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onservation of energy?

by Anubis: 2004-06-23 | 1 out of 10 (2 votes)

Previous Categories: Philosophy and the Wheel of Time

this is probably pointless, but im sure it is somthing robert jordan has thought about and has an answer for... it just interests the heck out of me.

matter is energy, the two are fairly interchangable no? destroy matter, get energy, theroticly you can reverse that process (convert energy into matter.. big bang anyone?). but the agreed thing is that you can NOT destroy energy. There is the same exact ammount of total energy in the universe as there was at the begining of time. (physicists and physics majors feel absolutly free to correct me on any of this, im no expert or anything this is just my understanding)

In the world of the wheel of time we have two unique situations. We have matter that can not be broken down by any means other then divine intervention, and we have a means of completely destroying matter without producing any energy. Cuellendar and Balefire.

My theory goes that there should be no world. The wheel is infinate, and every so often a small chunk of the world gets balefired and ceases to exist. Infinite small chunks eventually means no world. Use cuellendar and we have either Infinate cuellendar, or we have a lot of work for the Dark One.

Potential Solutions:

Balefire creates energy or matter in some mysterious magical way that we do not see. Maybe it just breaks what it touches down into its basic atomic componets and disperses it evenly across the pattern.... ten minutes ago. And there is a way to destroy cuellindar, we just havent seen it quite yet.
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Comments

1

Tamyrlin: 2004-09-09

(Frenzy for Tamyrlin)
Fun thing about fantasy: the laws of physics don't have to apply. Jordan has a background in physics, so his world is a lot more 'real' than other fantasy worlds, but it is still fantasy.
i've always thought that Jordan had a thing for balance. i never thought that Cuendillar would be the balance for balefire. Interesting connection.

2

Callandor: 2004-09-09

**We have matter that can not be broken down by any means other then divine intervention, and we have a means of completely destroying matter without producing any energy. Cuellendar and Balefire.**

Just to point out, Cuendillar is only ~known~ to be indistructable. I rather like the idea that the One Power could be drawn out of it, and it could be destroyed.

3

ilgross: 2004-09-11

If anything they are the same.

Cuellindar absorbs all energy put into it.

Balefire 'absorbs' all matter put into it.

4

Herids student: 2004-09-17

You raise an interesting point about balefire. It does destroys matter, which in theory would unleash all the energy contained in the sub atomic particles. Perhaps this energy is released in a sort of metaphysical exothermic reaction. This metaphysical 'heat' then burns the thread from the pattern. Still there is the question of where the energy goes from there. With a normal flame the heat energy is dissapated into the surrounding area. Maybe this 'heat' is dissapated back into the True Source?

5

a dragonburned fool: 2004-09-26

I'll say that balefire is destroying both matter and energy. It not only destroys the matter of a living body, it lefts also not the warmth that was already in that body, it also destroys the actions of that person in the past - actions, i.e. also the energy usage of that actions.

And somebody asked Jordan (sorry I cannot give it right now), if the force of the cueldillar can be drawn away form it, and Jordan confirmed.

So balefire and cuendillar are not cases of matter against energy.

Rather both balefire and cuendillar are effects on boundaries of dimensions and move matter and energy from one dimension into another. Balefire puts the thread in the "space" outside the Pattern and the world, while cuendillar is maybe connecting to something like a vacuole.

6

Aiel Finn: 2004-12-07

Think of it like Cuellendar is backwards balefire. Balefire phases something back in time. Cuellendar phases something forward in time. You can't destroy something that already exists after you destroyed it.

7

Aendur: 2004-12-09

Personally, it seems the OP isn't enough to un-cuendillar something. Ishy seems to have been related to all the early Seal weakenings (in the first two books), and Ishy uses the TP excessively. Hmmm....