[HPforGrownups] Speculations on wizard transport

[Andrew MacIan]

No: HPFGUIDX 32999

Greetings from Andrew!

Seems to be a night where I can let my reason and
imagination loose...

--- Tabouli <tabouli at unite.com.au> wrote:
{Snip} of interesting things.

> Then there's the ol' teleport problem.  What would
> happen if two people Apparated or Portkeyed
> simultaneously into an overlapping space, or even
> into an object like a tree or building?  This was
> one of my first thoughts as I read about people
> getting to the Quidditch World Cup, I must admit. 
> Would some terrible explosion or fusing together
> happen? 

If the ordinary, boring old laws of physics apply,
think something bigger/more energetic than a
megaton-scale thermonuclear explosion.  This seems to
be one of the limiting factors to why it's *quantum*
teleportation that we seem to to be able to currently
pull off.

> (note: fanfic writers, I hand this one to
> you... is the Whomping Willow the product of a
> violent wizard fusing with a willow tree?)

Given the description of its use at Hogwarts, I'd
opine that it was 'purpose built' to do what it
currently does.  I can imagine a lot of things that
could be protected by such a tree.


>  Would
> they splinch each other, or just conveniently spring
> up whole and close together?  In GoF, JKR seems to
> take the convenience option with Charlie Apparating
> on top of someone, and with Floo powder, as Weasley
> after Weasley crams into the Dursley fireplace
> (though I suppose the Floo network would have to
> take this into account).

I would say that the Floo route is not Apparating, per
se.  As you point out above, the Apparate spell
appears to be a case of Will and Word:  You have to
expend internal energy to get something done.

My own model of the Floo net is that of a more complex
version of IP routing/addressing, with people being
packets routed to a given destination...usually the
correct one, but as with IP packets, Odd Things
Happen.

> 
> Hmmmmm hummm hoooommmm (muses Tabouli, in Treebeard
> fashion).
> 

"Indeed," mused Holmes.

Cheers,

Drieux

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