Vanishing and Conjuring - how does it work?

[Steve]

No: HPFGUIDX 70746

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "Rach" <rachrobins at h...> wrote:
> I have been thinking since reading OOP about the limitations of the 
> wizarding world, and how things cannot be fixed with the wave of a 
> wand. This led me to wondering how vanishing and conjuring works. 
> 
> When Bill vanished the scrolls from the table in Sirius' kitchen 
> where did they go? ...edited...
> 
> I have the same confusion about conjuring.  We have lots of examples 
> of adult wizards conjuring objects (plates of sandwiches, table 
> cloths, squashy purple sleeping bags, ...edited...
> 
> Can you only conjure something that you have previously vanished? 
> 
> ...edited...
> 
> Rach


bboy_mm:

The universe we live in, according to Einstein, is finite. What exists
now always has and always will exist; nothing is ever lost or gained.
When we burn a piece of paper, it doesn't cease to exist, it simply
changes form. So there is a fix amount of matter and energy which is
constantly changing state; matter convert into energy and energy
converts into matter. 

I have to assume there are two ways of vanishing things; permanent and
temporary. Something that is permanently vanished is like garbage
thrown in the garbage bin; not truly lost, just gotten rid of.
Temporary, obviously, just puts the material into a holding pattern. 

Either way, matter is converted into energy, in doing so, it loses all
physical substance and form. When you need the object back, it is
simply reconverted back into matter. This is the same principle as the
Transporter on the Starship Enterprise (Star Trek); matter to energy
and back to matter again; from something, to nothing back to something.

Conjuring on the other hand, takes nothing and converts it into
something; energy is converted into matter. But there are couple 
things we need to keep in mind. 

First, not everything that is made to suddenly appear has been
conjured. There are, for lack of a better word, 'Transfer' spells.
Real food is transferted from the kitchens to the house tables or down
to Hagrids hut or down to Snapes office, real sleeping bags are
transferred from storage to the Great Hall. That's not conjuring; you
aren't creating something out of nothing, you are simply moving
something from one place to another.

Also, keep in mind that not everything that disappears vanishes. Bill
may have simply transfer all the parchments to a new location.

Second, 'Only God can make a tree'. Things that are truly conjured are
unstable. For a period of time, you can make magical energy appear to
be a substantial object, but because it is unstable, it seeks to
return to it's natural state of pure magical energy. Therefore, after
a period of time that is determined by the strength and quality of the
wizard, and the strength, quality, and nature of the spell, the object
returns to nothing.

Examples; you conjure clothes and go to a party, halfway through the
party, your clothes disappear. You conjure up a bag of Leprechaun
Galleons and later they vanish. That really tends to irritate shop
keepers.

That's the bad new, now for the good news. You can conjure up a gallon
of the richest, most delicious ice cream on earth and eat the entire
gallon, and the calorie count is virtually zero while the pleasure
count is through the roof. 

I suspect that this is what Molly did when the 'white sauce' came out
of her wand. White sauce is usually made from cream, and is extremely
rich and fattening, so she created it from nothing. That means all
flavor and no fat or calories. Yummy!

JKR has personally said in interviews that conjured items have no
permanence. They're made from nothing, then eventually return to nothing.

Just a thought.

bboy_mn