Sonic screwdriver: Difference between revisions

|image = [[File:Sonic_screwdriver.jpg|250px]]

The sonic screwdriver is apparently the product of [[Gallifrey]]an technology since other Time Lords (i.e. [[Romana]]) used the device and understood it enough to construct their own versions of it. The name of the device itself suggests that it functions using soundwaves, although the actual workings of the device have never been explained.

The screwdriver also seems to have a multitude of settings, along with different versions of settings, as he tells Rose to use "setting 15B" to help him triangulate the source of the ghosts ([[DW]]: ''[[Army of Ghosts]]'') and used 34-H to sink a ship ([[DWBIT]]: ''[[Second Wave]]''). It is also said to have a setting 85. ([[DW]]: ''[[The Lazarus Experiment]]''). The Doctor tells Rose to use setting 2428D to re-attach barbed wire, suggesting that the screwdriver (at least the Mark V screwdriver) has at least this many functions. ([[DW]]: ''[[The Doctor Dances]]'')

The different versions of the Doctor's sonic screwdrivers have exhibited different capabilities and uses, such as the interception of signals ranging from transmat beams to conscious thought; medical diagnostics and repair of organic parts; cutting, but also re-attaching together materials such as barbed wire; operating Earth machinery such as computers and even cash machines (at regular and high eject speeds); creating a spark to light a candle; and, on the rare occasion, driving screws without touching them. Although it is primarily a tool, it can also be used as a defensive weapon, such as when the Tenth Doctor put it in a sound board to destroy the [[Robot Santa]]s. ([[DW]]: ''[[The Runaway Bride]]'') However, according to the [[Tenth Doctor]], the device cannot be used to wound, maim or kill living things. ([[DW]]: ''[[Doomsday]]'') It can still be used to destroy non-living objects or mechanisms or place living creatures in circumstances where they might die, if the situation requires.

[[File:Sonic_tardis.jpg|thumb|This screenshot suggests that the Sonic Screwdriver is charged by the TARDIS.]]

Sonic screwdrivers and similar technology cannot unlock a [[deadlock seal]] ([[DW]]: ''[[School Reunion]]''); one of few exceptions is Miss Foster's [[sonic pen]], which was able to open the deadlock seals on and within the Adipose Industries building when the Doctor's sonic screwdriver could not. ([[DW]]: ''[[Partners in Crime]]'') Some or all versions may be ineffective against wood, or in the presence of some models of hairdryers. ([[DW]]: ''[[Silence in the Library]]''/''[[Forest of the Dead]]'', ''[[The Hungry Earth]]'', [[PDA]]: ''[[Catastrophea]]'')

In the Doctor's personal future, he would upgrade the screwdriver with, in addition to the Mark VI settings, ''red settings'' and ''damper settings''. He gave it to [[River Song]], both for her use and, unknown to River, a Neural Relay, which saved River's [[Data Ghost]] for uploading into [[Charlotte Abigail Lux|the main computer]] of [[the Library]]. ([[DW]]: ''[[Silence in the Library]]'' / ''[[Forest of the Dead]]'')