XPost: rec.arts.books.tolkien   
   From: no.spam@no.spam   
      
   On 9/26/2011 9:02 AM, Paul S. Person wrote:   
      
   > Since light is (if I have this right) in current theory (and quite   
   > likely in reality as well, given how well this theory works) a set of   
   > electromagnetic waves   
      
   Photons are quantum objects and exhibit both particle and   
   wave-like properties.   
      
   Does Tolkien's Universe conform to the Quantum Theory?   
   Or is it Newtonian, or what? This has been debated both here   
   and elsewhere. For instance:   
      
      At first he [Sam] could see nothing. In his great need he drew   
      out once more the phial of Galadriel, but it was pale and cold   
      in his trembling hand and threw no light into that stifling dark.   
      He was come to the heart of the realm of Sauron and the forges   
      of his ancient might, greatest in Middle-earth; all other powers   
      were here subdued.   
      
   This is wonderfully dramatic writing, but debatable physics.   
   How can that "stifling dark" be explained; was Sammath Naur   
   an Event Horizon, or were the walls made of some (near) ideal   
   blackbody material?   
      
   SQ   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)