Golpalott's Third Law

[Bex]

No: HPFGUIDX 151491

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "finwitch" <finwitch at ...> 

wrote:
>
> 
> > Neuman:
> > Alright then, I'll bite. What does Golpalott's Third Law mean? 
> > 
> > "The antidote for a blended poison will be equal to more than the 

sum
> > of the antidotes for each of the separate components."
> > 
> > How would one antidote be more than another? Did Golpalott also 

invent
> > some kind of rating system?
> 
> Finwitch:
> 
> Well, I think it's that - first, you DO need the separate antidotes
> for each component-poison. However, it's well possible that these
> poisons (and the antidote-components) also *react* with each other, 

so
> you must take those reactional products into account when making 

it...
> Of course, bezoar, being the antidote for all components AND 

several
> more, would work even by itself... (and Snape usually mixed a 

bezoar
> with the antidote-components...)
> 
> Finwitch

I love this scene, not just for Harry's big mouth, but for the 

chemistry and alchemy innuendos and references.

Sluggy says that if we take it is true (and I sure do want to), that 

not only do we need the antidotes of all of the poisons within the 

blended poison (each component poison), there is one other ingredient 

 which, through an almost alchemical process, will complete the 

antidote for the blended poison.

I would have LOVED to be in that class!!!

To explain it by example - 
We have a blended poison consisting of poison A and poison B mixed 

together (I would imagine that it's simply mixing them, anyway). When 

the poisons are mixed, some sort of chemical reaction must occur, so 

that they work together, linked somehow.

To find an antidote for this poison cocktail, we need the antidote to
poison A (I'll call A*) and the antidote to poison B (B*), which would
seem like common sense - you have a cold and a headache, your most
likely thoughts would be to reach for the Tylenol Cold (aches + cold
medicine) or the Advil and the NyQuil. But just the antidotes mixed
together won't wortk. You'll also need something else - something that
will link the /antidotes/ together, like a catalyst in a chemical
reaction, thereby counteracting the chemical reaction that occured
when the poisons were mixed. This one extra ingredient will tyransform
the two antidotes into one blended antidote, and then (and only then)
the antidote will work on the blended poison.

I would think that if bezoars are somewhat easy to come by, throwing
one into the antidote wouldn't be a bad idea, in case you got
something wrong.

What Hermione was doing was determining what the component poisons
were in her cauldron, through the Revelaspell (Specialis Revelio). I
don't know how one would go about determining what the "extra
ingredient" would be - the book has a list of antidotes for various
poisons, Harry sees it in that class. Maybe there's a way to determine
what it is based on the component poisons. I think that's sort of what
JK was going for.

~Yblitka, who got all tingly when she reread that scene.