Electricity at Hogwarts (was : Re: Is Trelawney a witch?)

[justcarol67 at yahoo.com]

No: HPFGUIDX 87197

> > Arcum wrote:
> >  
> > > It did occur to me that she may have had electronic lights, and
> > > a concealed dimmer switch she had her hand on, or a motion
> > > detector, but I don't believe muggle technology works properly
> > > at Hogwarts...
> > 
> > Berit replies:
> > 
> > According to Hermione(?), electricity does not work at Hogwarts, so 
> > you're right about that :-)
> 
> And Del adds :
> 
> But electricity is not the only way of acting on something from a 
> distance. Pneumatics or hydraulics, for example, could do the trick. 
> We know about electricity being banned from Hogwarts, but we don't 
> know of anything else.
> 
> And as an ex Physics student, I'd be dead interested to know how ever 
> they managed to make the castle impervious to electricity. Ideas 
> anyone ?
> 
> Del

Carol:
On a simple and obvious level, there are no electrical outlets or
switches at Hogwarts, so Trelawny couldn't simply have flipped a
switch to turn on the lights. Also, power/telephone poles would be
rather hard to hide from the Muggles, who in any case would provide
the electricity that passed through the wires. Hogwarts would have to
pay for any electricity that it used and its location would have to be
revealed to the government or the power company (I don't know who
provides the utilities in Britain). The school does apparently have
some sort of plumbing system (hot water provided magically?) but no
provisions for electricity regardless of electricity-repelling magic.
That wouldn't explain why walkie-talkies (or cell phones, which
haven't been mentioned) wouldn't work, though. I pity the Muggle
Studies teacher, having to explain electricity without being able to
demonstrate it!

Carol