Q: Just the facts Mr.
Dixon, some necessary physics...
Originally
a question asked by on
March 07 1999 at the Unofficial Birds of Prey
Message Board
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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.