This is probably the first of many drafts. Please excuse the poor writing, grammar and possible misuses of scientific principles
Bernard's Watch is the most dangerous item mankind can ever exist: A physics layman's speculation
Abstract: The watch used in the television show 'Bernard's Watch' once activated will instantly destroy the user and could possible destroy every living thing that is alive when used. I will attempt to show this using my (limited) knowledge of physics
History: Me and my brother were in the car the other day and he casually asked me what ability I would rather have: the ability to stop time, or to go back in time. It was an innocent question, but it got me angry. I get the feeling this could have been inspired by the guy in Heroes, but I will always remember the show Bernard's Watch that showed me the premise. It's pretty simple: a young kid is given a watch by...someone, and this watch has the ability to stop time. A simple premise, and to be honest, it was pretty fun to watch when I was younger. And the things he did with it were amazing! But looking back, I can't help but take my pedantic anger at the idea of stopping time, and have decided to explore what would happen if such a watch existed. I'm not going to lie, it's been ages since I did A-Level physics, and I pretty much got an 'E' in my final grades, so I can't say that what I'm going to say is accurate, only what I can remember. I do hope that people will help correct me, as with experts on the topic, this could get very interesting. ANYWAY...
Setting the scene:Bernard has had enough of old man McGrumpy. He's mean, and cold, and won't chuck back Bernard's prized football in the garden. Bernard's had enough. 'What if I were to use my special watch, stop time and then punch him in the knee? That'll show him!'. Brilliant! Bernard walks over to old man McGrumpy. He waves at him. McGrumpy shakes his fist. Bernard reaches into his pickets, gets out his watch, and stops time.
And now, the shit hits the fan.
For argument's sake we are going to say that only Bernard is allowed to move. Everything else is stationary and can't be moved. After 20 seconds of Bernard's time, everything will go back to normal and time will be unfroven.
Right, the first thing that Bernard would notice is that everything would go dark. He wou;dn't be able to see anything. This is because the light that would be emitted or reflected off objects would be paused, and would therefore be unable to get to his eyes so he could see. Bernard would just be stumbling around the ground, with no idea where McGrumpy is. But that's a walk in the park compared to what happens next.
The second law of thermodynamics says that heat and pressure will try to reach an equilibrium if there is an industribution of said properties. That's why when you're in a spaceship and open the hatch, everything will be sucked out quickly, because there's hardly any air in space and the air 'wants' to have an even distribution throughout the universe, so it rushes out. Now here's the problem: Heat is the kinetic energy of particles vibrating. If you have an atom or partical that is vibrating very fast, it's going to be hot, vise-versa if it's not vibrating fast. When time is paused, the only particles that are going to be vibrating in the universe are going to be the one's of Bernard. All other atoms would be at a standstill. So what does this mean? It means, that when Bernard stops time, he will be exposed to the coldest tempreture you can get, absolute zero. All the heat in his body would be sucked from his body and he will probably freeze instantly. Think that's the worst that will happen. Think again!
There's also the law of inertia. Earth is rotating at 400 miles an hour, whilst hurtiling around the sun, and that's hurtiling around the galaxy. The galaxy, is estimated to be moving at a distance of roughly 600 kilometres a second. Now, if you're standing on a moving car, and it suddenly stops, you're going to keep moving. If the galaxy stops moving, and that was going at 600 km a second, and you're not part of the time that's stopped, you're going to keep moving. Bernard would be catapulted at 600 km a second into the atmosphere. In theory, it shouldn't matter if he's inside or not: If there are no forces in the atoms int he walls or ceiling to repel back the forces in the atom in him, he should just pass through the ceiling. He has twenty secons until the time goes back to normal, so by the time it starts again, Bernard will be 12,000 km away from everyone he loved, everything he has ever known, and old man McGrumpy. And twenty seconds is up starting... now! It's over!
Exept for one final, and probably the most dangerous consequence yet. In zero seconds, he has moved 12,000 km. There is a formuler that states that states that the acceleration of an object is related to his mass and the force subjected to him to make him go that speed. The long story short is that nothing with mass can ever accelerate to the speed of light, as it would require an infinate ammount of energy, and would create an infinate ammount of mass. But that can't happen right? Well guess what! Bernard just accelarated from standing completly still to 600 km in no time at all. It takes light 0.000003 seconds to travel one km, so Bernard has definatly accelerated fasted than light. So, Bernard would gain an infinate mass, enveloping the Earth, the sun, the solar system... If it's observable, Bernard will eventually envelop it. And he wanted to do was show old man McGrumpy a thing or too about being more repectful.
Conclusion:
Suspending belief that you can't pause time, what was considered to be just a fun gift to help someone do things he or she couldn't get away with, turns out to be the biggest threat to all things in the universe. I apologise for the shoddy writting, and hopefully someone will help make it look more pleasing, as well as correcting some of the mistakes that I have most likely made. Maybe it's possible to do more a different analyses of another show.
