somewhere over the rimfall
Vix
excuse...
discworld is *obviously* a disc shape. when the water from the oceans goes
over the rimfall where does it go? does it just continue through space until
it comes to another world and floods it in rain? and what stops the oceans
from emptying themselves?
luv Vix - http://littlered.firdeloth.net
Robert Dorf
wrote:
Dunno, but some possibilities;
1) Arrangements are made. Trust us. Well, Terry.
2) The Elephants suck it up with their trunks and then spray it back.
Rain has less pleasant origins than people like to think.
3) An enormous number of very small, very fast fairies and gnomes are
employed to catch the individual falling drops of water and fly them
bach to a central distribution office, where a series of overworked
and unmotivated clerks are meant to see to the waters redistribution
over the disc. The shoddy nature of the work done by of these clerks
accounts for droughts, the great Nef, etc.
4) The disk and the turtle are the biggest sources of gravity around
most of the time. The water doesn't have enough momentum to break
free, and so it trails behind them, crystallizes, and eventually
drifts back. May be combined with option #3.
Ash
> when the water from the oceans goes over the
> rimfall where does it go? does it just continue
> through space until it comes to another world
> and floods it in rain? and what stops the oceans
> from emptying themselves?
If the water is solidifying and drifting away from the Disc, any
world receiving it might even get it as a load of small comets.
If it's staying in some sort of near-Disc orbit, the turtle and
elephants might be drinking any that comes their way.
Possibly the whole thing works *because that's how things are*
for the myths that use flat worlds. This is the approach I
favour, although I'd like a more specific answer.
Ashley
_________________
E-mail address is valid, but please put "ABP" in the header.
Morpheus
news:b0c7ij$ndlnp$1...@ID-177450.news.dfncis.de...
and it would rapidly become lifeless if the magic stopped. In other words,
don't ask a lot of picky questions because "it's all done by magic".
James Kuyper Jr.
> these questions may have been asked before but never mind i'm new, that's my
> excuse...
> discworld is *obviously* a disc shape. when the water from the oceans goes
> over the rimfall where does it go? does it just continue through space until
> it comes to another world and floods it in rain? and what stops the oceans
> from emptying themselves?
I believe it's stated explicitly in one of the books (possibly several
of them) that it's all done by magic. The whole world is operated by
magic. Turn off the magic, and the Discworld itself, Great A'tuin and
the Elephants all collapse, because there's no known material strong
enough to hold them all in a non-spherical shape against the force of
their own gravity. I was going to write many further details about how
disastrous it would be to turn off the magic, but that one item trumps
all of the others.
I will mention one more item, anyway. Let's postulate that the
Discworld, Great A'tuin, and the Elephants are all made of some
non-magical material that happens to be strong enough to hold their
shapes even without magic. If the magic were turned off, leaving only
the ordinary laws of gravity, then all of the Discworld's water and air
would flow to the place closest to the center of gravity. That center
would be somewhere in the middle of all four elephants, between Cori
Celeste and Great A'tuin. The water couldn't head directly to that
location, because it couldn't fall over the rim anymore, that route
would now involve flowing uphill. That means that all the water and air
would rush downhill toward the Hublands. Cori Celeste would likely be
under water. The only inhabitable parts of the disk would be within a
short distance of the new ocean shoreline; only a few dozen kilometers
away from that shoreline, the atmosphere would become unbreathably thin.
Where will the new shoreline be? Well, that's a tricky calculation, with
lots of unknowns. However, we can skip all the calculations, because
it's the laws of narratives that matter, not the laws of Physics.
Therefore, the new shoreline will end up just a short distance hubwards
of the city limits of Ahnk-Morpork. :-)
Alec Cawley
Space..
The Final Frontier.
Where we boldly go
Where no post has gone before
Barring a few hundred thousand.
Right... Now I can get started
Vix wrote:
> these questions may have been asked before but never mind i'm new, that's
> my excuse...
> discworld is *obviously* a disc shape. when the water from the oceans
> goes over the rimfall where does it go? does it just continue through
> space until it comes to another world and floods it in rain? and what
> stops the oceans from emptying themselves?
