Discworld water cycle

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Nov 3, 2009
1
1,650
Sevenoaks, Kent UK
#1
New Scientist magazine 31 October 2009 has a feature (p.31) on Sir Terry and PCA. A reader's question asks how Discworld can conserve water, when it continually falls over the Rim. Terry's reply is simply that "arrangements are made". I'd like to suggest a possible mechanism.
Could it be that the breath of Great A'Tuin and the four elephants is strong enough to drive the Rimfall water back up in a gentle arc, to fall back as rain upon the Disc?
This opens another question, of where the gas for the breath comes from.... But who says it has to be air? Interstellar gas should suffice.
 

Tonyblack

Super Moderator
City Watch
Jul 25, 2008
30,841
3,650
Cardiff, Wales
#3
Welcome to the site Steve! :laugh:

Well it's obviously magic that causes the water to be conserved. ;)

I wonder what would happen to water that went into space - presumably it would immediately freeze - wouldn't it?
 

kakaze

Lance-Corporal
Jun 3, 2009
488
1,775
#8
I have a theory.

My theory is that the Disc, the elephants, and the turtle, are all surrounded by air, thus allowing everything to breathe. This would also allow the water that falls off the Disc to remain gaseous/misty, since it would be warmed by the daily passage of the sun.

Below are how I envision the orbits of the Disc's sun and moon:



The yellow and brown orbits are possible orbits I imagined the sun taking. I've put these further out because the sun burns the outside of the moon black.

The red and blue orbits are possible orbits that I imagined for the moon. I seem to remember reading that the elephants have to occationally cock a leg to let the moon go by.

Note: I think it makes more sense if both the sun & the moon orbit the Disc AND the turtle, but that the moon, or both the moon and sun, rotate around the Disc as they orbit it, so that once or twice a month the sun & moon are lined up, so the sun can burn the back of the moon, and as the moon moves around the Disc, it would appear to be waxing & waning.

Anyway, my theory is that the orbiting sun keeps the cold-blooded turtle warm, and the water that falls off the Disc gaseous. Then, the gravitational fields of the sun & moon, along with the action of the turtle's flippers, circulate the water vapor around the Disc, where it cools down and condenses into rain and snow.
 
Aug 29, 2008
559
2,425
Bridgwater Somerset
#9
I think that the Magical Field extends out to a Distance of maybe Half a Million Miles around the Turtle and the Water is lost as it vanishes at the edge of this Field.

However as it vanishes the Quantum Potential of the water is released back into the System and Fresh water is Generated for the Quantum Flux and materialises on the Disc.

In the Book The Last Hero it was pointed out that if the Magic Field was disrupted by the explosion the Seas would rapidly Dry up, so Magic is defiantly involved........... :eek:
 

Kladivo

Lance-Corporal
Nov 4, 2009
130
2,275
Uberwaldleedsgothamerbyshire
#10
It is very simple indeed. As it happens the Discworld is moving through an 8 bit Universe which is like scaled down, oldskul version of ours (running in 64 bit mode) and therefore all the water that disappears at the bottom of the screen automagically falls down from the upper edge. The phenomenon is called '8bit asteroiduum atariensi' and has even been observed on Earth by the means of computer emulation.
 
Oct 10, 2009
1,196
2,600
italy-genova
#12
Kladivo said:
It is very simple indeed. As it happens the Discworld is moving through an 8 bit Universe which is like scaled down, oldskul version of ours (running in 64 bit mode) and therefore all the water that disappears at the bottom of the screen automagically falls down from the upper edge. The phenomenon is called '8bit asteroiduum atariensi' and has even been observed on Earth by the means of computer emulation.
:eek:

:thinking :thinking...
Well, it looks like magic to me!! :laugh:
 
#17
I have a theory. Some stupid wizards were messing around with time and space and ripped a hole in the fabric of space just under the rim of the disc. When water goes off the edge the magic tears it into tiny droplets as it cascades into another universe. Up in the sky, droplets from another universe fall as rain. So the universes exchange water.
And what happened before the stupid wizards like me came along. Answer: I have no idea. Or possibly, we are exploring the possibilities.

Of course, this explains phenomena like the giant squid and other odd things, like global warming. :laugh:
 

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