There is no justification for Ron at all. Except for the entertainment derived from his violent death.

With bonus points for Mollywobbles of course...

 

Most of the peeves I have, have already been listed but here's a few:

1. Harry starts working out and after a month he's this ripped bodybuilder with washboard abs, bulging pecs and nipples hard enough that they can cut diamond. Also, playing quidditch =/= being fit. You just hold onto a broom.

2. Unnecessary inclusion of swords or daggers just to make Harry look cool. Especially when they are useless against Voldemort since he's x distance away and casting spells from range.

3. Excessive description of Harry's and/or Dumbledore's eyes. It detracts from the story when every paragraph is filled with over-the-top imagery.

4. When an author loses inspiration but updates with a crap chapter just to appease rabid fangirls. It ruins the whole fic and cheapens the author in my eyes.

 

Harry getting several tattoos and piercings. I can -almost- see him getting one earring or A small tattoo under his sleeve. If the author sets it up well.
Lots of them? No.

 

You are oversimplifying it vastly. Could you imagine the forces being acted upon your body doing sharp turns and loops at 100+ mph? A normal (or unskilled) person would likely lose their grip and fall to their doom (barring Neville-esque accidental magic).

It's got to take a lot of grip, leg, and core strength to stay on a broom going that fast. I don't think this makes Harry, and most quidditch players, absolutely ripped like a bodybuilder or a boxer, but they most likely have strong core and back muscles, and a lot of cardiovascular endurance.

 

A broom can fly. Thus it defies gravity. So, other than air resistance, the forces upon the flier are zero. Also, brooms are more than just brooms. They have cushioning charms etc. that give them invisible seats, as seen in QttA companion book.

Finally, Harry was able to perform the same aerial acrobatics at age 11 as at age 16, so we can see that strength isn't needed to fly well.

 

This argument does makes sense, but I don't like it because it falls into the realm of "Well it's magic, it doesn't have to follow the laws of motion, thermodynamics, physics, etc".

Also, besides air resistance, what about centripetal force? I'm assuming this acts upon the flier as well, although my understanding of it is limited, so I might be wrong.

 

If I remember my Physics correctly (and I may not) centripetal force is also dependent on gravity.

We do know that brooms are affected by some measure of the laws of motion (mostly momentum) because otherwise everyone would easily be able to pull off the dives that Harry can do and are considered a rare talent.

 

* waves hands *
Going up all those steps to Gryff tower and further up to their dorm rooms counts as leg builders.

 

Even if the brooms are not subject to the law of gravity, the riders still are. This would mean that they would have to worry about centripetal force, right?

 

This is what I was wondering. Any physics majors wanna clue us in?

I read physics stuff about vectors, velocities, etc, and my head starts to spin.

 

@Demons: You're right, I oversimplified it but it still doesn't come close to most of our sports in terms of the conditioning and overall fitness needed to play it.

If I remember my physics correctly, isn't centripetal force the force that that acts towards a point causing a body moving on a staight line, to move in a 'circle'. I'm probably wrong but I don't see how that affects quidditch.

I don't think the riders are subject to forces (mainly momentum) because the speeds they travel at and the sudden braking and turning required puts a whole lot of stress on the body. To stay on the broom with those kinds of forces requires strength most adults don't have, let alone an 11 year old.

EDIT: If by centripetal force, you mean gravity acting towards the centre of the earth so that the rider follows the curvature of the earth, because of the proportion of the rider to the earth, you don't take it as centripetal force but rather just gravity, acting downwards. That's the only way I can see centripetal force coming into play, unless I've really missed something.

EDIT 2: At high speeds, the air resistance is also probably quite large.

I also hate the argument that if it's magic it doesn't follow the laws of physics but realistically with all these forces to take into account I doubt a person could stay on the broom without a charm or some form of magic.

 

Not to mention that without magic preventing it, the broom would probably just snap.

But then, without magic, the broom wouldn't be flying in the first place...

 

Plus you'd get riders throwing up every few minutes because of the forces.

I guess it's safe to say it's magic...

...it's a pathetic excuse though.