Bernard's Watch is the most dangerous item mankind can ever exist: A physics layman's speculation
Abstract: The watch used in the television show 'Bernard's Watch' once activated will instantly destroy the user and could possible destroy every living thing that is alive when used. I will attempt to show this using my (limited) knowledge of physics
History: Me and my brother were in the car the other day and he casually asked me what ability I would rather have: the ability to stop time, or to go back in time. It was an innocent question, but it got me angry. I get the feeling this could have been inspired by the guy in Heroes, but I will always remember the show Bernard's Watch that showed me the premise. It's pretty simple: a young kid is given a watch by...someone, and this watch has the ability to stop time. A simple premise, and to be honest, it was pretty fun to watch when I was younger. And the things he did with it were amazing! But looking back, I can't help but take my pedantic anger at the idea of stopping time, and have decided to explore what would happen if such a watch existed. I'm not going to lie, it's been ages since I did A-Level physics, and I pretty much got an 'E' in my final grades, so I can't say that what I'm going to say is accurate, only what I can remember. I do hope that people will help correct me, as with experts on the topic, this could get very interesting. ANYWAY...
Setting the scene:Bernard has had enough of old man McGrumpy. He's mean, and cold, and won't chuck back Bernard's prized football in the garden. Bernard's had enough. 'What if I were to use my special watch, stop time and then punch him in the knee? That'll show him!'. Brilliant! Bernard walks over to old man McGrumpy. He waves at him. McGrumpy shakes his fist. Bernard reaches into his pickets, gets out his watch, and stops time.
And now, the shit hits the fan.
For argument's sake we are going to say that only Bernard is allowed to move. Everything else is stationary and can't be moved. After 20 seconds of Bernard's time, everything will go back to normal and time will be unfroven.
Right, the first thing that Bernard would notice is that everything would go dark. He wou;dn't be able to see anything. This is because the light that would be emitted or reflected off objects would be paused, and would therefore be unable to get to his eyes so he could see. Bernard would just be stumbling around the ground, with no idea where McGrumpy is. But that's a walk in the park compared to what happens next.
The second law of thermodynamics says that heat and pressure will try to reach an equilibrium if there is an industribution of said properties. That's why when you're in a spaceship and open the hatch, everything will be sucked out quickly, because there's hardly any air in space and the air 'wants' to have an even distribution throughout the universe, so it rushes out. Now here's the problem: Heat is the kinetic energy of particles vibrating. If you have an atom or partical that is vibrating very fast, it's going to be hot, vise-versa if it's not vibrating fast. When time is paused, the only particles that are going to be vibrating in the universe are going to be the one's of Bernard. All other atoms would be at a standstill. So what does this mean? It means, that when Bernard stops time, he will be exposed to the coldest tempreture you can get, absolute zero. All the heat in his body would be sucked from his body and he will probably freeze instantly. Think that's the worst that will happen. Think again!
There's also the law of inertia. Earth is rotating at 400 miles an hour, whilst hurtiling around the sun, and that's hurtiling around the galaxy. The galaxy, is estimated to be moving at a distance of roughly 600 kilometres a second. Now, if you're standing on a moving car, and it suddenly stops, you're going to keep moving. If the galaxy stops moving, and that was going at 600 km a second, and you're not part of the time that's stopped, you're going to keep moving. Bernard would be catapulted at 600 km a second into the atmosphere. In theory, it shouldn't matter if he's inside or not: If there are no forces in the atoms int he walls or ceiling to repel back the forces in the atom in him, he should just pass through the ceiling. He has twenty secons until the time goes back to normal, so by the time it starts again, Bernard will be 12,000 km away from everyone he loved, everything he has ever known, and old man McGrumpy. And twenty seconds is up starting... now! It's over!
Exept for one final, and probably the most dangerous consequence yet. In zero seconds, he has moved 12,000 km. There is a formuler that states that states that the acceleration of an object is related to his mass and the force subjected to him to make him go that speed. The long story short is that nothing with mass can ever accelerate to the speed of light, as it would require an infinate ammount of energy, and would create an infinate ammount of mass. But that can't happen right? Well guess what! Bernard just accelarated from standing completly still to 600 km in no time at all. It takes light 0.000003 seconds to travel one km, so Bernard has definatly accelerated fasted than light. So, Bernard would gain an infinate mass, enveloping the Earth, the sun, the solar system... If it's observable, Bernard will eventually envelop it. And he wanted to do was show old man McGrumpy a thing or too about being more repectful.
Conclusion:
Suspending belief that you can't pause time, what was considered to be just a fun gift to help someone do things he or she couldn't get away with, turns out to be the biggest threat to all things in the universe. I apologise for the shoddy writting, and hopefully someone will help make it look more pleasing, as well as correcting some of the mistakes that I have most likely made. Maybe it's possible to do more a different analyses of another show.
posted by Joe Mc'Lynch @ 12:41 AM
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