Lighting...and lots of magic

[Milz]

No: HPFGUIDX 19897

--- In HPforGrownups at y..., Amber <reanna20 at y...> wrote:

> You'd have to enchant the candles to burn extra bright, burn
> extra long, and to not burn people or things when they tip over (or
> enchant them not to tip over at all). That seems like a lot of
> enchantments/spells when you could accomplish the same by using 
*one*
> spell to make a rock glow or something like that. To somewhat break
> into a Hermione moment, it just doesn't seem logical to me.
> 

I remember watching the "1900 House"last year. Anyhow, there was one 
segment in which safety inspectors came to inspect the converted house 
and found something like 200 safety violations including the gas 
lighting, candles, copper wash basin, straight blade shaving razor, 
etc. I suspect if you've lived in an environment that predominately 
uses candles or lamps for lighting, you're going to subconsciously be 
more careful around those items than somebody who isn't used to them. 
Speaking from my 2 week candle experience, I got used to not setting 
any papers too near my candles or not setting my candles too near 
something flammable such as curtains. 

Maybe there is one spell to extend the life of a candle and to 
intensify its brightness and maybe it's candle-specific. Or maybe 
wizards just use ordinary candles. I've noticed that some candles do 
seem to burn brighter than others. It probably has to due with the 
wick material or the wax material or both.

> I've also been wondering more about how magic works in JKR's world 
(if
> you couldn't tell, I'm a bit preoccupied with magic! <grin>) I 
wonder
> if a spell continues to draw upon the caster's strength after cast. 
For
> example, Hermione casts a spell to create a warm blue flame in a 
jar.
> While the fire is burning, does it draw upon her magical
> resources/strength? There doesn't seem to be any evidence of a 
wizard
> getting tired from maintaining too many spells. That seems to mean 
that
> magic is "free" and the only limitations are on the expertise and 
will
> of the wizard to cast the spell correctly.
>

I think that magic in Rowling's world deals with the manipulation of 
existing matter. That is, the wizards aren't creating anthing new but 
merely manipulating the existing molecules and atoms by re-arranging 
them. Everything is made of atoms and atoms differ from each other 
from the arrangement and numbers of protons, electrons and neutrons 
(and a bunch of other smaller units). For example, if you can take an 
atom of oxygen and if you can add the appropriate number of particles, 
you can turn that oxygen atom into an iron atom. Re-arranging enough 
atoms can produce a tray of sandwiches and a pitcher of pumpkin juice 
out of "nothing". 

Milz