The Science of Middle Earth - The Barrow-Downs Discussion Forum

Farael · 01-09-2007, 05:53 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by The Might

But then again we also have the quantum theory of balrog wings made by Galadriel which seems to show they do have wings...

Actually, the quantum theory of balrog wings states that balrogs have wings. Or they don't. Or perhaps both options, or neither. But it says that if you make an average of whether or not a balrog has wings at any point in time throughout his life (and balrogs being maiar that can be quite a lot of time) 90% of the time you will find that balrogs DO have wings.

Perhaps the balrog that fell in Moria was in one of those odd 10% of the times where they don't.

EDIT: More to come on this topic real soon

Farael · 01-09-2007, 06:40 PM

Quantum Theory of Balrog Wings (aka, what I stole from The Might)

Introduction:
The quantum theory is based on a whole lot of extremely complex and abstract equations that give me a headache just thinking about them. Luckily for you, since I don’t know how to solve them anyway, I’ll spare you the trouble of explaining to you how they (are supposed to) work.
But, after hours of pouring over strange symbols that represent functions of functions of derivatives of a.. yes, you guessed right, function… it all boils down to this:
WE HAVE NO CLUE WHAT THE ELECTRONS ARE DOING AT ANY GIVEN POINT IN TIME, BUT WE THINK THEY MIGHT BE LOCATED IN CERTAIN AREAS AROUND THE NUCLEUS OF THE ATOM WE’LL CALL SUB-SHELLS

Sure, they talk about areas of 90% probability and electronic spins and what not… but my Physics professor put it nicely: According to this theory, there is a slight chance that I will fall right through my chair, right through the floor, right through the whole planet Earth and suddenly appear somewhere in Russia. The likelihood of something like that happening is so mind numbingly small that you shouldn’t loose much sleep over it. But if I were you, I’d learn at least a couple common sentences in Russian. Who knows? They might come handy some day.
Yet, what would be a better fit to find a definitive answer to the endless argument of whether or not Balrogs have wings than a theory that says that anything is (technically) possible? And what’s even better… the Quantum Theory was developed, for the most part, without relying on any experiments. It was a pure theoretical work that then, as scientists started trying it out on their experiments, worked out to give good results. But it also means that I (luckily) will not have to go Balrog hunting.

Let me tell you, that can be a rather painful experience. This one time I was hanging out with good ol’ Nilpaurion Felagund and he said “hey! Let’s go hunt a Balrog!”. I should have known from his werewolfing “style” that there was something fishy about it. If any of you have seen him play that game, you will know that he has suicidal tendencies. (In game, and as a jest, this by no means is meant to reflect my opinion of Nilp for real). I was a little confused when he said we’d need no weapons other than his “Balrog annoying kit” which consisted of a bucket of cold water, some matches and a Gandalf-toy that kept repeating “YOU SHALL NOT PASS” every three seconds. The toy never made it too far, I tossed it down the Brandywine River half-way through our journey.
To make a long story short, you see my lovely sun-tan? Well, it’s not. I was scorched by that dratted creature. And the worst part was that I was so afraid that I forgot to check if it had wings! If I had known about TSME by then…
Anyway, where was I? oh, yeah…

Results
NONE!! This is an exercise on abstract thought, since I’m too lazy to go find myself a Balrog for studying.

Conclusions
Balrogs have wings. Most of the time. It is stated clearly by Professor Tolkien and I will not have my point argued. Unless you decide to write an article arguing for it. Then you will get to argue it, but I’ll still be right ‘cos I’m stubborner than you. Yes, you know who you are.
Yet, just like Electrons around the nucleus of an Atom, this does not happen all the time. By a process that I shall conveniently call “a quantum mechanism” and purposefully neglect to explain how it actually works, there is a chance that at any given point in time, a Balrog will have no wings.
Furthermore, there is also a chance that both statements will be true. Some purists argue that having wings but at the same time not having wings can only mean that they have vestigial wings. For me, it is rather clear that they have only one wing. Thus they do not have wings they have wing.
Finally, there is a chance that both statements will be wrong. Thus they will neither have wings, nor they will have no wings. By double negative, this is a situation much like the previous one and thus it implies that at this point in time, the Balrog will have a single wing.
Whether or not a single-winged Balrog can fly, and furthermore, how fast it can do so if at all will be a matter for subsequent study.
Annex I
The theory of sudden disappearance of peoples mediated by the Internet Ether.
We have all experienced episodes where we are talking to a friend online through our Palantir Messenger and suddenly they vanish into thin air (or perhaps a random sequence of 0’s and 1’s). I have thus developed a formula that explains this strange phenomenom.
I=g2g
I hope this helps clear the mistery.