Just read The Last Hero. If wooden birds which fall off the edge of the edge
of the Disc can loop back to Cori Celelti (when navigated by a Rocket
Wizard), water which falls of the edge will return *somewhere* on the Disc.
--
@lec Šawley
From address is valid
Doug Urquhart
It wasn't just free-fall, though; the dragons were used to impart
orbital velocity.
Regards
Doug Urquhart
Ash
> >Spoiler space for The Last Hero and the end of TCoM.
> >
> >
> >
> >Space..
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >The Final Frontier.
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >Where we boldly go
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >Where no post has gone before
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >Barring a few hundred thousand.
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >Right... Now I can get started
>
> >Just read The Last Hero. If wooden birds which
> >fall off the edge of the edge of the Disc can loop
> >back to Cori Celelti (when navigated by a Rocket
> >Wizard), water which falls of the edge will return
> >*somewhere* on the Disc.
>
> It wasn't just free-fall, though; the dragons were used
> to impart orbital velocity.
>
How did the Maria Pesto do it? Although it seems *very*
unlikely, an unpropelled object has been seen to fall off and
still land on the Disc. (It showed no signs of working for
Rincewind, though.)
The dragons gave the Bird enough extra power to go to *any
point* on the Disc, such as Cori Celesti.
Ashley
Steve840750530
>>
>>
>>
>>Space..
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>The Final Frontier.
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>Where we boldly go
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>Where no post has gone before
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>Barring a few hundred thousand.
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>Right... Now I can get started
>>
>>Vix wrote:
>>
>>> these questions may have been asked before but never mind i'm new, that's
>>> my excuse...
>>> discworld is *obviously* a disc shape. when the water from the oceans
>>> goes over the rimfall where does it go? does it just continue through
>>> space until it comes to another world and floods it in rain? and what
>>> stops the oceans from emptying themselves?
We could have a 'Champaign glass fountain/mountain' effect going on because the
water troll fell from some other planet and landed on DW, it therefore follows
that water could also fall onto DW from some other place and, given the curved
nature of space/time and enough planets in 'the loop' a closed water cycle
could exist.
On the other hand magic is a good answer.
Steve
Graycat
wrote:
>We could have a 'Champaign glass fountain/mountain' effect going on because the
>water troll fell from some other planet and landed on DW, it therefore follows
>that water could also fall onto DW from some other place and, given the curved
>nature of space/time and enough planets in 'the loop' a closed water cycle
>could exist.
>
>On the other hand magic is a good answer.
>
Doesn't it say in Eric that the water mysteriously dissapears on the
way down? Maybe I'm just making this up, but I think I remember it.
Elin
The Tale of Westala and Villtin
http://www.student.lu.se/~his02ero/index.html
Steve840750530
>the
>>water troll fell from some other planet and landed on DW, it therefore
>follows
>>that water could also fall onto DW from some other place and, given the
>curved
>>nature of space/time and enough planets in 'the loop' a closed water cycle
>>could exist.
>>
>>On the other hand magic is a good answer.
>>
>
>Doesn't it say in Eric that the water mysteriously dissapears on the
>way down? Maybe I'm just making this up, but I think I remember it.
>
Rings a bell, but the water would dissapear anyway because the near vacuum of
space would cause it to form ice crystals due to the temperature drop, wouldn't
it?
Steve
ray daley
David Hadley
news:20030119074642...@mb-mt.aol.com...
<snip>
> Rings a bell, but the water would dissapear anyway because the near vacuum
of
> space would cause it to form ice crystals due to the temperature drop,
wouldn't
> it?
>
> Steve
I thought that because of the zero pressure it would just come apart like a
gas. But I don't know. It's an intresting question.
Where does the water go, why doesn't it run out? They are good questions.
But then again so is "How the hell can a the discworld exist at all?" is
also good question. Maybe we should just accept somethings?
Clotilde
It is one of the many things that shows so very well that this world is made
up by people (gods) that had no sense whatsoever of how things work. If you
go back to the very first book - Light Fantastic or Colour of Magic - the
intro talks about that.
However, taken from another standpoint - PTerry wrote another book a longer
time ago that was more SciFi and less Fantasy and it's name was Strata. This
book deals with a Disc World where the water runs from the center out to
the edges. But the world is an artificial world and the water is sucked up
by a big plastic funnel and returned to the center to come out again - rather
like one giant artifical waterfall for the coffee table.
