The payload rocket.

Episodio tres.
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David3
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The payload rocket.

Post by David3 »

I've heard a few theories about the time difference between the clock inside the payload rocket and beacon clock. So far it seems there are holes in the theories, but I've got my own theory. First I'll go over others I've heard.

The most common theory that I've seen is that the island is 31 minutes behind real world time. This is based on the fact that the beacon clock is 31 minutes behind the rocket clock. Just a few problems. If the island is 31 minutes behind, how they communicate in real time with the freighter? Also, if this theory were true, why are the clocks different. Even if the island is 31 minutes behind, Dan never set his watch differently. It would seem that his watch and the beacon should still match the clock in the rocket.

I'm sure everyone has seen Back to the Future. In the mall parking lot, Doc send Einstein a minute into the future, and the difference in clocks was the proof. When I first saw the rocket seen, I thought this is what happened. I thought the rocket had been sent 31 minutes into the future. Then I realized the times would have to be switched for this to be the case. The rocket clock would have to be 31 minutes behind the beacon clock for this theory to have been true, not the other way around like it was.

Then I thought, maybe the rocket went into the past, but of course. That would have made the times correct, but in this case the rocket would have had to already arrived before Dan even asked for it.

Just sitting here thinking about it, I thought of a way to make the clocks work and to make communication possible. It's complicated, and probably not even the answer but it works. Here it goes.

When the freighter four traveled to the island they were thrown an hour into the future. Because they skipped over an hour that the freighter or island people didn't Dan's watch and the beacon clock becomes 1 hour behind. So for example, any clocks on the freighter might say 6:00, but Dan's watch would say 5:00, even though it's really 6:00. They're not living in different times so communication is completely avaible. Fast Forward to Dan asking for the payload. It's 3:14 in the afternoon, but Dan's watch says 2:14 (this isn't shown of course). He asks for the payload, but instead of 1 hour in the future, it only travels 30 minutes into the future and lands on the island as Regina saw. This is because it took a different compass bearing to get to the island. It takes Dan 31 minutes to catch up to the rocket, but it only takes the rocket a minute or so to get to the island. Therefore, the clock in the rocket would have only passed a minute or so to 3:16 but Dan had to wait 31 minutes (30 min in the future + a min travel time) so his clock would have gone from 2:14 to 2:45. I think this is why Dan tell Frank to make sure and stay on the right bearing. He's afraid that taking the wrong bearing could potentially spit you out to any time or maybe even any place (polar bear in Tunisia).

I think this could also solve a mystery from season 1. The plane took off in the afternoon and traveled east for eight hours. The crash should have happened in the dark, not in the afternoon. That's unless, of course, they either went forward or backward in time when entering the island to a point that it was afternoon.

Stephen
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Re: The payload rocket.

Post by Stephen »

As covered in my other thread, no rocket can travel 150 km (80 nautical miles) in such a short time. If it had gone 150 km in one minute, that would be 9,000 kph, or seven times the speed of sound. If it did it in thirty minutes, that is a reasonable 300 kph.

So realilistically, it probably got there in the right amount of time. But if if was really expected to go 150 km in 30 seconds, iduno...

Maybe the freighter is a whole lot closer than Naomi said. Or they are right on the edge of the bubble or whatever that protects the island, and when something breaks through it, the speed accelerates greatly.

David3
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Re: The payload rocket.

Post by David3 »

Stephen wrote:As covered in my other thread, no rocket can travel 150 km (80 nautical miles) in such a short time. If it had gone 150 km in one minute, that would be 9,000 kph, or seven times the speed of sound. If it did it in thirty minutes, that is a reasonable 300 kph.

So realilistically, it probably got there in the right amount of time. But if if was really expected to go 150 km in 30 seconds, iduno...

Maybe the freighter is a whole lot closer than Naomi said. Or they are right on the edge of the bubble or whatever that protects the island, and when something breaks through it, the speed accelerates greatly.
Yeah, I was looking at those speeds. They seem unreasonable, but i saw a couple of websites that state that some rocket-powered missiles can travel 2-3 km/sec. Dan doesn't seem to think that it should take any longer than a minute. Also, if it really took 30 minutes for it to arrive that doesn't explain why there is a difference in clocks.

Perry
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Re: The payload rocket.

Post by Perry »

How about Smokey catching the rocket and fiddling with the clock on the rocket?
Or Dan not changing his clock properly for a timezone change?
Or Regina screwing Dan around and not actually firing the payload until much later? Regina could be the person on the boat working for Ben, and has done something to George which is why he couldn't come to the phone previously.

