Almighty Infodump of SCIENCE

[tricolora]

In working on next chapter, which is proving to be one of the more research-heavy (hey look, SCIENCE! has arrived!) I'm finding it particularly odd because so much of what I'm basing Wheeljack's science on is still in its infancyest infancy on Earf, so I've got to do a lot of extrapolation, conclusion-ing and other things that I totally have no

Comments

[cath]

I love the idea of string theory, especially when they came out with the eleven dimensions a few years back and M confirming (in as yet unproven theory) parallel universes. Mind I don't even pretend to understand the maths behind the physics but the theories make life much more interesting. I'll admit to giving a little nerdish squee when Dino used exotic matter and wormholes with her version of WJ :D

Taking me ages to get through The Elegant Universe though as I keep having to go off and look-up half of what's being discussed every chapter. I don't quite have the right brain for it as a subject!

[tricolora]

Heh, and the fun with such vague theory is it's easy to BS! But do I want to go with eleven dimensions, or should I pick some other arbitrary number? Like 42? Or would that just be way too nerdy...

When was A Wrinkle in Time written? And did she just have amazing foresight or did she base it off of this kind of physics?

I was actually just watching parts of The Elegant Universe (amazing how having silly CGI models helps one understand things), though admittedly if one were to get into the conjecture or equations as to why it's eleven dimensions and not, say, 42, my brain might break a little. I've always been TERRIBLE at theory, especially Physics and Economics, those two were my biggies. Perhaps ironic since I was in AP classes for both of them (in America the AP classes are basically college level classes one can take in high school, though whether your respective college accepts these classes as credits depends on the college itself and the scores you got... nevermind). BUT ANYWAY I think that is partially why string theory is

[cath]

Ahh but it's only eleven space/time dimensions (opposed to Einsteins four) there's the opportunity for infinite parallel universes, some of them with entirely different laws of physics (so if you really wanted to imagine it, somewhere out there in the multi-verse giant sentient robots really do rule the universe :D) - hence string = COOL

[tricolora]

Didn't Warren Ellis write Excalibur at one point? That wouldn't happen to be the multi-versinal stuff you refer to? *<3's the fuzz offa Nightcrawler*

Heh, well, methinks once might be enough per story and two would be pushing it. After all, the number of siblings Wheeljack has had is 42! (Mystery of existence solved!)

I don't know how good those classes in high school did me really, though. Well, the AP History classes hung with me. The theoretical ones? Less so. Partially I'd imagine because the teachers were kind of in-their-own-head science types (AP Physics teacher was a wee bit o' a Percy) but mostly because my brain + theory = :(

And just as long as you don't call them universelings or sommat! I might have to track you down ;)

[dinogrrl]

D: string theory. This is why I'm a paleontologist.

Congrats on at least understanding the basic principles of it.

[tricolora]

Inorite? It took me FOREVER to even get to my very tenuous understanding of it (and it is tenuous) but hey, since it is such a baby flimsy theory (kinda like baby flimsy TF canon) that means we can take incredible liberties with it! :D

[dinogrrl]

The math involved scares me away from ever getting to the "oh hey...this is something that could be cool to use as strange science in my story!" stage. :p

[tricolora]

Math schmath! We don't need no stinking math to understand "HEY PARALLEL UNIVERSE!" Also: tachyon particles = subspace travel/communication and reversing the polarity fixes everything. :D

[tricolora]

Oy, honestly, I feel you. The only thing in this case that interests me is the theoretical applications of string theory (i.e. the COOL shit), they can srsly take their physics and shove it. Mostly because my brain has simply always lacked the ability to comprehend any theory that involves math, and sadly, most theories do.

[tricolora]

Ah, the time-honored over-utilized tool of many a high school student and scifi writer alike!

[mateem]

XD; I remember getting info-dumped by Scientific American magazine about this whilst on the john when I was a tween. I had completely forgotten about it until everyone started making a big stink about it recently. It must be a brain thing... theories always settled fairly well with me. The main hurdle I have in the loverly world of physics (quantum and otherwise) is the math. I'm having a good day if I can multiply double digits...on paper.

My favorite offshoot of this research is what they're exploring in What the *bleep* Do We Know? and Down the Rabbit Hole.
Some of what they propose carries a little bit onto the outlandish side for me, but I think there's validity to their main train of thought.

[mateem]

Pff! That's the great thing about this shit: you cannot prove or disprove perception (which is essentially what this comes down to). Not necessarily for purposes of this fic, but for GP, you really oughta check this stuff out. Fascinating things are going on with molecules (like quasi-sentience...!) though I think the Beachcomber/Wheeljack types would be more receptive to these sorts of ideas than the Perceptor/Idioma types.

[dinogrrrl]

Hee, I love that you are putting hard work into researching the science behind your fic. It doesn't really matter that what you stretch it out into may or may not be 'right', because at least you've covered the currently known basics. I've had some real pissers of arguments with a few writers who ignored the crap out of basic science when writing fics, which really doesn't work when you're writing GIANT FUCKING ROBOTS. You don't have to be a physicist, but at least try to follow some of the basics of modern science, and don't give me that arm-waving crap about them being so amazingly advanced that they can do whatever. I despise that excuse when it's used to ass cover for not actually doing a little Googling. It makes my science ass mad.

Also, was wanting to be an Astonomer once upon a time, until I realised that it was all MATHMATHMATH, and not looking at pretty pictures of the universe. So now I'm a geologist. :P