the way, gravity here is 0.8 G. I used this converter and have retconned the planet radius to 7,250.

The mines hit rock soon enough. Rocks we pulled from the mines are mostly bits of quartz and sedimentary rock.

Around forty feet down, however, you encounter a near-uniform layer of yellow sandstone.

Then more various rock.

Then a near-identical layer of sandstone.


Around then both mine and miners give out.

Spoiler: Paxiecrunchle Chicken Bones and Acid (click to show/hide)

Experiment All right, I post test buy some materials from the locals referred to as "acids neutrals and bases quote   Also buy some "animal bones"  from the locals for obtain them ourselves .

Some chicken bones are found to be dissolved. The acid bubbles against the outer layers of the bone.

After several minutes, the outside becomes flakey to the touch and begins falling off.

Whacking the bone causes the outer white layer to fall off completely, revealing a yellow, porous, and less dense core.

Spoiler: Glass Salt Experiment (click to show/hide)

Put some strong acids and strong bases together. I want to see if they interact the same way as they do in our world.

You get salt.

I mean, you can't really tell which is base and which is acid, but two corrosive substances react to form dry, white powder.

Note that no water is created.

Spoiler: Glass's Salt and Cabbage (click to show/hide)

Add salt to water and try to figure out whether it became more basic or more acidic.

Red cabbage?

Nothing.

Yes, nothing. The cabbage doesn't change color at all.

I'm sorry, were you expecting something?

Spoiler: Madman's Optics (click to show/hide)

Build a very large glassworks, and start messing with parabolic mirrors.


Build a reflecting telescope, and test its properties. Just to make sure. Compare it to the refracting telescope.

Both work! Parabolic mirrors direct all light from a parallel line to their focus, just like in real optics. Reflecting telescopes work great. However, since the refractor has much better magnification - and, incidentally, absolutely no chromatic aberration - there's no real reason to use reflectors.

Spoiler: Paxiecrunchle's Water Combustibility (click to show/hide)

I theorize that the water is somehow structurally diffrent and is now generally flammable when heated

 I propose an experiment to test this glorious new idea!   Let's see if the tub, preferably one tub of warm water and then toss a flaming match onto it.

The match goes out.

It ain't that obvious, buddy.

Spoiler: Felissan's Igneous Rock Sample (click to show/hide)

On the same subject, I suggest taking a sample of lava after it has cooled to ambient temperature, and study its composition to see what type of stone it's closest to.

Basalt.

I mean, I can't really get more specific without hours of study of real-world mineralogy and specific requests as to location, but volcanoes produce basalt, got it?

It's kinda self referential - do not assume this is the same as IRL basalt.

Spoiler: Glass's Red Cabbage Test (click to show/hide)

Put various pieces of red cabbage into various dissolving liquids, with each piece put with each container for each liquid. We can start testing stuff with them if we can get any sort of reading based on this.
If it doesn't work, start putting other materials in, and see if they react in a way that we can use.

It actually works!

Water: ██████
Lemon juice: ██████
Blood: ██████
Lye: ██████

Spoiler: Madman's Larger Telescope (click to show/hide)

Interesting.

Make a larger refractor, as large as can be made, and test its optical properties.

It...

...refracts more.

There's still not even a hint of chromatic aberration, and pointing it at the night sky reveals that IT'S FULL OF STARS!

Spoiler: Madic Pile (click to show/hide)

Make a Voltaic pile. What happens?

Absolutely nothing. You put dissimilar metals between brine and hook it up to a dead frog and nothing happens.

TRY HARDER.

Spoiler: Fossils! (click to show/hide)

This world has canyons and the like, yes? If so:

Try to find fossils. Catalog any fossils and note any similarities they may have to current organisms.

Between river canyons and the mines you dug earlier you have access to the following geological strata:

• A layer of uncompressed, recently deposited sedimentary rock
• A light, thin, almost homogenous layer of sandstone
• Denser, more compressed rock
• Another layer of sandstone

A thorough inspection of the mines and canyons yields the following fossil discoveries:

• In the topmost layer, a skull. It is about the size of a dog’s skull, four inches wide, eight long, three tall. There is a pair of holes in the back top of the skull, where the temples would be on a human.
• A few meters down into the second non-sandstone layer, you find a leg bone. It is thin and long, with a joint at one end and a break at the other. It measures 40 cm, but it is evident that a good bit has been broken off. A barrel-shaped structure is attached at one end.
• In the first sandstone layer, a conch shell. As in, a shell with a cone shaped spiral. Looking at it from the top, it spirals clockwise out. It is four inches wide and six tall.