Thinlómien · 01-10-2007, 04:30 AM

Mac, may I ask why some 'downers are radioactive? And why just the ones you chose to be?

The Might · 01-10-2007, 06:35 AM

Interesting results Farael, I hope the new tests in the Large Hadorn Collider at CERN will help us find out the answer to this question

The collider tunnel contains two pipes enclosed within superconducting magnets cooled by liquid helium, each pipe containing a proton beam. The two beams travel in opposite directions around the ring. A 3D reproduction of a balrog is placed inside and the forces acting on its body are then measured. Additional magnets are used to direct the beams to four intersection points where interactions between them will take place.

The protons will each have an energy of 7 TeV, giving a total collision energy of 14 TeV. It will take around 90 microseconds for an individual proton to travel once around the collider. Rather than continuous beams, the protons will be "bunched" together into approximately 2,800 bunches, so that interactions between the two beams will take place at discrete intervals never shorter than 25 nanoseconds apart. When the collider is first commissioned, it will be operated with fewer bunches, to give a bunch crossing interval of 75 nanoseconds. The number of bunches will later be increased give the final bunch crossing interval of 25 nanoseconds.

The forces on the balrog 3D model are measured thus determining if a balrog would have had the possibility to fly considering its resistance to air and its mass.

Scientists are however still afraid to start experiments due to the large possibility of creating a miniature black hole in the experiment, however many think that finding out the answer to this greatest of questions in history is worth risking the extinction of the human race.

Macalaure · 01-10-2007, 06:58 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Thinlómien

Mac, may I ask why some 'downers are radioactive? And why just the ones you chose to be?

The original picture had these signs where the real radioactive elements were. I thought it looked cool and therefore didn't delete it. It has nothing to do with the choice of downers.

- If you're reading this and happen to be radioactive in the table, you may ignore the last sentence if you like -

