What is the border between flows of time off the coast of the island? Is it a continuous differential, or is it a discontinuity where it jumps from one time to the other instantaneously? My guess is the prior, as an instantaneous shift would tear apart any physical matter that passes through it. Passing through this differential appears to unstick people in time. Is the effect caused by the differential across a person's body? Who knows. I don't expect a solid answer from the show.
Oh, and a stupid gaff in the notes at the bottom of the screen for last week's episode. It says Michael Faraday 'Invented Electromagnetic induction,' though it should have read Discovered. You don't invent fundamental laws.
Thursday, March 6, 2008
Friday, February 29, 2008
Desmond's EM exposure
Desmond's significant exposure to EM radiation wasn't the thunderstorm, but the explosion in the hatch.
Thursday, February 28, 2008
The Constant
Season five proved one of the earlier predictions to be correct concerning the relatively different passage of time between the island and the rest of the world. Furthermore, the transition between the island and the outer world can cause travelers to become unstuck in time, a la Vonnegut's 'Slaughterhouse Five'.
Daniel was a former professor at Oxford, studying time travel and the relationship to consciousness. Perhaps his interaction with Hume leads to his tears when he eventually hears the news about the discovery of flight 815. Does he know that somehow, his death is going to be related to it?
There are no obvious time paradoxes yet, but I wonder how they resolve Hume going AWOL and appearing to go crazy.
Daniel was a former professor at Oxford, studying time travel and the relationship to consciousness. Perhaps his interaction with Hume leads to his tears when he eventually hears the news about the discovery of flight 815. Does he know that somehow, his death is going to be related to it?
There are no obvious time paradoxes yet, but I wonder how they resolve Hume going AWOL and appearing to go crazy.
The Island
While many of the island's mysteries fall outside the realm of Physics, there are a few key points that Daniel is likely to explore. This post will likely get broken up into several separate posts
1) The 'Built-up Magnetic Field', the release of which is the purpose of the button during season two. I recall a recent experiment (though lack a link or proper name for it) that involved building up an extremely high current using super-cooled wires (to allow super-conductivity). Electric currents produce a magnetic field proportional in strength to the current. If one suddenly stops the current, the change in magnetic field can have an explosive effect in the release of electromagnetic radiation.
I regard the island's behavior somewhat similarly, though coming up with a physically sound explanation is difficult.
2) The reflection of light. Daniel comments about the light bending strangely on the island, or at least in that specific location. This may be related to the island's magnetic properties, as magnetic fields can influence the behavior of light.
3) Time-shifting. The obvious physical explanation for the behavior of the clocks is time dilation, the special relativistic effect on time when an observer is moving at significant fractions of the speed of light (which is the 'speed limit' of the universe).
The more logical explanation is that time flows differently on the island. However, if the time moved at different speeds than the real world, communicating with the freighter with real-time speech would be impossible, as their voices would either be compressed or elongated. However, that could be fixed with proper equipment that filters ingoing and outgoing communications on one end.
1) The 'Built-up Magnetic Field', the release of which is the purpose of the button during season two. I recall a recent experiment (though lack a link or proper name for it) that involved building up an extremely high current using super-cooled wires (to allow super-conductivity). Electric currents produce a magnetic field proportional in strength to the current. If one suddenly stops the current, the change in magnetic field can have an explosive effect in the release of electromagnetic radiation.
I regard the island's behavior somewhat similarly, though coming up with a physically sound explanation is difficult.
2) The reflection of light. Daniel comments about the light bending strangely on the island, or at least in that specific location. This may be related to the island's magnetic properties, as magnetic fields can influence the behavior of light.
3) Time-shifting. The obvious physical explanation for the behavior of the clocks is time dilation, the special relativistic effect on time when an observer is moving at significant fractions of the speed of light (which is the 'speed limit' of the universe).
The more logical explanation is that time flows differently on the island. However, if the time moved at different speeds than the real world, communicating with the freighter with real-time speech would be impossible, as their voices would either be compressed or elongated. However, that could be fixed with proper equipment that filters ingoing and outgoing communications on one end.