Materials

• Dissolved plant goop
• Sample of basalt
• Partially Dissolved Chicken Leg
• Non-functioning Voltaic Pile
• Fossils

Confidence in Science Percentage: 7.21591% (+0.12021%)

(Confidence attrition is now mult 0.95 every day, so that at full confidence you need to discover 10 things a day to keep the conspiracy nuts at bay.)

[Madman198237]

When I said "test its optical properties" I was really looking for a number describing how good my newest zoom setting is.


Take the Voltaic pile and make more. About 99 more. Then, wire them up and see if I can get an electrical spark to jump between two metal wires.

(Sorry, but I'm tired and can't be bothered to research and describe the proper way to extract electricity from a Voltaic pile. However, unless I'm BADLY mistaken, a dead frog generally has little to do with the process)

[blueturtle1134]

When I said "test its optical properties" I was really looking for a number describing how good my newest zoom setting is.


Take the Voltaic pile and make more. About 99 more. Then, wire them up and see if I can get an electrical spark to jump between two metal wires.

(Sorry, but I'm tired and can't be bothered to research and describe the proper way to extract electricity from a Voltaic pile. However, unless I'm BADLY mistaken, a dead frog generally has little to do with the process)

As I've mentioned, I dug myself into a bit of an idiot hole with electrochemistry. I made some changes to voltaic piles that I'm going to take a bit to think over.

However, I can reassure you that a dead frog had nothing to do with the process - that was an earlier experiment.

Also telescopes aren't really limited by their magnification, they're limited by resolution and light gathering capacity. Your telescope magnifies more than it can resolve, so it just displays a bunch of blobs when you use it.

[Madman198237]

OK.

Crap, now I've got to learn optic myself. I KNEW that, I just didn't remember it.


Darn you, making me think about the science that is going to be the rest of my life!

[My Name is Immaterial]

Theory: Geological Formation
Summary: The upper layers of the planet's geology are the result of gradual sedimentation. The different rock layers are likely a result of climate shifts, leading to different types of sedimentation.
Evidence for: Immaterial Project: Survey of the Depths
Evidence against: N/A
Counterpoint: We do not have any fossil evidence that would indicate climate shifts.
Counterpoint resolution: Investigate the recovered rocks for fossils.

Project Proposal: Fossils and Climate Shifts
Objective: Determine whether or not fossil records indicate a shift in climate.
Expected outcome: Fossil records will indicate a shift in climate.
Hypothesis: The planet has experienced shifts in climate, leading to the creation of different geological layers.
Method: Sort through the recovered rocks for any signs of fossils, sorting any found by geological layer. Examine the fossils for signs that indicate the type of climate they existed in.
Materials: 1 Researcher, 1 Journal, 1 Pen (quill), 1 Ink Pot, TBD Research Assistants.

Did this experiment get mushed together with the other fossil one?

[blueturtle1134]

Theory: Geological Formation
Summary: The upper layers of the planet's geology are the result of gradual sedimentation. The different rock layers are likely a result of climate shifts, leading to different types of sedimentation.
Evidence for: Immaterial Project: Survey of the Depths
Evidence against: N/A
Counterpoint: We do not have any fossil evidence that would indicate climate shifts.
Counterpoint resolution: Investigate the recovered rocks for fossils.

Project Proposal: Fossils and Climate Shifts
Objective: Determine whether or not fossil records indicate a shift in climate.
Expected outcome: Fossil records will indicate a shift in climate.
Hypothesis: The planet has experienced shifts in climate, leading to the creation of different geological layers.
Method: Sort through the recovered rocks for any signs of fossils, sorting any found by geological layer. Examine the fossils for signs that indicate the type of climate they existed in.
Materials: 1 Researcher, 1 Journal, 1 Pen (quill), 1 Ink Pot, TBD Research Assistants.

Did this experiment get mushed together with the other fossil one?

Yup. Problem with that?

