Doctor Who: 15 Science Lessons To Build Your Own Sonic Screwdriver

14. Illumination

12 Flashlight 10 Dreamland Lighting your way in the dark progressed from campfires and flaming torches to oil lanterns to electric lights and eventually to flashlights compact enough to fit in your pocket. There you go €“ instant illumination in the palm of your hand that can light the darkest path. Frankly, it made modern civilization possible. Most of the time the Doctor has a torch when exploring, but sometimes not. There are times you watch as he switches on the screwdriver and it shines a bright light to guide his way. This was first seen in the animated Dreamland where the Tenth Doctor used the screwdriver as a torch, three times no less. The Eleventh Doctor matched that in Closing Time while exploring the wrecked Cybermen spaceship. Both the Tenth and Eleventh Doctors are tied with four illumination uses apiece. Sonoluminescence creates tiny bubbles in water that contract rapidly and create light. Though there's no water in the immediate area of the screwdriver advances in cavitation methods using other materials in the air could function in the same manner. We'll just have to wait for science to catch up.
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Contributor

An artist and a computer geek before the two became synonymous. Combined them into data visualization which just seemed natural. But my real passion is Doctor Who. I write for the magazine Whotopia with my colleague Jürgen. Presented on my blog, The Doctor and Me, are essays and data analysis of Doctor Who. Working to amass large Doctor Who datasets allows for the analysis of the show unlike anything else. The most recent dataset is every use of the sonic screwdriver which is currently approaching 900. And every time an old episode comes on, there is a chance of spotting yet one more use that was tucked away.