Q: Just the facts Mr. Dixon, some necessary
physics...
Originally a question asked by Gordon H-M on March 07 1999 at the Unofficial Birds of Prey Message
Board
Seeing as how you see Birds of Prey as
your link into the DCU and there will be many similar Sci - Fi / amazing stories type
issues you may need to be more careful in your use of physics.
For example the use of neutrinos as an explanation for the time travel in the latest issue
(BIRDS OF PREY #5). I know this is comics and you should be allowed to use any funky
physics you want, but using neutrinos was a mistake - and for a very good reason.
Neutrinos aren't theoretical particles, Neutrino detectors exist. They are big caves with
lots of water in them, not the most portable of devices. Neutrinos do cause a little
aggravation to physicists because earth only recieves a third of the neutrinos we should
get. There is a theory which gets around this by stating that there are three types of
nuetrino and they can switch between types, with only one of the three being detectable.
Neutrinos are really hard to detect for one or two major reasons, they have no appreciable
mass and no appreciable energy assciated with them, although one could say that is exactly
the same thing. They could be thought of as smilay to a gamma ray, which is a highly
energetic beam of light. Gamma Ray's will pass through anything except a thick barrier
made of something like lead or concrete, they don't interact easily with anything, but
when they do interact thay impart a lot of energy which, should a gamma ray interact in
your cells, can damage DNA. A Neutrino has no mass or energy and travels real fast and
hence generally doesn't interact. You are probably bombarded by millions of nuetrios a day
but it doesn't matter because to quote Douglas Adams "a neutrino isn't a very big
thing to be hit by".
You were better off using something called a tachyon. A tachyon is a theorectial particle
(so far) that travels faster than the speed of light and hence travells backwards through
time (if this confuses you good, no one else could understand enough of this to complain
that your physics isn't up to scratch). Most writers seem to think a tachyon is a particle
of time, but this is wrong. Relativity states that nothing can approach the speed of light
without exponentially increasing it's mass and requiring infinate fuel. This works both
ways nothing can accellerate toward the speed of light and nothing can decellerate toward
the speed of light (,although once again this can be considered the same thing), hence
tachyons are difficult to deal with. Since they are rather nebulous in their properties
they are at present the universal catchall for time travel stories, and for good reason,
Tachyons are responsible for more headaches than time paradoxes. No one wants to reason it
all out for themselves and takes the writers word for it.
So... Here's what really happened in the latest BOP, same gravitational field caused
repeated changes in accelleration of some tachyons. This caused force to be exerted on
them , implying that work was done on them or by them, hence reducing their kinetic energy
and speed. Their speed was reduced to a level where their path caused a warp in Space/Time
in the vicinity of the lake, hence the time portal. You would not want your characters
bieng bombarded by relativistic particles at all as it could cause anything from radiation
sickness to effects equivilent to being bombarded by thousands of high powered rifle
shots.
If you ever need help with physics or a physics consult send me an e-mail, and I'll do
what I can. Oh and seeing as how Kevlar is the unofficial star of the Dixon Universe, I'll
see what I can do about leading you through it's properties, manufacture and chemical
structure.
Gordon Hope-Murray - now has a massive
headache
ps. any chance at all of seeing Azrael
in either Nightwing or BOP, I infer from your portrayals of the character that you
absolutely hate him, but is there even a snowballs chance of it happening?
Chuck: I though neutrinos were still
"theoretical" enough to fool with.
Sorry. When I get the Ravens out of the mess they're in,
I'll use somebody at STAR Labs to explain away this lapse in logic.
I LOVE Azrael. Denny and I have lots of discussions about
him both being collapsed Catholics. I've even made suggestions to Denny that he's used.
It's just that he's kind of off in the Dennyverse and I don't like to step on The Sensei's
toes. I did have him featured in a DETECTIVE two-parter (Batman and Az vs Mr Freeze) but
this got cancelled due to No Man's Land.
And I WILL make you sorry you offered your help on the
physics front.
What can I say?
I took agriculture in high school.