Petrification

The **Petrification** is the catalyst of the events of *Dr. Stone*. The term refers to both global-scale event as well as the phenomenon itself.

Finding the cause and source of the petrification is the central conflict in *Dr. Stone*.

## Synopsis

### Pre-Petrification

Prior to the event, lifelike statues of swallows (the small passerine bird) were being found all across the world. Senku deduced based on their distribution that they were, in fact, actual sparrows being turned to stone rather than some prank involving statues. It was also established that a few of the sparrows were still exhibiting signs of consciousness.

### The Petrification Event

On June 3rd 2019, all of the humans on Earth were mysteriously turned into stone statues after a greenish light swept across the land. Once the light had touched someone, their skin started to become stone-like and they'd be unable to move. The light spread across the planet fairly quickly, and did not appear to be impeded by walls or cast shadows. The six members of the International Space Station crew did not get hit by the beam despite being in orbit. Byakuya estimated from their view on the ISS and from the last updates posted online across the world that the source originated somewhere in South America. From Why-man's radio signal, Senku makes the assumption that they're mimicking the large petrification event from 2019 and assumes that the diameter used was 12,800,000 meters, slightly more than the diameter of the Earth.

Later, Senku and Xeno work together to establish the following about the petrification light from their observations on the ground and the information Byakuya left:

* The petrification light moved like a giant wave across the horizon rather than expanding spherically like the Petrification Weapon did on a small scale.
* Enveloping the Earth took under an hour.
* The wave traveled close to the Earth's surface, approximately 20,000 meters tall.
* As its speed is constant, it was moving at 32,000km/h.
* The origin point was at 3º7'S and 60º1'W. This is the location of Manaus, Amazonas, Brazil.

### Post-Petrification

The Petrification Kingdom suffered an event approximately 100 years before the current events, where Matsukaze and the other Treasure Islanders witnessed "a great number" of petrification devices falling from the sky. Almost all of them were destroyed by Matsukaze's master, but before Matsukaze could destroy the last one he was petrified, leaving the device to be used by the subsequent leaders of the Petrification Kingdom.

Currently, there seems to be no way to undo the petrification on a global scale, only individually using the Revival Fluid.

In the year 5742, another petrification event was launched in order to defeat Stanley Snyder, a soldier bent on rescuing Xeno. This petrification Event was not like the other, in which everyone on Earth was petrified with no apparent survivors. About three years later, Suika emerged from stone and after years of hard work did she finally succeed in reviving all her friends.

## Causes

The exact mechanics of the petrification are unknown, however it is explained that "petrification is the phenomenon wherein organic molecules gain increased resistance via the Higgs field." The source of the ability to start the petrification of a body is by activating the petrification device. The petrification waves are only visible to the species that they are targeting, which is how the swallows were petrified on a global scale without anyone seeing the cause.

## Effects of Petrification

* Creatures affected by the petrification appear to be physically turned to stone, and cannot move or see.
	+ However, as long as the creature can stay focused and conscious, their minds can persist and they can break free once the other conditions for depetrification are met.
	+ Consciousness can also be detected within a statue with an oscilloscope (mistakenly called a potentiometer in the manga) and measuring the voltage, which will produce tiny electrical signals corresponding to brain waves in conscious specimens.
* Only the body turns to stone. Clothes and other inorganic items are unaffected and wear away as time passes.
	+ Body parts separated from the main body also petrify, such as blood or hairs, even if the rest of the person is not petrified.
* Being petrified will also halt the person's aging process, as all modern timers did not age while petrified.
* The internal organ structure of the body is retained.
* All types of injuries can be healed through depetrification. So far, it has fixed Senku's broken neck and revived him from death, cured Mirai's clinical brain death, undone Kaseki's arthritis, and healed Ginro's stab wound. It's even possible to nullify death, as proven with Hyoga who, according to Tsukasa, lost his life after succumbing to his wounds prior to being petrified.
* If the body receives superficial damage through weathering, it may leave black scars. It can be fixed through re-petrification.
	+ If the body is damaged severely, for example broken into small pieces, consciousness may be forcibly stopped as no incomplete statue has ever shown signs of thought while broken.
* Being petrified increases the weight of the bodies, as was shown when Amaryllis's friends abruptly flipped the boat after getting petrified.
* Instantly heals any injuries, even to the point where the damage can be fatal.

The physical properties of the stone given in chapter 157 are:

* Hydrophobia, therefore repels water.
* Varying hardness, with finer parts being the hardest.
* Shortwave electromagnetic radiation causes no visible embrittlement.
* X-ray fluorescence analysis shows the stone is mostly iron with trace amounts of gold. The rest is carbon and nitrogen.
* Almost completely inert, only minuscule ion discharge if nitric acid is applied.
* Dense enough to sink in water but not as dense as typical stone. Possibly porous.
* Electrically conductive.

All of the effects and properties of the stone put together seem to point toward healing and protecting rather than damaging the petrified creature.

## Depetrification

Those afflicted by the petrification can be depetrified ("revived") via two known methods: a combination of maintaining consciousness and being in contact with nitric acid or alternatively being given the Revival Fluid. Senku and Taiju were the first known people to revive completely via the former method, then the American Colony and Chelsea. Later, it is revealed that acid isn't necessarily a requirement as "the stone is made so that it is easier to undo when more brain power is used and maximized."