[My Name is Immaterial]

No, I was just hoping for more clues regarding climate shifts. A skull, a tool, and a shell are difficult to extrapolate from. What do you recommend to get more information on these issues? More digging?

[FallacyofUrist]

Hm. Is there any tilt in the layers of rock? Are there any faults present?

[blueturtle1134]

No, I was just hoping for more clues regarding climate shifts. A skull, a tool, and a shell are difficult to extrapolate from. What do you recommend to get more information on these issues? More digging?

Pressure me to put more effort into ecology and geology, because I really didn't - I've been focusing on physics and chemistry so far. I literally don't have that much to give you.

Also, dig deeper. There is more interesting (i.e. not yet written) info deeper underground.

Hm. Is there any tilt in the layers of rock? Are there any faults present?

You know what? It's time to flesh out the setting of this story a bit.

I'll be back with a map.

[blueturtle1134]

My threads do not die, they just kind of hibernate.

Experiment 1:Try putting salt on skinned frog leg, of a recently dead frog, preferably I don't want us to start vivisection things already.

 Hypothesis: the last froggy experiment produced no movement perhaps because frogs have a differently structured, and electrically resistant skin in this reality,  if this is true, then the muscles should still when react to the salt by retracting and twitching.(this[dead animals muscles being made to twitch with salt] does happen IRL, I'm not making this up)

Secondary hypothesis: If no reaction is produced perhaps muscles and Evers in these animals function entirely differently.

The muscles actually tense up upon contact with the salt. You slit the leg, pour the salt on the muscles, and all the muscles tense and strain a little. After around half an hour, they relax again and cannot be further stimulated.

Take the Voltaic pile and make more. About 99 more. Then, wire them up and see if I can get an electrical spark to jump between two metal wires.

(Sorry, but I'm tired and can't be bothered to research and describe the proper way to extract electricity from a Voltaic pile. However, unless I'm BADLY mistaken, a dead frog generally has little to do with the process)

People interested in electronics and chemistry should get used to this response, as these subjects have been kicked around the most brutally:

Zinc anode. Copper cathode. Salt water electrolyte. Copper wire.

Nothing happens.

Hm. Is there any tilt in the layers of rock? Are there any faults present?

The rock layers are tilted, and the tilt increases noticeably as they get further down. They're tilted to the southwest, away from the ocean.

I'll have a map later today.

Experiments

Spoiler: Felissan Water Weight Experiment (click to show/hide)

Let's see how water reacts to high pressure, shall we?

The water compresses slightly - the volume goes down by around a fifth.

Spoiler: Immaterial's Simple Refraction Telescope (click to show/hide)

Interesting. I'm assuming that we have telescopes?

Two shaped lenses of glass are used to magnify the heavens.

The magnification achieved is substantial, even at low lengths. Just a few inches of separation gives around 100x.

Spoiler: Immaterial Project: Star Watching (click to show/hide)

Project Proposal: Stars: Do they move in the sky?
Objective: Attempt to determine if stars shift position in the sky over time.
Expected outcome: Understanding the movement of the stars will help us understand if the planet we reside on is fixed in the sky.
Hypothesis: The position of stars will shift over time, eventually returning to an original position.
Method: For a period of 35040 hours (4 years in our world), observe several groups of stars whenever they are most visible, preferably on a nightly basis, if night exists. Record their positions in the sky with a sextant and telescope. At the end of the period, note how or if they shift positions in the night sky.
Materials: 1 Landmark (specifically, large, fixed, and unchanging: ie, a mountaintop or monolith), 1 Telescope, 1 Journal, TBD Pens (quill), TBD Ink Pots, and 1 Sextant.

Almost at the first night, you notice that stars do seem to rise and set over time! A few days and drawings later, you've concluded that the stars don't move relative to each other, and that they rotate with the same period as the sun, aka 24 hours.

(edit)

The locations of the stars are found to vary with the seasons. No change in axial tilt or direction (liberation/precession/nutation) is visible.

Spoiler: OceanSoul Water Refraction (click to show/hide)

OS Test #1- Basic Water Refraction
Aim a laser light an a 45 degree angle to the bottom of a rectangular container with a flat stone bottom, glass sides, and no top. Then fill the container with water, and observe how the point illuminated by the laser moves.

