fandomhigh | Introductory Superhuman Physics, Period 4 [10-28]

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Introductory Superhuman Physics, Period 4 [10-28]

"I hope everyone had a lovely time with their parents this weekend, and is fully recovered from the trauma and ready to get back to work," Jean-Paul said. "My sister has apparently moved to San Francisco, where one of her will no doubt be deeply traumatized, so she could not be here." He sounded thrilled about this.

"Today, we begin talking about mass. The law of conservation of mass states that mass can be neither created or destroyed; it must come from somewhere. There is a set amount of mass in the universe, and it just gets...shifted around, if you will. When you gain weight, it does not happen for no good reason, and likewise you cannot gain more than the weight of the food you have eaten." Jean-Paul paused, then said, "And as you might expect, there are superhumans who blow this law of physics right out of the water. Some shapeshifters have a static mass they merely shift around, it is true. But others do not. Raven Darkholme, also known as Mystique, is a shapeshifter from my home universe." Jean-Paul had been careful to get a picture of her where she was wearing clothes. "She has a history of terrorism, and has used her ability to assume the identity of a number of public figures, including those who outweigh or underweigh her default form by several kilograms. She is, however, restricted to a human baseline form; she cannot become, say, the size of a housecat. Some can. A former coworker of mine could assume an alternate form much larger than he is normally.

"So. When a person shrink or grows, where does the additional mass go or come from? Pocket dimensions? An exchange across realities? Something about tiny strings? What are some reasons a person might have this ability? Discuss."

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With a different shape?

Ben Skywalker

Francine Peters

Peter Petrelli

Gavin Darklighter

Johnny Storm

Teddy Altman

Viki

John Sheppard

Momoko Akatsutsumi

Katina Choovanski

Warren Peace

Do what you do.

Ben was doodling, wishing that he could turn into something much, much smaller.

Peter had wondered about that kind of a thing. Not that he'd done much with shape shifting.

Gavin had known a few shapeshifting sort of things but he'd never thought of doing it himself.

Viki shuddered a bit, and fiddled with her hair while pretending to listen to the lecture.

John was still preoccupied from the weekend and kept drawing little planes on his notebook paper.

Momoko was amazed that Mr Beaubier's class shared the shapeshifter theme today. She looked at the pictures carefully. "Looks like I am sort of a shapeshifter. Huh."

Katchoo, listen? Shyeah. She was filling up her notebook -- which was not, for the record, actually a notebook but yet another Canson hardcover sketchbook, which was where most of her paychecks threatened to go -- with doodles.

But why is the mass gone?

Francine twisted a strand of hair in her fingers as she considered the question. "I'm pretty sure I had to have been heavier as a pony." Please God let her have been heavier as a pony. She shrugged, at a loss for an answer beyond the only one she had for the whole pony phenomenon. "Maybe it's just magic?"

Jean-Paul shook his head. "Most of the people I know of with such powers are mutants. Magic is another matter entirely."

Francine wasn't exactly a physics student, but she knew the answer she'd just given was sort of the anti-physics, in terms of figuring out how things work. Still, "So, ok, maybe the extra stuff gets shoved off to another dimension and just hangs around waiting for them to change back. That doesn't really seem so different from magic to me, though."

"But it is," Jean-Paul argued. "If that is even how it happens. We do not really know. But the mechanics would be completely different."

"If we don't know what the mechanics are, how do we know they're completely different?" she asked, scratching her head.

"Because magic refers to very specific types of events and powers, which are, for the most part, outside of the realms of science and therefore pointless to talk about in a physics class."

Francine ducked her head and nodded. "I kind of figured that. The sillystring theory stuff is just so far over my head it might as well be magic."

...Teddy had no clue.

"Maybe it's just invisible?"

Jean-Paul gave him a look that managed to convey, 'I expected more from you, home-universe boy.' "You are a shapeshifter, correct?"

Teddy ducked down in his seat. "I've never thought about where it goes! It just... happens. Like breathing, you know?"

Ah, to be young and confident. "Indeed. But do you not think that if it were invisible it would still be present if you stood on a scale? Or stepped past someone?"

"...I've never stepped on a scale when shifted before," Teddy admitted.

One of Jean-Paul's eyebrows shot up. "Really?" Kids these days. "Mr. Altman, did it ever occur to you that if you were posing as someone the size of Nadia Comaneci and massed what you currently do, that might be a giveaway factor?" Jean-Paul wondered if the kid even knew who Nadia Comaneci was. Then he felt old.

"Hmm. When I transform, my costume appears from nowhere and my clothes disappear. The reverse happens when I change back. I never thought about it before." Momoko tapped a pencil against her desk. "Is there someone in some other universe suddenly wearing my clothes?"

"That is a possibility," Jean-Paul said. "But does that mean they are wearing your costume the rest of the time?"

"NO!" Momoko responded instantly. The possibility that someone ELSE was being Blossom right now was not one she was willing to entertain. "Uh. Sorry, sir. Uhm. Maybe they shrink and hide in my powerbelt? I got it... well, it actually just appeared... at the same time as my first transformation."

"I dunno," Katchoo ventured in her usual rasp. "Wizards or something. Nothing else around here makes sense, so why should that?"

"It is not wizards, Miss Choovanski."

"Fake wizards working machinery behind a curtain?" Katchoo offered dryly.

"Would have no place in a physics class. I ask you to think scientifically about the problem at hand."

"We're talking about the science of people frikkin' shrinking," Katchoo insisted. "I don't know. It turns into energy or radioactive waves or something!"

He's listening.

Aaaahahaha I finished class and was like, "Hooray!" and then...navigated away from the page without putting up threads. About five minutes later I went, "Oh shi--" and ran back. I AM SO SMOOTH, Y'ALL.

I used to have a brain, I swear.

I used to have a brain too. I blame this frakking election cycle for the eating of mine. :(

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Introductory Superhuman Physics, Period 4 [10-28]

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