 

Not really. Magic existing is the whole premise of the series. Why read fantasy if you don't like the idea of magic?

 

Honestly people, sometime you give the most ridiculous arguments.

First, the broom flies due to magic, yes, but no where in the canon does it say that it is not susceptible to gravity. It just works against gravity. Aeroplanes fly too and during takeoff, there is a lot of force and pressure on the body. I don't see why it wouldn't be true with brooms too, except to a lesser extent as since brooms rise at a slower speed.

Of course a normal adult, let alone a 1st year would be squashed if this were the case, and this is where I put in that Magic keeps them safe. After all magic keeps them living into their hundreds, so why not this?

Of course, if you still stick with 'brooms are not susceptible to gravity' theory, then still, even with the cushioning charms and all, the flier would still be affected by gravity and so I stick by my explanation of magic keeping them safe.

Secondly, Centripetal Force is the force that is applicable when you are making any sort of turns. It is responsible for keeping you in a circle, if maintained at constant, and while driving on road, it keeps the vehicles on the road rather than flipping over. Of course this is a VERY simplified explanation, but I'm no teacher and quoting from my text-books won't do any good here.
So, centripetal force should still apply.

Now, air resistance, at high altitudes where the wind currents are turbulent enough as it as, at speeds as high as 250 kph (firebolt's fastest speed I believe), the amount of force and pressure would squash you like a bug, let alone let one hold onto the broom.
At the same time, even if the broom is just hovering, keeping it still in the swift air currents would need strength no?

As for Harry able to perform the same aerial maneuvers at 11 as he can at 16, my opinion is that at 11 Harry was relatively lighter than at 16, and considering all his running from Dudley and his gang (Potter mentions in the PS that he is a fast runner) would give him strong leg muscles.

The theory in whole leaves a whole lot of holes, I suppose but the entire HP series is filled with such plot-holes.

Personally, I'd say that while quidditch would likely help develop decent muscles in the player's legs and some in arms (more so in beaters and chasers) and in the back, the chest would be left behind, especially in seekers as they mostly sit hunched close to the broom for max speed.

RANT AHEAD by aggrieved reader, you have been warned.

My peeves?

Shitty action sequences that account EVERY FUCKING BREATH anyone in the fight takes. I don't want to read the wand movements for every spell, or the incantations either. I don't want to know how or what random death eater was dodging/shielding/casting while Harry was fighting some other asshole and what Voldemort/Dumbledore or anyone else for that matter was thinking or feeling, watching Harry fight.

 

I meant it with regards to fanfiction, where some authors use it as a wonder solution for everything. I know magic defies the laws of physics but when authors introduce a concept and don't think out the mechanics of it, they just use magic as an excuse because they are too lazy to think something up. This cheapens the whole concept of magic.

Don't get me wrong, the whole idea of magic is great, and it makes for wonderful books but it's a major cop-out in fanfiction.

 

There is a debate over whether magic works with physics or in spite of physics. I come down on the second side.

 

Don't you ever get tired?

I know that you don't, given that you argue and argue and argue....but this magical theory discussion on every fucking thread is annoying. Take it to PMs if you must, but clearly neither you or the people who want to proove somthing by going toe-to-toe with Taure are going to come out and say, "Well golly gee, you were right all along!

On the waste-of-life topic of brooms and physics: Someone said it earlier - it affects the rider but not the broom. As for getting ripped from broom riding, that doesn't happen because magic = power steering. Same reason that our upper bodies aren't ripped from driving our cars.

Stop thinking so hard.

Adding more scientific explanations for the properties/behavior of magic won't bring us any closer to wandlessly levitating shit. Magic. Isn't. Real.

And I've forgotten my back-on-topic peeve. Fuck.

 

Yes, I do get tired of it, but my tiredness never outweighs my exasperation at when people make a contestable claim about magic. And lately people are making these claims all over the forums, so I've been replying to them all over the forums. *Shrugs* I do take it to PMs if it goes on for a ridiculous amount of time, like in the KiP thread.

 

It does help immersion in a story and it's easier to suspend disbelief when there is some kind of logic/rules/behaviour that magic follows.