We haven't got lasers, but this can be done with a flashlight.

The beam seems to bend to 33 degrees after hitting the water. This calculator may be relevant for real-world physics.

Spoiler: OceanSoul Biology (click to show/hide)

OS Question #1- Basic Biology
Is there any known natural life in this universe, other than us foreigners? Does plant life exist? Does it exist in similar forms?

We aren't foreigners; we're assuming the position of humans that evolved in this universe. On a superficial level, we appear the same as real world humans, as does most of the flora and fauna.

There's a very common omnivore that looks like a dog with an anteater's snout that inhabits grasslands.

Spoiler: OceanSoul Oil and Water (click to show/hide)

OS Test #2- Oil and Water
Pour water into a glass container, then oil. Observe how the two coexist, then attempt to stir.

The oil sinks below the water; no amount of stirring can merge them.

Spoiler: OceanSoul Temperature and Phase Change (click to show/hide)

OS Test #3- Basic Temperature Study: Boiling/Freezing, and Daily Fluxuations
Fill a glass container with water, provide it a thermometer, then heat it until it boils. At what temperature does it boil, and what phenomena are observable? Do the same, but freezing it instead. Lastly, check what the temperature is in the general air every 15 minutes over a 72 hour period.

At a certain temperature, dubbed "100C", agitated bubbles begin to form throughout the water, which then merge with the air and disappear, reducing the volume of water.

At another temperature, dubbed "0C", the water freezes to ice, which promptly sinks.

Temperature in general air is a superficial similarity.

Spoiler: Madman's Astronomical Survey (click to show/hide)

However, I will ask for that telescope to be used to scan the surface of our moon (We DO have one, right? Otherwise life would be much, MUCH less possible on Earth).

Also...
Set up a skywatching program, figure out if there are any planets/not-stars in the sky. Things that don't move with the background of stars.

We have one moon, an ominous red disk hanging in the sky, maybe 1/4 the size of Real Moon. Telescopic surveys show smooth areas as well as a few craters.

We can see three planets so far. One clearly orbits closer to the Sun, one clearly orbits farther, and another wobbles around a single point in the night sky.

Spoiler: Immaterial's Size Estimates (click to show/hide)

Project Proposal: Estimating the Size of the Planet
Objective: Estimate the diameter, circumference, and volume of the planet.
Expected outcome: Having an estimate of these metrics can help us understand the cosmology of the solar system better.
Hypothesis: N/A
Method: Replicate Eratosthenes's attempt to measure the size of the Earth. Measure the distance between two arbitrarily distant points, one of which is on the equator, determined by the measurements made in the seasonal observations. The other point should be directly north or south. Erect a tall pole at the location not on the equator. When it is noon on the summer solstice, measure the length of the pole's shadow, and the height of the pole. Use trigonometry to determine the angle of the shadow. Divide 360 degrees by the angle, and multiply the distance between the two points to achieve the circumference of the Earth. Use basic geometry to determine the other three values.
Materials: 1 Researcher, 1 Shovel, 1 Pole, 1 Ruler, 1 Journal, 1 Pen (quill), 1 Ink Pot.

Project Proposal: Estimating the Distance Between the Planet and the Moon.
Objective: Estimate the distance between the planet we reside on and its moon.
Expected outcome: This number can be used to calculate further astronomical figures.
Hypothesis: N/A
Method: Replicate Hipparchus 's attempt to measure the distance between the Earth and the moon with the Planet and its own moon. I will not relate it here, because I'm not very familiar with the math. Use this to value to make estimates as to the size of the moon.
Materials: 2 Researcher, 2 Sextants, 2 Journals, 2 Pens (quill), 2 Ink Pots.

Project Proposal: Estimating the Distance Between the Planet and Cassini.
Objective: Estimate the distance between the planet we reside on and the planet I have decided to refer to as Cassini, instead of "not the close one, the one we're on, or the wobbling one, the other one".
Expected outcome: This number can be used to calculate further astronomical figures.
Hypothesis: N/A
Method: Replicate Giovanni Domenico Cassini's attempt to measure the distance between the Earth and Mars with the Planet and Cassini. I will not relate it here, because I'm not very familiar with a lot of this stuff. Then, use that method to estimate distances between other planetary bodies, including the sun.
Materials: 2 Researcher, 2 Sextants, 2 Journals, 2 Pens (quill), 2 Ink Pots.