Surely there's a simpler explanation than all this time travel business.

Jen
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Re: The payload rocket.

Post by Jen »

I simply understood this discrepancy to be another hint that the island is somehow (physically) protected from being found. It isn't where you think it should be or where you could get to it if you tried (continuing the thread begun early in the series.) The helicopter only got to the island bc it was sucked in by the electromagnetic field. At least this is my take.

Perry
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Re: The payload rocket.

Post by Perry »

Wasn't the whole idea of the failsafe to destroy the electromagnetic anomaly? Or you think it destroyed the aspect that made it charge up only?

Justin
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Re: The payload rocket.

Post by Justin »

I've been meaning to bring this up...

ON the blu-ray edition of the s3 dvd set, there is this "answers" segment where D&C get more explicit than usual about certain "mysteries".

Here is the full thing: http://lostpedia.com/wiki/Access:_Granted

Here is what they had to say about the electromagnetism:

Carlton Cuse: Pushing the button was not a psychological experiment. It was actually literally necessary to trigger an electromagnetic discharge. If this electromagnetic discharge did not occur every 108 minutes then the buildup of electromagnetic forces would actually ultimately create something that could conceivably end the world and if Desmond had not turned the failsafe key you would not be watching this video right now at all.

Carlton Cuse: Is there still electromagnetism on the Island? I would say yes there is. Is there electromagnetism that is going to lead to an imploding black hole and the end of civilization as we know it? Perhaps not.

Damon Lindelof: Lets just say like theoretically inside the Island there was this ball of electromagnetic energy. And lets just say there was a group of people – we’ll call them the DHARMA Initiative sort of drilling around and and doing general futzing on the Island and they accidentally drilled into this hole and suddenly that entire ball of electromagnetism became untapped so that they built this Swan station above it in in an effort so that it wouldn’t get completely out of control. So that by plugging that hole you don’t actually do away with all the electromagnetism. Its still there.

Carlton Cuse: It became tapped actually.

Damon Lindelof: Yes. Tapped. that’s right.

Carlton Cuse: Not untapped but then now its been re-corked. Lets just call it corked. Its been corked. Its not its its fine. Don’t worry about it.

Damon Lindelof: Its tapped

Carlton Cuse: Don’t worry about it right now. You’re ok.

Jen
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Re: The payload rocket.

Post by Jen »

Now that Cane has been cancelled, maybe it will turn out that Alpert is Ben's man on the boat...
(if only...)

Stephen
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Re: The payload rocket.

Post by Stephen »

Claude's mom must be crushed.

Claude
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Re: The payload rocket.

Post by Claude »

Stephen wrote:Claude's mom must be crushed.
She doesn't know yet!

Silentbob
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Re: The payload rocket.

Post by Silentbob »

thinking about this makes my brain hurt.

Lara
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Re: The payload rocket.

Post by Lara »

I just listened to the podcast and I wanted to throw my theory out there. My theory is they have to travel through a black hole to get to the island. Time would be slowed down while going through it, but time on both sides of hole actually move at the same time.

OK so if I have 3 timers starting at zero here in the real world. Timer one stays in the real world and says it is 5 years later exactly. Timer 2 travels to the island once at the beginning of this experiment and then comes back at the end it will say 5 years plus an extra hour or 2 for the shift when it traveled to and from the island. Timer 3 traveled to and from the island a couple times a day. At the end of the experiment would it would say something like 7 years because every time it traveled through the black hole an hour or so was added.

If this is the case, this could be why the vector/heading would be so important. If you don't head through the right spot you could end up crushed or the time difference would be even greater. (ever seen Andromeda) I don't know how actual physics would apply, but in our case radio transmissions can travel through unaffected by the time shift, so we are able to contact the freighter. This would also explain why we know of NO-ONE who made it to the island without a rough landing. The Black Rock crashed. Flight 815 crashed. Both helicopters went through a storm and hand to eject passengers. Juliette was knocked out by the pill because "it is a rough trip". Rousseau's crew crashed on the island. Desmond crashed his boat on the island twice. The only people that may have come to the island gently may be Darmha, but we don't even know that they were not knocked out like Juliette.

Perry
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Re: The payload rocket.

Post by Perry »

Lara wrote:...Time would be slowed down while going through it, but time on both sides of hole actually move at the same time...
I like this theory.

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