[HPforGrownups] Re: Changes I would make.

[Random832]

No: HPFGUIDX 177634

eggplant107 wrote:
>  Random832 <random832 at ...> wrote:
>  
>> all this is ignoring the fact that
>> the characteristic pattern could
>> very well be a spiral rather than a helix.
> 
> No it could not. Steam rising in a characteristic spiral pattern is a
> logical impossibility.

Except it's rising from a potion. And, potions are - or so we've been 
told, magic. (and, yes, if it's in a spiral in a plane perpendicular to 
the surface, it's not _uniformly_ rising - but it can be rising in bulk).

And, if you really want to get down to it, Steam (which is invisible) 
rising in any pattern that can be said to be characteristic of the 
substance (steam is pure water) that it's rising from is impossible 
anyway. But it's magic.

You've painted your own picture of what the steam looks like and are 
saying "that's not a spiral", and blaming JKR for your possibly 
inaccurate picture.

> If a spiral is rising then it's not a spiral
> anymore, it's a helix.

I draw a spiral on a piece of paper. I lift the piece of paper off the 
table up into the air - does this make what I have drawn a helix?

> As I said before this is not a big deal, but if
> I were JKR's editor I'd point it out and I'll bet she would be willing
> to change that word.

Or she could have told you "well, it's NOT a helix, it's a spiral."

Or you could have recognized that to an audience of non-mathematicians, 
"helix" is nothing more than a fancy word for a type of "spiral".

I certainly didn't visualize it rising in a helix.

http://www.geocities.com/robinhuiscool/pics/Archimedian_Spiral.jpg

Now, imagine that coming off the surface of a liquid, in 'steam' form 
(it's not steam, it's mist, but you decided to nitpick 'spiral' instead 
of 'steam')