Radius of Earth: 6,350 km
Distance to Moon: 542,550 km
Distance to Cassini: 130 million km

These are all estimates, but even as estimates, they broaden our horizons considerably and humble everyone on Earth.

Spoiler: Paxiecrunchle's Gas Compression (click to show/hide)

I have a simple hypothesis to put out there, perhaps since liquids appear to be acting more like gas is in this universe, gases might behave more like liquids?

Let's see if gases are still compressible, I'm not quite sure of a method for this though.

The gas compresses.

Spoiler: Felissan Flag Experiment (click to show/hide)

Measuring the speeds of sound and light:
Give 2 researchers a bell and a flag. Set them up in a field at a relatively long distance. The first researcher rings his bell, and the second one waits to hear it to ring his own 2 seconds later to account for reaction time. The first researcher measures the interval between the moments when he rung his bell and he heard the second one and calculates the speed of sound based on it.
Afterwards, they repeat the same experience with the flags by raising it when waiting and waving it as the signal.
If any signal seems to travel instantly, experiments to measure its speed will be postponed to when we get appropriate material for the experiment.

Doesn't work.

I mean, I don't understand how the two-second delay "compensates for reaction time", but either way you can't detect this sort of thing with a field and a bell.

Try harder.


(addendum)

The field-and-bell experiment will work, in fact.

Now, 1 rings his bell. 5 seconds later, 2 hears it. Instead of having slow reactions and ringing his bell late, he instead counts to two, and rings HIS bell.

1 hears the second bell, subtracts 2 seconds, and divides by 2. This is now the time required for the sound to travel from one end of the area to the other.

If the given distance was not enough, move backwards and try again. This is !!SCIENCE!!, people. Not some game where you give up if something goes wrong.

Ah, now I understand.

You still can't determine anything over the distance the bell can be heard.

Spoiler: Madman's Telescopic Survey of Cassini (click to show/hide)

Point the telescope at the planet that sort of wobbles in the sky, and watch it for a long time. What does it do, what does it look like?
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It's a dusty sort of yellowish orange, with something that looks like channels and rivers on it. Clear ice caps can be seen at the top and bottom.

Spoiler: Paxiecrunchle's Plant Tissue Disollution (click to show/hide)

Also we should probably examine some living cells from this universe and see if we can draw any conclusions just from looking at them, obviously fluids behaving differently in this universe will affect the way that cells function overall.

-attempt to dissolve some plant tissue with a strong acid, runs spectroscopy on it? This hopefully should give us some idea of the chemical composition of life on this alternate universe.

Yeah, you actually have strong acids.

The plant tissue dissolves in the acid and the resultant cell goop rather quickly splits into several layers:

• Clear oily layer at the top
• Thin, murky-purple film of semisolid stuff
• Clear yellowish oily layer
• Thick semisolid layer at the bottom

Spoiler: Glass's Plant Tissue Burning (click to show/hide)

Try burning the different parts of the plant that we got dissolved, to see how each one reacts.

Clear oily stuff: After prolonged exposure to heat source, burns with somewhat cloudy flame
Purple fluid: Decreases in volume, wisps of steam come off.
Yellow oily stuff: Doesn’t burn.
Thick goo at bottom: Doesn’t burn.

Spoiler: Madman’s Long Term Tracking of Cassini (click to show/hide)

Do a long-term study of the planet that wobbles in the sky.

Does it EVER leave the nighttime sky? Is it always present? How fast is it moving?


And what point is it wobbling around? Is there anything there?

Ah, crap. Please don't be what I think it might be, please don't be what I think it might be...

It is in the same place relative to the sun - 60 degrees west.

As you watch, that angle widens by a few tenths in a few months.

Spoiler: Immaterial Survey of the Depths (click to show/hide)

I like this; hopefully the geological work I'm planning will lead to some more Tools.

And I couldn't wait, I wanted to post a couple more experiments.

