Does anyone know why Apparation makes a crack? This is probably a complete by-product of the air being displaced, but I'm never really sure.

 

I can't imagine people Apparrate and do not move at least some of the air they are in contact with. I always presumed that since contact is required, be it physical or my magical intent, they those things will be taken with you during Apparation. It could even be the violently rotating mass that is your body while Disapparating breaking the sound barrier like the end of a whip.

 

It could be that increase in distance of apparation increases the chance of one splincing or just makes it harder. I am not sure how Hermione could apparate to Godrics when she have never been there but I suppose that an idea of where you are going is all you need

 

When I first read the book, that's what I assumed. However, if Ron did try to apparate without a wand, surely even he can't be stupid enough to try it for the first time without preparation? That would indicate that he's had some experience doing it, and the impression we get from the books is that Ron is not a particularly stellar wizard, which would go on to indicate that wandless apparition wasn't as rare as we thought? I'm not sure.

On another, completely irrelevant note, I like how wandless isn't a word.

 

Curious as to what you guys think on the practicality of witches and wizards apparating with children. I see a lot of fics which suggest it's bad, or at least extremely distressing for them.

The first we see of side-along apparation is in HBP, when Harry goes with Dumbledore, but there are several other points in the series when it would have been useful for adult characters to apparate with younger characters. For example, when Arthur takes Harry to his trial, or when they have to get Ministry cars to Kings Cross. It's also mentioned in HBP that Harry is the only one of his classmates to have done it before, suggesting that it's extremely uncommon.

But I can't see what exactly the problem would be, and why this would suddenly stop being a problem once you reach ~16.

 

I would assume the reasoning the fanfic authors had was that apparition, if not performed correctly, might cause harm to the users, such as splinching. Also, there's also the fact that apparition doesn't feel very pleasant (Harry says it felt like being "forced through a very tight rubber tube.") and can cause nausea for people who do it for the first time.

The problem with this, though, is that Arthur Weasley and Diggory Sr didn't seem to have any problem with underage wizards using a portkey in GoF. Portkeys, like apparition, does not feel pleasant at all (to the point where it caused "port-key sickness" to Hogwarts students before the Hogwarts Express) and could also be dangerous if it isn't used properly.

In short, I agree that there doesn't really seem to be a point to it. Probably another stupid fanon idea developed by people who didn't think through the canon.

 

The splinching is probably a good shout. In DH, we see Ron get splinched when Hermione side-apparates and he doesn't know where to. But then Harry didn't know where he was going with Dumbledore, and he was OK - perhaps it's about being prepared, which you couldn't count on a child to do. Or, gruesomely, if you were pregnant.

 

I think that this is probably the same reason lightning creates thunder. There is something in an area, which then isn't there causing air to rush into the space where the lightning/people were.

 

Isn't the crack when people Apparate, not Disapparate?

 

It happens in both directions- notable canon examples include Dobby leaving the Durselys and the Weasley twins arriving on top of Ron's legs at Grimmauld.

 

Which does support the argument that the (Dis)Apparition cracks because it was cool, or that the crack isn't related to the airflow but to the flow of magic involved.

 

Or it's the sound of physics breaking.

 

It's the sound of Einstein screaming in pain.

 

I always assumed apparition was like drivinvg a car, only the travel is instant. The farther you go, the more gas you use. Of course in the case of apparition gas would be magic... or something. Portkeys are like planes, boats, and minivans.

Trains would still be trains though.

Trains.

 

I have a mental image of apparition being like stretching a rubber band across a map from one place to another, and then releasing. If you are sloppy, it snaps early and you splinch. If you try to get too far, it breaks apart under the tension and you splinch. With a good rubber band it's easier to go large distances than with a bad one (equated with skill/power). And if you don't know where exactly you are going, well, you aren't going there.

And you get both the stretching/squeezing feeling and the snap/crack sound as a bonus.

 

A thought -- if the apparition/disapparition crack had anything to do with displacement/sudden placement of a body, then the time turner should, in theory, also cause a crack. That said, Rowling may not have fully fleshed out the idea of time travel.

... also, after all these years, it's just occurred to me that Apparition has a second meaning behind the name choice other than appear/disappear.... an apparition is a ghost! Clever, Rowling. Clever.

Edit:

arkkitehti, apparently you posted before I finished my thought. I like the idea of a rubber band, but at the same time, Harry's first experience with apparition is very descriptive and explicit. It is very much being squeezed, not just stretched. That said, the rest seems sound -- the idea if two points being connected with an elongated tube. Perhaps it's the tube that is being stretched and snapped (as opposed to the person)?