Maybe it's teleportation type of magic. There's a god whose entire time is
taken up by recycling the water off the rimfall back to the hub.
Jon Wells
news:v2uabrp...@corp.supernews.com...
One could very easily imagine the Discworld inhabitants asking smilar things
about the "Roundworld" water cycle....
Here's a very simple solution.... (and no, I'm not a scientist - obviously!)
As the water pours over the rim, the rapid drop in pressure as it suddenly
leaves the atmosphere (this is not a gradual thing, as it is on our planet -
it is more or less instantaneous) combined with the body heat emitted by the
elephants and Great A'Tuin as well as one or two other stellar phenomena
cause it to evaporate. Turtular winds (caused, for example, by the regular
beating of A'Tuin's flippers) then blow the moisture back over the rim and
back towards the hub, where it forms clouds and falls as rain!
I would imagine that the rim is often a very windy and damp unpleasant place
to be! Of course, the winds will vary, so some days may be quite pleasant!
Any thoughts from Mr. Pratchett on this? ;-)
Jon
Christine Leston
> It is one of the many things that shows so very well that this world is
made
> up by people (gods) that had no sense whatsoever of how things work. If
you
> go back to the very first book - Light Fantastic or Colour of Magic - the
> intro talks about that.
>
> However, taken from another standpoint - PTerry wrote another book a
longer
> time ago that was more SciFi and less Fantasy and it's name was Strata.
This
> book deals with a Disc World where the water runs from the center out to
> the edges. But the world is an artificial world and the water is sucked up
> by a big plastic funnel and returned to the center to come out again -
rather
> like one giant artifical waterfall for the coffee table.
>
> Maybe it's teleportation type of magic. There's a god whose entire time is
> taken up by recycling the water off the rimfall back to the hub.
>
black hole under the turtle and comes out through another above the
Diskworld.
C.M. Leston.
Crowfoot
<jon_...@hotmail.com> wrote:
> Turtular winds (caused, for example, by the regular
> beating of A'Tuin's flippers) then blow the moisture back
Or from other causes . . . "Turtular winds" -- first big laugh of the
day. Thanks!
SMC
--
Crowfoot
cy...@visi.com
wrote:
>
>However, taken from another standpoint - PTerry wrote another book a longer
>time ago that was more SciFi and less Fantasy and it's name was Strata. This
>book deals with a Disc World where the water runs from the center out to
>the edges. But the world is an artificial world and the water is sucked up
>by a big plastic funnel and returned to the center to come out again - rather
>like one giant artifical waterfall for the coffee table.
Could work. Gravity point in about the center of the elephants or
top of the turtle and a funnel from there.
>
>Maybe it's teleportation type of magic. There's a god whose entire time is
>taken up by recycling the water off the rimfall back to the hub.
Somehow, while I doubt it, I like that idea quite a bit.
--
rbc:vixen,Minnow Goddess,Willow Watcher,and all that sort of thing.
Often taunted by trout.
Very slow on replying to email.
http://www.visi.com/~cyli
cy...@visi.com
<jon_...@hotmail.com> wrote:
>
>Here's a very simple solution.... (and no, I'm not a scientist - obviously!)
>
>As the water pours over the rim, the rapid drop in pressure as it suddenly
>leaves the atmosphere (this is not a gradual thing, as it is on our planet -
>it is more or less instantaneous) combined with the body heat emitted by the
>elephants and Great A'Tuin as well as one or two other stellar phenomena
>cause it to evaporate. Turtular winds (caused, for example, by the regular
>beating of A'Tuin's flippers) then blow the moisture back over the rim and
>back towards the hub, where it forms clouds and falls as rain!
>
I like that one. But altered so the winds blow into the under center
of the disk and are blown up through Cor Coeli (SP?). There they form
the glaciers and keep the gods ice shaft mountain stable, but
gradually glacier (no, it's not a verb AFAIK, but it's useful as one)
down to where the winds and temps handle it like roundworld glaciers.
Tony Donovan
> >Here's a very simple solution.... (and no, I'm not a scientist -
obviously!)
