P
.pix
Guest
Everyone seems to be going on about their own theories on the half-life story, however that will go on for quite a while i'm guessing. Anyway, I was thinking that no one had paid any attention to the metaphorical and philisophical resoning behind the maths and physics mentioned in the H-L games. Here is a brief list:
*Chaos Theory - This is mentioned by scientists after the Black Mesa acciedent in H-L1. "Still think there's nothing to chaos theory now?"
First off, Chaos Theory is a bizare name as it is in some ways an oxymoron. The term 'chaos' contradicts that of 'theory' as chaos is inorderally and a theory is a linear statment.
This leads to the fact that Chaos Theory is all about the study on non-linear systems. It is to do with aperiodic behavior which is a behavior with NO repeatition (random).
Choas Theory can also be described quite well with the Butterfly Effect. The Butterfly Effect is to do with small variations in initial conditions which result in dynamic changes in concluding events. Here is an example of what I mean:
Mr. Dinkle-Bonk had his nail broken by Buffman
Because Mr. Dinkle-Bonk had his nail broken by Buffman, he cried
Because Mr. Dinkle-Bonk cried, he saught vengance
Because Mr. Dinkle-Bonk saught vengance, he got in a fight
Because Mr. Dinkle-Bonk got in a fight, he went to the hospital
Because Mr. Dinkle-Bonk went to the hospital, he met a woman
Because Mr. Dinkle-Bonk met a woman, he fell in love
Because Mr. Dinkle-Bonk fell in love, he married this woman
Because Mr. Dinkle-Bonk married this woman, he had a child
Because Mr. Dinkle-Bonk had a child, he named it Billy-Bonk
...Obviously the story could go on for ever, but (if like the Butterfly Effect says) I change an initial value just slightly:
Mr. Dinkle-Bonk broke Buffman's nail
Because Mr. Dinkle-Bonk broke Buffman's nail, Buffman cried
Because Buffman cried, Mr. Dinkle-Bonk felt bad
Because Mr. Dinkle-Bonk felt bad, he took Buffman out for an appologetic icecream
Because Mr. Dinkle-Bonk took Buffman out for an appologetic icecream, Mr. Dinkle-Bonk went bankrupt
Because Mr. Dinkle-Bonk went bankrupt, he couldn't pay his rent
Because Mr. Dinkle-Bonk couldn't pay his rent, he was kicked out of his appartment
Because Mr. Dinkle-Bonk was kicked out of his appartment, he slept in the gutter that night
Because Mr. Dinkle-Bonk slept in the gutter that night, he got a disease
Because Mr. Dinkle-Bonk got a disease, he died two days later
...As you can see, a small initial change, drastically changes the concluding events. In this case, Because Mr. Dinkle-Bonk never met the woman, never married her and never had a child named Billy-Bonk.
One man, Edward Lorenz (a meteorologist) discovered a chaotic system when trying to graph the behavior of a gaseous system. He used several equations from the area of fluid dynamics and simplified them. This is what his equations were:
dx/dt=delta*(y-x)
dy/dt=r*x-y-x*z
dz/dt=x*y-b*z
Basically, these equations would produce not a geometric structure nor a complex curve, but a weaving-like object now known as the Lorenz Attractor. See the attachments for a pic.
This Lorenz Attractor is quite useful as it proves that our world is a dynamical, complex system; Our lives, weather and experiences will never repeat, however they should form patterns.
In another tangent, Chaos Theory also relates to Fractals.
Fractals are based on algorithms. Fractals are not due to repetition of itterations as each itteration is different from the last. Instead, fractals are caused by the patterns formed from the itterations, making them seem simple, yet unknowing to the viewer, very complex.
I won't say anymore on fractals but you can check out more info on the net if you wish. Some fractal pictures are in the attachments below.
*Lambda - This is the name of the complex at Black Mesa and is also the symbol for wavelength when doing calculations in physics. It is the measurement of the length of one wave. You can find this length by measuring the distance between two corresponding points on a set of waves (eg. measure from the crest of one wave to the crest of another).
*Quantum Physics - This a relatively new area of physics and is what our man Gordon Freeman has his MIT degree in. Unfortunately I don't have a doctorite in quantum physics though so I can't really tell you much about it. But here are the basic rules for this study:
1.Energy is not continuous, but comes in small discrete units
2.The elementary particles behave both like particles and waves
3.The movement of these particles is inherently random
4.It is physically impossible to know both the position and the momentum of a particle at the same time. The more precisely one is known, the less precise the measurement of the other is.
5.The atomic world is nothing like the world we live in.
Basically this theory blows what we alreay know about the physical world (theory of relativity etc.) out the window. Some parts of this theory were studied by Einstein and he found that his results contradicted that of his other earlier results.
Simply if you were to say this back in the 'old days' you'd be burned at the 'witch-get-together-day.'
For now I'll leave this alone as it's far beyond me.
*Half-Life - Yes that's right, the name of our beloved game is also a physical theory. A Half-life is the time for half the atoms in a radioactive element to decay. For example, Americum-241 (getting into chemistry now) takes 458 years for half the atoms to decay. Thusly, its half-life is 458 years.
When some radioactive materials decay, their neutron spontaneously turn into protons and completely change the element. Other times, the material can go through a process called spontaneous fission, where the element splits in tow (or more) other elements. This decay of radioactive waste is dangerous but the products formed by the decay can sometimes be used for good.
I'm sure there is a whole lot more (like the spectrometer and the resonance cascade etc.) but I'm getting tired
so I'll stop here.
