Frack-tals

 

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I am not a scientist.

 

So far I’ve managed to avoid the super smarty pants stuff in the Lux series.

I wanted the whole series to be grounded in real science, in real theories.  I like answers and explanations, so even though I’ve taken liberties (and ignorance has played a large part in that happening), I like to think that that the ideas behind the Lux and their abilities are possible…  theoretically.

To write this series I’ve studied electromagnetism, quantum mechanics, molecular biology… all those things that I avoided completely while getting a degree in creative writing…  and I have to say, I can’t believe there are people with brains big enough to hold all those numbers and letters and then attempt to actually understand them.  I’ve remembered what I could and I’m still afraid to try to sound smarter than I am, but it’s time to focus on the science part of my science fiction.

So right now I’m considering fractals.

The dictionary defines fractals as

a geometrical or physical structure having an irregular or fragmented shape 

at all scales of measurement between a greatest and smallest scale 

such that certain mathematical or physical properties of the structure, 

as the perimeter of a curve orthe flow rate in a porous medium, behave as if 

the dimensions of the structure (fractal dimensions)  are greater than the 

spatial dimensions.

Basically this means that from the greatest to smallest part a fractal pattern repeats itself.  It’s a branching structure. Think trees.  You’ve spent an entire lifetime surrounded by fractals: coastlines, clouds, the circulatory system, snowflakes.  If you’ve eaten broccoli, you’ve eaten fractals. They are used to generate images for television and movies and to make art, and  lots of other cool things I don’t even know about (and you might not either.)  The organ that lets you process all this information and (hopefully) understand it, the brain, is a fractal structure.

Lately there has been a lot of discussion in the world of quantum mechanics about fractals and the behavior of light,(which may help resolve some of the issues in Einstein’s theories, in case you’re wondering or you have issues with Einstein.) and this is what I’m trying to understand now.

Fractal antennas are used in cell phones.  I know you have one of those.  You might even being reading this post on one. It seems the same science that connects cell phones to each other may work to connect living beings to each other too.  We may have antennas in our DNA, an electromagnetic communication device.

To get a little better understanding  read this link and this one.

Right now, my brain fractals are smoking, and I’ve only touched the tip of the iceberg. (Which are of course… you guessed it… fractal.)  I’ll do my best to make it all make sense, and if anyone has something to add, please drop me an email, or send me a link, or you can even try sending it by fractal.

I’ll let you know if it gets to me.

Jalex