The Evil Paradox · 6:59pm Jul 27th, 2021
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Sorry, haven't read your story yet. Got sent here after seeing the pic on Deviant.
Read the first few comments, usually a half decent gauge on a story without spoiling the story itself or wasting ones time, got to your comment comparing magic to physics. "Any amount of energy, concentrated enough, becomes plasma." Plasma is our forth state of matter, famed for frequently breaking many if not all known laws of science. Also know to be capable of holding multistate forms combining the properties of any two or even all three of the other states we know of, and then existing in states that seem without mass. I actually play with a few experiments that toy with particle physics and seems is a large key word here. While science is still trying to explain a grate deal (and in denial over a lot more, officially), energy requires mass to move through. In some forms, your dead on, like particle excitement for example. Particle excitement is an increase in energy in an atom that does not change its mass in any form, merely its vibration frequency, rotation speed, and/or gravimetric stability, largely depending on if you charged the protons, electrons, or neutrons. Over charging results in the same "critical mass" reaction you mentioned, so for someone who claims to have only a vague understanding of physics, I'd say you might understand more than you think. You can run a safe test of this idea with the electric overcharge, using a power collector (windmill/solar panel), some copper wire, an iron rod fit tight in a rubber pipe, and a ring of any conductive material you like held up by anything not so conductive. What you do is make sure the end of the insulated iron is actually exposed on one side, and shove that end at least a full foot into solid ground (yes, despite the insulation, this is your grounding rod), then run your ring around the end of the other side of the rod. Next wrap the rods top thick with copper coil but thin out as you go down, until you straighten out and lead away toward your power source. Plug in. Final step, stand back and wait. At overload, ZAP! Your ring will attract the free electrons trying to escape the superfocus point, being a high preference due to the high conductivity. The ring is less for show and more for safety. Speaking of safety, remember the rubber around the iron rod? That's going to melt if you just leave this plugged in.... you can unplug it, then use something else to ground the experiment for latter to show friends, or you can let it eat through the rubber into the natural ground hidden in that rubbery core, the iron with the exposed tip in the earth. Nice and safe.
I also got yelled at for playing with the electrodes that hook my head up to the EKG machine when I got bored because they where taking so long with the paperwork for the prep-step or something. I'm an epileptic magic user. I have half a wing of some of the most advanced and well educated neuroscientist convinced that's how I do some of what I do, and why I'm still alive today. Magic is a science, we just haven't gotten there yet. The witch hunts didn't help.
Not sure I said that. Plasma is ionised neutral gases. Take a gas like Neon, run an electrical current through it, and the particles become charged and emit energy. Run an electrical current through something until it basically melts is my understanding.
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Not quoting you with that line, though I will admit, I forgot where I read it originally. And no.... a plasma ark cannon, a tested military weapon concept (declined for the inability to reliably aim, regardless of range), is just a railgun alinement and a charge emitter (basically a copastor with an instant release valve in the form of a particle isolation system for particle accelerators). This faulty weapon had no mass emitted, no kick, and massive damage potential. But because the free electrons in atmosphere couldn't be controlled well enough to make the weapon aim able, viable targets included the operating crew. This was classified as a plasma weapon. While mass may have been picked up post fire, none was in the discharge.
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These concepts and comparisons between magics and physics are sketchy at best. I'm just doing my best to explain how magical things like levitation, pyromancy, and stuff could happen with science, and then take some creative liberties along the way.
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And THAT dear author, is what fascinates me. The point where magic and physics become one and the same, even if you have to stretch your explanation a tad on each side. A linguist I am not, but I do my best to be understanding of others, whether they return said favor or not.