I would like others to contribute to this list and help determine or think about how it all ties in with the metaphorical meaning of the game.
Thanks
-.pix
*Chaos Theory - This is mentioned by scientists after the Black Mesa acciedent in H-L1. "Still think there's nothing to chaos theory now?"
First off, Chaos Theory is a bizare name as it is in some ways an oxymoron. The term 'chaos' contradicts that of 'theory' as chaos is inorderally and a theory is a linear statment.
This leads to the fact that Chaos Theory is all about the study on non-linear systems. It is to do with aperiodic behavior which is a behavior with NO repeatition (random).
Choas Theory can also be described quite well with the Butterfly Effect. The Butterfly Effect is to do with small variations in initial conditions which result in dynamic changes in concluding events. Here is an example of what I mean:
Mr. Dinkle-Bonk had his nail broken by Buffman
Because Mr. Dinkle-Bonk had his nail broken by Buffman, he cried
Because Mr. Dinkle-Bonk cried, he saught vengance
Because Mr. Dinkle-Bonk saught vengance, he got in a fight
Because Mr. Dinkle-Bonk got in a fight, he went to the hospital
Because Mr. Dinkle-Bonk went to the hospital, he met a woman
Because Mr. Dinkle-Bonk met a woman, he fell in love
Because Mr. Dinkle-Bonk fell in love, he married this woman
Because Mr. Dinkle-Bonk married this woman, he had a child
Because Mr. Dinkle-Bonk had a child, he named it Billy-Bonk
...Obviously the story could go on for ever, but (if like the Butterfly Effect says) I change an initial value just slightly:
Mr. Dinkle-Bonk broke Buffman's nail
Because Mr. Dinkle-Bonk broke Buffman's nail, Buffman cried
Because Buffman cried, Mr. Dinkle-Bonk felt bad
Because Mr. Dinkle-Bonk felt bad, he took Buffman out for an appologetic icecream
Because Mr. Dinkle-Bonk took Buffman out for an appologetic icecream, Mr. Dinkle-Bonk went bankrupt
Because Mr. Dinkle-Bonk went bankrupt, he couldn't pay his rent
Because Mr. Dinkle-Bonk couldn't pay his rent, he was kicked out of his appartment
Because Mr. Dinkle-Bonk was kicked out of his appartment, he slept in the gutter that night
Because Mr. Dinkle-Bonk slept in the gutter that night, he got a disease
Because Mr. Dinkle-Bonk got a disease, he died two days later
...As you can see, a small initial change, drastically changes the concluding events. In this case, Because Mr. Dinkle-Bonk never met the woman, never married her and never had a child named Billy-Bonk.
One man, Edward Lorenz (a meteorologist) discovered a chaotic system when trying to graph the behavior of a gaseous system. He used several equations from the area of fluid dynamics and simplified them. This is what his equations were:
dx/dt=delta*(y-x)
dy/dt=r*x-y-x*z
dz/dt=x*y-b*z
Basically, these equations would produce not a geometric structure nor a complex curve, but a weaving-like object now known as the Lorenz Attractor. See the attachments for a pic.
This Lorenz Attractor is quite useful as it proves that our world is a dynamical, complex system; Our lives, weather and experiences will never repeat, however they should form patterns.
In another tangent, Chaos Theory also relates to Fractals.
Fractals are based on algorithms. Fractals are not due to repetition of itterations as each itteration is different from the last. Instead, fractals are caused by the patterns formed from the itterations, making them seem simple, yet unknowing to the viewer, very complex.
I won't say anymore on fractals but you can check out more info on the net if you wish. Some fractal pictures are in the attachments below.
*Lambda - This is the name of the complex at Black Mesa and is also the symbol for wavelength when doing calculations in physics. It is the measurement of the length of one wave. You can find this length by measuring the distance between two corresponding points on a set of waves (eg. measure from the crest of one wave to the crest of another).
*Quantum Physics - This a relatively new area of physics and is what our man Gordon Freeman has his MIT degree in. Unfortunately I don't have a doctorite in quantum physics though so I can't really tell you much about it. But here are the basic rules for this study:
1.Energy is not continuous, but comes in small discrete units
2.The elementary particles behave both like particles and waves
3.The movement of these particles is inherently random
4.It is physically impossible to know both the position and the momentum of a particle at the same time. The more precisely one is known, the less precise the measurement of the other is.
5.The atomic world is nothing like the world we live in.
Basically this theory blows what we alreay know about the physical world (theory of relativity etc.) out the window. Some parts of this theory were studied by Einstein and he found that his results contradicted that of his other earlier results.
Simply if you were to say this back in the 'old days' you'd be burned at the 'witch-get-together-day.'
For now I'll leave this alone as it's far beyond me.
*Half-Life - Yes that's right, the name of our beloved game is also a physical theory. A Half-life is the time for half the atoms in a radioactive element to decay. For example, Americum-241 (getting into chemistry now) takes 458 years for half the atoms to decay. Thusly, its half-life is 458 years.
When some radioactive materials decay, their neutron spontaneously turn into protons and completely change the element. Other times, the material can go through a process called spontaneous fission, where the element splits in tow (or more) other elements. This decay of radioactive waste is dangerous but the products formed by the decay can sometimes be used for good.
I'm sure there is a whole lot more (like the spectrometer and the resonance cascade etc.) but I'm getting tired
so I'll stop here.I would like others to contribute to this list and help determine or think about how it all ties in with the metaphorical meaning of the game.
Thanks
-.pix
