I understand that magic and all pretty much defies all the laws of physics and realism. However what I'm confused about is, How fast do spells move? and Do they have mass?


Maybe its mainly fanon but people are always dodging spells. Popular thing is that Harry can dodge anything and never get hit because he is so agile or something of the sort. So spells are obviously not light because that would get rid of the whole shield thing because the spell will hit you before you even hear what the person even said.

So is there anything physically there? How does it get from point A to point B?

Guess trying to define something like this is pointless but its been bothering me. Lots of questions but some peoples theories would be interesting.

 

If anything, magic is analogous to electricity. Thus, since that is made of electrons, magic is probably made of "magicons" or something of the sort.

 

I dunno about that. I don't see magic as needing a conductor...like air. In a vaccum environment, magic would still move as it does in normal conditions. As for magic being made up of particles...I guess you can say that, but there's really no reason to do so. I think of it as light, but without the photons, and moving at a much slower speed.

Since magic defies the laws of Physics, why should it be bound by the laws of physics? It would make more sense for magic to be entirely particle-less, than for it to be made up of 'Magicons'. it adds to the mystery, IMO, since energy without at least some mass is impossible, correct? At least by the knowledge that Physics gives us.

For magic to be entirely weightless, and exist only as a 'force', I guess you could say, it adds that fantastical element of magic being supernatural. If it really irks you to think that magic is weightless, then say that the weight exists in another dimension, but the cause and effects are felt in this one.

Personally, I like the weightless concept, because that means that at no point will Muggles be able to harness magic, like in a lab or something. So Wizards will always be more unique than Muggles.

As for speed, I definitely see it as being dodgeable, but only by the extremely quick. So, not as fast as a bullet, but certainly something like 50 feet per second, which is still pretty hard to dodge in the typical 'take ten steps, turn then duel' setting.

Therefore, the only way to avoid spells would be to apparate, or use whatever physical ability you have to dodge the spell. Otherwise, your only other option is to let the spell hit you, or to intercept it with something.

Dodging, of course, could be instrumental in both winning and losing. For instance, let's say you only have a split second to dodge a spell, and you just drop to the floor and let it pass over you. At that point, though, you're fucked, since your mobility has taken a hit, and its a lot easier for your opponent to hit you. On the other hand, if you have enough time and simply step aside (since magic isn't homing, or whatever), then you've got enough time to make your wand motion and incant, then release your spell at your opponent as soon as you've moved out of the way of fire.

 

I'm gonna guess, from the lack of capitalization and proper grammar in that post (highly abnormal, for sure, Jonny ), that it is because...

You just sniffed some? I'm guessing you decided that you didn't need your Engine cleaner any more, so you siphoned some out onto a rag and went in balls deep...and are now ridiculously high off Ether?

 

Yes. And that was disproven by the Michelson-Morley Interferometer (or was it their experiment), if I recall my physics correctly.

Concerning spells, I could still see them as waves(like EM waves) only with lower speeds. They would still have the same wavelengths as light to explain their color although they would have very much lower frequencies.

 

Yes. Aether is actually the premise of magic in the fic that I really haven't gotten around writing. I still lack a good plot so I just keep developing my premise for when the time comes that a plot bunny hops into my head.

 

There are three problems with this. First, magic has been shown to affect electricity, so whatever it is made of must be able to interact with electrons. Second, it has been shown that throwing stuff in the way of a spell protects you from it. Three, that is an ad hoc explanation, since as you yourself admit, it was consturcted to maintain your notion of wizard superiority. Remember Occam's razor, and revise your pressupositions.

 

Unknown, but most likely some of them do, since they have momentum--spells are observed to impart it on objects. Curiously, they don't seem to get this momentum from the caster.

Well, it depends, but loosely yes. Either magical projectile spells are composed of some sort of "magical stuff" that can interact with regular physical objects or they are made of ordinary matter that is operating in an extraordinary manner. To make an analogy, a glob of oil traveling through the air is physical. A glob of burning oil is likewise physical, but has some properties and capabilities that non-burning oil does not have. Under the latter hypothesis, a magical (projectile) spell may be just ordinary matter (perhaps air) operating in some mode unknown to muggle physics. Perhaps an even better analogy may be ball lightning rather than oil.

Either way, they're physical in the sense of being part of the universe and operating under some physical laws.

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Well, one must be careful to distinguish between being bound by physical laws of current muggle science and "being physical" in the sense that it behaves in some lawlike manner that is part of the physical universe. To repeat an argument in another thread, the formulaic nature of magic, in that wizards can produce magical effects using `recipes' with little to no understanding of how they work, makes it extremely plausible that magic follows some laws. (This description applies to both potions and regular spells.) They're just not known to muggles.

Incorrect. For example, light has zero mass under the standard definition of the term. It does have positive energy and momentum, however, and is not weightless--later you treat `massless' and `weighless' as if they were synonyms, which they are not.

Why is this a good thing? Personally, I've never comprehended `supernatural' as even a coherent term. Nature does magic in the HP universe, yes? It seems very straightforward that since magic is part of the structure of the HP universe, it is quite physical. Just because those laws are not currently known to muggles doesn't detract anything from that--at least, not anymore than a tide that occured 5,000 years ago stops being `physical' just because there were no people that could explain it in terms of physical laws.

Your position does imply that, yes, but it is not completely rational. There is no apparent problem from muggles arranging magical effects, since some magical effects in the HP universe occur without the intervention of wizards.

If it's any consolation, however, it is possible that even if muggles could harness magic to some extent, it doesn't automatically mean that they'll ever be particularly good or efficient at it. People can make antimatter, too, but it doesn't mean they can make enough of it to actually do anything useful--the cost is just too much.

 

I've been thinking on this issue lately, and considering the speed we see in the films which spells travel at, it doesn't look like "dodging" a spell is possible unless I suppose the wizards were standing at either end of a quidditch pitch. WE never see spells dodged in canon, even during the Dumbledore/Voldemort duel they either disapparate or deflect them with their wands.

 

If you have time to do the incantation, you have time to dodge.