Project Proposal: Estimating the Mass of The Planet
Objective: Estimate the mass of The Planet.
Expected outcome: Having an estimate of this metric can help us understand the geological makeup of our planet, and of others.
Hypothesis: N/A
Method: Assuming we already know F_grav for an object at sea level and G, the gravitational constant, take the radius of The Planet we derived earlier, and an imaginary 1 kg weight, and plug them into F_grav=G*(m₁+m₂)/d, solving for m₂. Rewritten: m₂ = G * The Planet's radius * F_grav - 1 Kilogram
Materials: 1 Researcher, 1 Journal, 1 Pen (quill), 1 Ink Pot.

Project Proposal: Dirt: But What IS Dirt?
Objective: Attempt to discern the geological composition of The Planet.
Expected outcome: Understanding the geology of The Planet will help us discover new minerals, understand how The Planet works, and inform density calculations.
Hypothesis: That The Planet's geology is relatively uniform in a vertical context.
Method: Have several shafts dug, sloping down as steeply as is safe. Catalogue the recovered minerals for later experimentation.
Materials: 1 Researcher, TBD Research Assistants, TBD Miners, TBD Mining Equipment, 1 Journal, 1 Pen (quill), 1 Ink Pot.

Project Proposal: What's The Planet Made Of?
Objective: Attempt to determine the greater geological composition of The Planet.
Expected outcome: Understanding the general composition of our planet will help us understand the nature of planetary bodies, and could lead to some important realizations about the deeper nature of The Planet.
Hypothesis: That The Planet has a relatively uniform density.
Method: From the previous experiment, weigh the recovered minerals. Measure the volume of the mines they were removed from, and calculate the density. Compare it to the estimated density we can derive from the previously calculated size and mass of the planet.
Materials: TBD Scales (huge), 1 Researcher, 1 Journal, 1 Pen (quill), 1 Ink Pot.

I’ll just lump these together into one “survey of the depths”.


The mass of the planet is estimated to be 6.18×10^24 kg. The density is around 3.9, much more than the 2.4 maximum observed in our samples, so it must get denser later on. By the way, gravity here is 0.8 G. I used this converter and have retconned the planet radius to 7,250.

The mines hit rock soon enough. Rocks we pulled from the mines are mostly bits of quartz and sedimentary rock.

Around forty feet down, however, you encounter a near-uniform layer of yellow sandstone.

Then more various rock.

Then a near-identical layer of sandstone.


Around then both mine and miners give out.

Spoiler: Paxiecrunchle Chicken Bones and Acid (click to show/hide)

Experiment All right, I post test buy some materials from the locals referred to as "acids neutrals and bases quote   Also buy some "animal bones"  from the locals for obtain them ourselves .

Some chicken bones are found to be dissolved. The acid bubbles against the outer layers of the bone.

After several minutes, the outside becomes flakey to the touch and begins falling off.

Whacking the bone causes the outer white layer to fall off completely, revealing a yellow, porous, and less dense core.

Spoiler: Glass Salt Experiment (click to show/hide)

Put some strong acids and strong bases together. I want to see if they interact the same way as they do in our world.

You get salt.

I mean, you can't really tell which is base and which is acid, but two corrosive substances react to form dry, white powder.

Note that no water is created.

Spoiler: Glass's Salt and Cabbage (click to show/hide)

Add salt to water and try to figure out whether it became more basic or more acidic.

Red cabbage?

Nothing.

Yes, nothing. The cabbage doesn't change color at all.

I'm sorry, were you expecting something?

Spoiler: Madman's Optics (click to show/hide)

Build a very large glassworks, and start messing with parabolic mirrors.


Build a reflecting telescope, and test its properties. Just to make sure. Compare it to the refracting telescope.

Both work! Parabolic mirrors direct all light from a parallel line to their focus, just like in real optics. Reflecting telescopes work great. However, since the refractor has much better magnification - and, incidentally, absolutely no chromatic aberration - there's no real reason to use reflectors.

Spoiler: Paxiecrunchle's Water Combustibility (click to show/hide)

I theorize that the water is somehow structurally diffrent and is now generally flammable when heated

 I propose an experiment to test this glorious new idea!   Let's see if the tub, preferably one tub of warm water and then toss a flaming match onto it.

The match goes out.

It ain't that obvious, buddy.

Spoiler: Felissan's Igneous Rock Sample (click to show/hide)

On the same subject, I suggest taking a sample of lava after it has cooled to ambient temperature, and study its composition to see what type of stone it's closest to.