Wednesday, February 27, 2008
The Character
At the time of this writing, still little is known about Daniel Faraday, though the episode of February 28th seems like it will give plenty of insight into his past and future self.
The facts are these-
1) He refers to himself as a Physicist, and performs numerous experiments on both the island and the freighter. During the 2nd episode of season four, he remarks about the bending of light, which is something the real Faraday investigated. In the fourth episode, he performs an experiment that shows a time discrepancy between a clock on a missile launched to an island, and a clock in his own reference frame (See future posts regarding time). No mention is made of his educational background.
2) He has currently undisclosed emotional problems, as shown in his flashback (inexplicable tears at the news of 815's discovery) and in Naomi's reference to him as a 'headcase'. His behavior is a bit erratic, and it is clear that interacting with people is not a well-developed skill for him.
3) There is something with him possessing either psychic powers or future sight, as shown in his card game with C. S. Lewis. This will likely be explored more significantly in coming episodes.
While the character has been well received, fear for his longterm safety. Jeremy Davies is currently listed as a 'Guest Star', though that is hopefully just a contractual title for the time being.
The facts are these-
1) He refers to himself as a Physicist, and performs numerous experiments on both the island and the freighter. During the 2nd episode of season four, he remarks about the bending of light, which is something the real Faraday investigated. In the fourth episode, he performs an experiment that shows a time discrepancy between a clock on a missile launched to an island, and a clock in his own reference frame (See future posts regarding time). No mention is made of his educational background.
2) He has currently undisclosed emotional problems, as shown in his flashback (inexplicable tears at the news of 815's discovery) and in Naomi's reference to him as a 'headcase'. His behavior is a bit erratic, and it is clear that interacting with people is not a well-developed skill for him.
3) There is something with him possessing either psychic powers or future sight, as shown in his card game with C. S. Lewis. This will likely be explored more significantly in coming episodes.
While the character has been well received, fear for his longterm safety. Jeremy Davies is currently listed as a 'Guest Star', though that is hopefully just a contractual title for the time being.
The Real Faraday
Most of the following biographical information has been gleaned from the wikipedia article at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Faraday .
Like most trained Chemists, Michael Faraday was terrible at higher mathematics. However, his extreme skill and meticulous nature made him one of the best experimentalists in the history of science (though the good money is on Cavendish, in this man's opinion). His early work is in the field of Chemistry, though I am going to focus on his discoveries in Physics, as they are more pertinent to LOST.
His work focused primarily on optics (the study of light) and the relationship between electricity & magnetism. He was the first person to notice that a changing magnetic field induces an electrical current, which is the basis for virtually all electric motors. This discovery, alongside the already known fact that electric currents create magnetic fields, proved the mutual relationship between electricity and magnetism, foreshadowing the 20th century work in field theory and special relativity.
Like most trained Chemists, Michael Faraday was terrible at higher mathematics. However, his extreme skill and meticulous nature made him one of the best experimentalists in the history of science (though the good money is on Cavendish, in this man's opinion). His early work is in the field of Chemistry, though I am going to focus on his discoveries in Physics, as they are more pertinent to LOST.
His work focused primarily on optics (the study of light) and the relationship between electricity & magnetism. He was the first person to notice that a changing magnetic field induces an electrical current, which is the basis for virtually all electric motors. This discovery, alongside the already known fact that electric currents create magnetic fields, proved the mutual relationship between electricity and magnetism, foreshadowing the 20th century work in field theory and special relativity.
The Physicist
With the entrance of Daniel Faraday during the fourth season premiere of LOST, the islanders finally have someone that can understand the fucked up physical behavior of the island. The purpose of the this blog is to chronicle and discuss three main topics.
1) The Physics of the island,
2) The character of Daniel Faraday,
3) Daniel's real life namesake, Michael Faraday,
Responding and linking to these posts is strongly encouraged. While I am a Physics student by trade, I may still be prone to mistakes, oversights, and misunderstandings.
1) The Physics of the island,
2) The character of Daniel Faraday,
3) Daniel's real life namesake, Michael Faraday,
Responding and linking to these posts is strongly encouraged. While I am a Physics student by trade, I may still be prone to mistakes, oversights, and misunderstandings.
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