Broken statue pieces can be depetrified but doing so will result in a 'dead' part. This is fine for the bird feathers, however a completely separated arm for example will stay a gory severed arm after the revival fluid is applied. Despite this, if a statue is turned to rubble and reassembled correctly, the whole body can be revived in-tact. It is unknown what happens to the body if a statue is revived while missing a limb or other part.

It is also possible to avoid petrification by submerging body parts in revival fluid, however the whole body must be submerged or risk the unprotected parts falling off. Splashing revival fluid onto the person during the process also stops it in its tracks.

The depetrification process also sometimes results in fragments coming off the body. It appears to be due to the parts being too damaged to revert to organic parts, and sometimes pieces stay attached to the body until more revival fluid is applied directly, as was the case for Yuzuriha's foot and Senku's neck. These pieces, when fixed, can also heal any injured part they cover. If the body has not been petrified for long, the depetrification does not leave any stone fragments behind.

## Speculation of the Cause

Senku initially had three theories about what caused the petrification:

* Aliens with advanced technology.
* A country trying to develop a weapon, which backfired.
* A new virus.

Since the discovery of the petrification device, the third theory seems unlikely as a normal virus would take too long to change the body in any way. While the weapon theory is still viable, Senku comments that the device is "hyper-tech, beyond anything from the 21st century" and therefore may be outside the limits of any particular country's scientific capabilities. As it stands, Senku believes that the Why-man had something to do with it due to the radio signal. As Why-man's signal is coming from the moon, it leaves the alien idea more likely.

## Trivia

* It is shown that no matter how long a person is petrified, they will not age and remain the same until after depetrifying.
* Bad eyesight cannot be fixed by depetrification, as Kinro, Suika, and Chelsea still need glasses after their respective revivals.
* It's currently unknown if a stab wound or other mortal injury will become black marks upon depetrification or simply be sealed up normally.
* The number of years of petrification can be estimated based on the thickness of the fragments of stone left behind after depetrification, with thicker fragments meaning more time.
* It's possible to avoid full petrification by severing the afflicted limb before it can reach the rest of the body.
* The petrification event likely began at around 11:10:35 P.M. local time.
* "Depetrify" is not an official word in the dictionary, nor is "unpetrify". The first use of "depetrification" in the manga is on chapter 14, page 6.

## References

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Dr. Stone Manga: Chapter 1
2. ↑ Dr. Stone Manga: Chapter 43
3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 Dr. Stone Manga: Chapter 157, Page 7
4. ↑ https://twitter.com/CDCubed/status/993519672392810498?s=20 Day of Petrification calculated.
5. ↑ Dr. Stone Manga: Chapter 44
6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 Dr. Stone Manga: Chapter 138
7. ↑ Dr. Stone Manga: Chapter 171
8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 Dr. Stone Manga: Chapter 139
9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 Dr. Stone Manga: Chapter 146
10. ↑ Dr. Stone Manga: Chapter 232, Page 12
11. ↑ Dr. Stone Manga: Chapter 229, Page 6
12. ↑ 12.0 12.1 Dr. Stone Manga: Chapter 157
13. ↑ Dr. Stone Manga: Chapter 106, Page 11
14. ↑ Dr. Stone Manga: Chapter 122
15. ↑ Dr. Stone Manga: Chapter 194, Page 2
16. ↑ Dr. Stone Manga: Chapter 225, Page 7
17. ↑ 17.0 17.1 Dr. Stone Manga: Chapter 15
18. ↑ Dr. Stone Manga: Chapter 79
19. ↑ Dr. Stone Manga: Chapter 119
20. ↑ Dr. Stone Manga: Chapter 197
21. ↑ Dr. Stone Manga: Chapter 116
22. ↑ 22.0 22.1 Dr. Stone Manga: Chapter 106
23. ↑ Dr. Stone Manga: Chapter 83
24. ↑ Dr. Stone Manga: Chapter 141
25. ↑ Dr. Stone Manga: Chapter 206
26. ↑ Dr. Stone Manga: Chapter 225, Page 8
27. ↑ Dr. Stone Manga: Chapter 1, Pages 20-21
28. ↑ Dr. Stone Manga: Chapter 2
29. ↑ Dr. Stone Manga: Chapter 14, Pages 12-14
30. ↑ Dr. Stone Manga: Chapter 157, Pages 8-9, pages 17-18
31. ↑ Dr. Stone Manga: Chapter 172, Page 17
32. ↑ Dr. Stone Manga: Chapter 3
33. ↑ Dr. Stone Manga: Chapter 229, Page 9
34. ↑ Dr. Stone Manga: Chapter 82
35. ↑ Dr. Stone Manga: Chapter 135, Page 13
36. ↑ Dr. Stone Manga: Chapter 13
37. ↑ Dr. Stone Manga: Chapter 161
38. ↑ Dr. Stone Manga: Chapter 1, Page 35, Taiju has not aged at all after 3,700 years
39. ↑ Dr. Stone Manga: Chapter 172, Page 17, Chelsea fails to follow the sign due to her bad eyesight remaining after 3700+ years
40. ↑ Dr. Stone Manga: Chapter 194, Pages 7-9, Suika's first task after revival is finding her glasses
41. ↑ Dr. Stone Manga: Chapter 171, Pages 10-15