Basalt.

I mean, I can't really get more specific without hours of study of real-world mineralogy and specific requests as to location, but volcanoes produce basalt, got it?

It's kinda self referential - do not assume this is the same as IRL basalt.

Spoiler: Glass's Red Cabbage Test (click to show/hide)

Put various pieces of red cabbage into various dissolving liquids, with each piece put with each container for each liquid. We can start testing stuff with them if we can get any sort of reading based on this.
If it doesn't work, start putting other materials in, and see if they react in a way that we can use.

It actually works!

Water: ██████
Lemon juice: ██████
Blood: ██████
Lye: ██████

Spoiler: Madman's Larger Telescope (click to show/hide)

Interesting.

Make a larger refractor, as large as can be made, and test its optical properties.

It...

...refracts more.

There's still not even a hint of chromatic aberration, and pointing it at the night sky reveals that IT'S FULL OF STARS!

Spoiler: Madic Pile (click to show/hide)

Make a Voltaic pile. What happens?

Absolutely nothing. You put dissimilar metals between brine and hook it up to a dead frog and nothing happens.

TRY HARDER.

Spoiler: Fossils! (click to show/hide)

This world has canyons and the like, yes? If so:

Try to find fossils. Catalog any fossils and note any similarities they may have to current organisms.

Between river canyons and the mines you dug earlier you have access to the following geological strata:

• A layer of uncompressed, recently deposited sedimentary rock
• A light, thin, almost homogenous layer of sandstone
• Denser, more compressed rock
• Another layer of sandstone

A thorough inspection of the mines and canyons yields the following fossil discoveries:

• In the topmost layer, a skull. It is about the size of a dog’s skull, four inches wide, eight long, three tall. There is a pair of holes in the back top of the skull, where the temples would be on a human.
• A few meters down into the second non-sandstone layer, you find a leg bone. It is thin and long, with a joint at one end and a break at the other. It measures 40 cm, but it is evident that a good bit has been broken off. A barrel-shaped structure is attached at one end.
• In the first sandstone layer, a conch shell. As in, a shell with a cone shaped spiral. Looking at it from the top, it spirals clockwise out. It is four inches wide and six tall.

Hm. Is there any tilt in the layers of rock? Are there any faults present?

The rock layers are tilted, and the tilt increases noticeably as they get further down. They're tilted to the southwest, away from the ocean.

Spoiler: Paxiecrunchle salts a frog (click to show/hide)

Experiment 1:Try putting salt on skinned frog leg, of a recently dead frog, preferably I don't want us to start vivisection things already.

 Hypothesis: the last froggy experiment produced no movement perhaps because frogs have a differently structured, and electrically resistant skin in this reality,  if this is true, then the muscles should still when react to the salt by retracting and twitching.(this[dead animals muscles being made to twitch with salt] does happen IRL, I'm not making this up)

Secondary hypothesis: If no reaction is produced perhaps muscles and Evers in these animals function entirely differently.

The muscles actually tense up upon contact with the salt. You slit the leg, pour the salt on the muscles, and all the muscles tense and strain a little. After around half an hour, they relax again and cannot be further stimulated.

Spoiler: Madman’s Electrics V. 2 (click to show/hide)

Take the Voltaic pile and make more. About 99 more. Then, wire them up and see if I can get an electrical spark to jump between two metal wires.

(Sorry, but I'm tired and can't be bothered to research and describe the proper way to extract electricity from a Voltaic pile. However, unless I'm BADLY mistaken, a dead frog generally has little to do with the process)

People interested in electronics and chemistry should get used to this response, as these subjects have been kicked around the most brutally:

Zinc anode. Copper cathode. Salt water electrolyte. Copper wire.

Nothing happens.

Materials

• Dissolved plant goop
• Sample of basalt
• Partially Dissolved Chicken Leg
• Non-functioning Voltaic Pile
• Fossils

Confidence in Science Percentage: 7.995114% (+0.779204%)

(Confidence attrition is now mult 0.95 every day, so that at full confidence you need to discover 10 things a day to keep the conspiracy nuts at bay.)

[Glass]

Have we checked if ice floats in water?
Let's check if ice floats in water.