## \-\-- Day 11: Plutonian Pebbles \-\--

The ancient civilization on [Pluto](/2019/day/20) was known for its
ability to manipulate spacetime, and while The Historians explore their
infinite corridors, you\'ve noticed a strange set of physics-defying
stones.

At first glance, they seem like normal stones: they\'re arranged in a
perfectly *straight line*, and each stone has a *number* engraved on it.

The strange part is that every time you
blink, the stones
*change*.

Sometimes, the number engraved on a stone changes. Other times, a stone
might *split in two*, causing all the other stones to shift over a bit
to make room in their perfectly straight line.

As you observe them for a while, you find that the stones have a
consistent behavior. Every time you blink, the stones each
*simultaneously* change according to the *first applicable rule* in this
list:

-   If the stone is engraved with the number `0`, it is replaced by a
    stone engraved with the number `1`.
-   If the stone is engraved with a number that has an *even* number of
    digits, it is replaced by *two stones*. The left half of the digits
    are engraved on the new left stone, and the right half of the digits
    are engraved on the new right stone. (The new numbers don\'t keep
    extra leading zeroes: `1000` would become stones `10` and `0`.)
-   If none of the other rules apply, the stone is replaced by a new
    stone; the old stone\'s number *multiplied by 2024* is engraved on
    the new stone.

No matter how the stones change, their *order is preserved*, and they
stay on their perfectly straight line.

How will the stones evolve if you keep blinking at them? You take a note
of the number engraved on each stone in the line (your puzzle input).

If you have an arrangement of five stones engraved with the numbers
`0 1 10 99 999` and you blink once, the stones transform as follows:

-   The first stone, `0`, becomes a stone marked `1`.
-   The second stone, `1`, is multiplied by 2024 to become `2024`.
-   The third stone, `10`, is split into a stone marked `1` followed by
    a stone marked `0`.
-   The fourth stone, `99`, is split into two stones marked `9`.
-   The fifth stone, `999`, is replaced by a stone marked `2021976`.

So, after blinking once, your five stones would become an arrangement of
seven stones engraved with the numbers `1 2024 1 0 9 9 2021976`.

Here is a longer example:

    Initial arrangement:
    125 17

    After 1 blink:
    253000 1 7

    After 2 blinks:
    253 0 2024 14168

    After 3 blinks:
    512072 1 20 24 28676032

    After 4 blinks:
    512 72 2024 2 0 2 4 2867 6032

    After 5 blinks:
    1036288 7 2 20 24 4048 1 4048 8096 28 67 60 32

    After 6 blinks:
    2097446912 14168 4048 2 0 2 4 40 48 2024 40 48 80 96 2 8 6 7 6 0 3 2

In this example, after blinking six times, you would have `22` stones.
After blinking 25 times, you would have `55312` stones!

Consider the arrangement of stones in front of you. *How many stones
will you have after blinking 25 times?*

Your puzzle answer was `211306`.

## \-\-- Part Two \-\-- {#part2}

The Historians sure are taking a long time. To be fair, the infinite
corridors *are* very large.

*How many stones would you have after blinking a total of 75 times?*

Your puzzle answer was `250783680217283`.

Both parts of this puzzle are complete! They provide two gold stars:
\*\*

At this point, you should [return to your Advent calendar](/2024) and
try another puzzle.

If you still want to see it, you can [get your puzzle
input](11/input).