> >
> >As the water pours over the rim, the rapid drop in pressure as it
suddenly
> >leaves the atmosphere (this is not a gradual thing, as it is on our
planet -
> >it is more or less instantaneous) combined with the body heat emitted by
the
> >elephants and Great A'Tuin as well as one or two other stellar phenomena
> >cause it to evaporate. Turtular winds (caused, for example, by the
regular
> >beating of A'Tuin's flippers) then blow the moisture back over the rim
and
> >back towards the hub, where it forms clouds and falls as rain!
> >
> I like that one. But altered so the winds blow into the under center
> of the disk and are blown up through Cor Coeli (SP?). There they form
> the glaciers and keep the gods ice shaft mountain stable, but
> gradually glacier (no, it's not a verb AFAIK, but it's useful as one)
> down to where the winds and temps handle it like roundworld glaciers.
> --
Doesn't Disc work on narrative and magic? I'd have thought the simplest
solution
just involve the miraculous idea of the water simply vanishing at a certain
point and then
just being replaced 'as though by magic'.
Tony
ward
Please remember that to most people on this roundworld science and
technology work "as though by magic". The light switch just works (except
when it doesn't). It's up to the rest of us to explain _why_ it works or
doesn't (and then when they still don't understand, we get out the
stepladder and change the lightbulb -- you can only beat a dead horse for a
few miles -- there are other uses for a stepladder, but I'm not
Cassanunda).
--
Ward Griffiths wdg...@comcast.net
He got the country's name wrong, but Bush was precisely right when he
said: "Your enemy is not surrounding your country. Your enemy is ruling
your country." -- Lew Rockwell, on the 2003 State of the Union speech
Paul I Huse
<cy...@visi.com> skrev i melding
news:0q763vkn5rd5m5bps...@4ax.com...
> On Wed, 22 Jan 2003 23:30:03 -0000, "Clotilde" <hno...@ev1.net>
> wrote:
>
> >
> >However, taken from another standpoint - PTerry wrote another book a
longer
> >time ago that was more SciFi and less Fantasy and it's name was Strata.
This
> >book deals with a Disc World where the water runs from the center out to
> >the edges. But the world is an artificial world and the water is sucked
up
> >by a big plastic funnel and returned to the center to come out again -
rather
> >like one giant artifical waterfall for the coffee table.
>
> Could work. Gravity point in about the center of the elephants or
> top of the turtle and a funnel from there.
> >
> >Maybe it's teleportation type of magic. There's a god whose entire time
is
> >taken up by recycling the water off the rimfall back to the hub.
>
>
> Somehow, while I doubt it, I like that idea quite a bit.
> --
>
different (lost continent)...
A big one obviously.
Other than that, I should think it's just narrativium. It works like that
because in a that's how it should work. It's a story. (Witches abroad)
James Kuyper
> "Steve840750530" <steve84...@aol.com> wrote in message
> news:20030119074642...@mb-mt.aol.com...
>
> <snip>
>
> > Rings a bell, but the water would dissapear anyway because the near vacuum
> of
> > space would cause it to form ice crystals due to the temperature drop,
> wouldn't
> > it?
That's just a change of form. The ice crystals are solid water, rather
than liquid water, but you still have the question of how it gets back
to the DiscWorld.
> > Steve
>
> I thought that because of the zero pressure it would just come apart like a
> gas. But I don't know. It's an intresting question.
That's true, but there's some complicated intermediate steps. Water
droplets evaporate when the partial pressure of water vapor is low
enough. However, the molecules that sublimate are inherently the ones
that are moving fastest, carrying the most energy. As a result, the
the droplet gets cooler, and pretty rapidly freezes up entirely. You
get a large cloud of ice chunks mixed with water vapor.
That doesn't stop the process. Ice sublimates, too, but it takes a lot
longer. In the end, you just end up with a large cloud of water vapor.
That still doesn't solve the problem: how does the water vapor get
back to the DiscWorld. The answer, of course, is "magic" (unless and
until Terry comes up with a funnier answer).
...
> also good question. Maybe we should just accept somethings?
Never! We'll nitpick until the end of time (and maybe a little
longer)!