01-09-2007, 06:40 PM	#2
Farael Ghost Prince of Cardolan Join Date: Nov 2005 Location: In hospitals, call rooms and (rarely) my apartment. Posts: 1,538	Quantum Theory of Balrog Wings (aka, what I stole from The Might) Introduction: The quantum theory is based on a whole lot of extremely complex and abstract equations that give me a headache just thinking about them. Luckily for you, since I don’t know how to solve them anyway, I’ll spare you the trouble of explaining to you how they (are supposed to) work. But, after hours of pouring over strange symbols that represent functions of functions of derivatives of a.. yes, you guessed right, function… it all boils down to this: *WE HAVE NO CLUE WHAT THE ELECTRONS ARE DOING AT ANY GIVEN POINT IN TIME, BUT WE THINK THEY MIGHT BE LOCATED IN CERTAIN AREAS AROUND THE NUCLEUS OF THE ATOM WE’LL CALL SUB-SHELLS* Sure, they talk about areas of 90% probability and electronic spins and what not… but my Physics professor put it nicely: According to this theory, there is a slight chance that I will fall right through my chair, right through the floor, right through the whole planet Earth and suddenly appear somewhere in Russia. The likelihood of something like that happening is so mind numbingly small that you shouldn’t loose much sleep over it. But if I were you, I’d learn at least a couple common sentences in Russian. Who knows? They might come handy some day. Yet, what would be a better fit to find a definitive answer to the endless argument of whether or not Balrogs have wings than a theory that says that anything is (technically) possible? And what’s even better… the Quantum Theory was developed, for the most part, without relying on any experiments. It was a pure theoretical work that then, as scientists started trying it out on their experiments, worked out to give good results. But it also means that I (luckily) will not have to go Balrog hunting. Let me tell you, that can be a rather painful experience. This one time I was hanging out with good ol’ Nilpaurion Felagund and he said “hey! Let’s go hunt a Balrog!”. I should have known from his werewolfing “style” that there was something fishy about it. If any of you have seen him play that game, you will know that he has suicidal tendencies. (In game, and as a jest, this by no means is meant to reflect my opinion of Nilp for real). I was a little confused when he said we’d need no weapons other than his “Balrog annoying kit” which consisted of a bucket of cold water, some matches and a Gandalf-toy that kept repeating “YOU SHALL NOT PASS” every three seconds. The toy never made it too far, I tossed it down the Brandywine River half-way through our journey. To make a long story short, you see my lovely sun-tan? Well, it’s not. I was scorched by that dratted creature. And the worst part was that I was so afraid that I forgot to check if it had wings! If I had known about TSME by then… Anyway, where was I? oh, yeah… Results NONE!! This is an exercise on abstract thought, since I’m too lazy to go find myself a Balrog for studying. Conclusions Balrogs have wings. Most of the time. It is stated clearly by Professor Tolkien and I will not have my point argued. Unless you decide to write an article arguing for it. Then you will get to argue it, but I’ll still be right ‘cos I’m stubborner than you. Yes, you know who you are. Yet, just like Electrons around the nucleus of an Atom, this does not happen all the time. By a process that I shall conveniently call “a quantum mechanism” and purposefully neglect to explain how it actually works, there is a chance that at any given point in time, a Balrog will have no wings. Furthermore, there is also a chance that both statements will be true. Some purists argue that having wings but at the same time not having wings can only mean that they have vestigial wings. For me, it is rather clear that they have only one wing. Thus they do not have wings they have wing. Finally, there is a chance that both statements will be wrong. Thus they will neither have wings, nor they will have no wings. By double negative, this is a situation much like the previous one and thus it implies that at this point in time, the Balrog will have a single wing. Whether or not a single-winged Balrog can fly, and furthermore, how fast it can do so if at all will be a matter for subsequent study. Annex I The theory of sudden disappearance of peoples mediated by the Internet Ether. We have all experienced episodes where we are talking to a friend online through our Palantir Messenger and suddenly they vanish into thin air (or perhaps a random sequence of 0’s and 1’s). I have thus developed a formula that explains this strange phenomenom. I=g2g I hope this helps clear the mistery. __________________ I prepared Explosive Runes this morning.

01-10-2007, 04:30 AM	#3
Thinlómien Shady She-Penguin Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: In a far land beyond the Sea Posts: 8,093	Mac, may I ask why some 'downers are radioactive? And why just the ones you chose to be? __________________ Like the stars chase the sun, over the glowing hill I will conquer Blood is running deep, some things never sleep Double Fenris

01-10-2007, 06:35 AM	#4
The Might Guard of the Citadel Join Date: Dec 2006 Location: Oxon Posts: 2,205	Interesting results Farael, I hope the new tests in the Large Hadorn Collider at CERN will help us find out the answer to this question The collider tunnel contains two pipes enclosed within superconducting magnets cooled by liquid helium, each pipe containing a proton beam. The two beams travel in opposite directions around the ring. A 3D reproduction of a balrog is placed inside and the forces acting on its body are then measured. Additional magnets are used to direct the beams to four intersection points where interactions between them will take place. The protons will each have an energy of 7 TeV, giving a total collision energy of 14 TeV. It will take around 90 microseconds for an individual proton to travel once around the collider. Rather than continuous beams, the protons will be "bunched" together into approximately 2,800 bunches, so that interactions between the two beams will take place at discrete intervals never shorter than 25 nanoseconds apart. When the collider is first commissioned, it will be operated with fewer bunches, to give a bunch crossing interval of 75 nanoseconds. The number of bunches will later be increased give the final bunch crossing interval of 25 nanoseconds. The forces on the balrog 3D model are measured thus determining if a balrog would have had the possibility to fly considering its resistance to air and its mass. Scientists are however still afraid to start experiments due to the large possibility of creating a miniature black hole in the experiment, however many think that finding out the answer to this greatest of questions in history is worth risking the extinction of the human race. __________________ “The invisible and the non-existent look very much alike.” Delos B. McKown