Dr. Stone Season 1 Episode 23 Recap – Wave of Science

Tungsten

Suika gets a kick out of scanning the surrounding area with the telescope. The villagers look through their gem haul and find the scheelite glow just after sunrise. Gen explains that the glowing rocks will make them win against Tsukasa’s army. They’re not far from their goal now that they have the means to make all four components: vacuum tubes, plastics, a microphone, and gold wires.

They’ll have to refine the ores into tungsten. Magma starts working on breaking the rocks down. Kokuyo is surprised that the big man is willing to help and asks Senku what happened back at the cave. Senku remains silent about it.

The next step is to burn the tungsten in a specific heating device, but it won’t be possible in their current forges. Chrome asks him how to build it, but instead of teaching him, Senku challenges Chrome to design one himself using his already-learned knowledge. Chrome accepts the challenge while Senku works on the chemistry.

Kaseki tells them he’s jealous of their friendship. It would have been nice to have friends like them when they were young. Chrome tells him that the two of them are his friends and age doesn’t matter in their line of work. The old craftsman cries joyfully and gets motivated to work even more.

Chrome crafts a huge lens and uses the sun’s power to burn his metals, but the winter sun proves insufficient. They rig a stove below their glass jar and burns gold and lead using the machine. With Magma and Kohaku working in the kiln, they burn iron with a 1500°C melting point.

The heat should have been enough, but they’ll have to aim for higher temperatures to make stronger tungsten.

All Hands on Deck

Senku comes out of the hut with his finished tungsten toothpaste and finds Chrome’s contraption outside. He’s surprised at how ugly the jury-rigged contraption looks. With the entire operation going, they create the most heat-resistant metal in the universe: a tungsten filament.

Senku shows Kaseki an impossible-looking glasswork pump that might be too hard for him to handle. Kaseki agrees to work on it after a high-five from Senku. Suika does the same and works on the electric wires along with her friends.

In the meantime, Senku has to make the first synthetic plastic using coal ash, sodium hydroxide, and formalin.

Seeing their struggle to work in the cold, Senku tasks the warrior group and Chrome to collect coal in the caves. Meanwhile, Senku makes a coal oven that the village workers also used for warmth and cooking as they work on the wires.

Kokuyo praises Senku’s efforts in enriching the lives of the villagers. The former chief can’t help but be proud of having him as their new chief.

Mobile Phone

Gen starts working on crafting manganese batteries, singing to himself as he works so he doesn’t get bored. He’s jamming through his three finished batteries, but Senku suddenly comes in and tells him to make 800 more. Thankfully, Ruri comes in to help him.

Now comes the manufacturing of a microphone by making Rochelle salts capable of turning sound into electricity. By working together day and night, Senku and the Ishigami villagers construct the components for their mobile phone system.

By rigging the batteries, the microphone, and the vacuum tube circuit board together, Senku makes a phone the size of a living room. They finish it before spring arrives and send radio waves around the area.

Our Thoughts

This development is essentially a montage, but they still manage to keep it fun. 3.5/5.