The Science of Scale

[Stella Wright]

Ever since her last Charms class, Stella had been wondering about the scientific possibilities of the enlargement and reduction charms. She was particularly interested in the possibilities and limits of the enlargement charm. The notion that there was a level of enlargement beyond which objects would explode implied a hard limit to the spell imposed by physics, something she had been searching for but not come across until now. Stella was certain that magic must obey the laws of physics, but she had found precious little evidence that it did; of course, she lacked the expertise to find the evidence she desired, so she was greatly excited by the possibility that with this spell, she could. She also wondered whether the spell could be used to enlarge microscopic things to the point that they could be studied with the naked eye - but that would be almost impossible to test with the equipment she had available.Stella had gone to Phoebe in the hope that the older girl would have a microscope (Stella had her telescope, but that was entirely the wrong sort of magnification for this purpose). She didn't, but Stella was pleased to find that she was also interested in the physics of these spells, and had her own ideas for experiments.

So it was that Stella waited in an abandoned classroom for her friend to arrive. The Ravenclaw common room would have sufficed for this, but here they were far less likely to be interrupted by curious onlookers. She had rummaged among the muggle science books she'd brought to school (mostly volumes on astronomy, but some general physics and chemistry were always useful too) for information about the science of scale, but she hadn't found much of use. Every structure she could find that needed to be small to fuction needed to be microscopically small, and they didnt have a microscope. Instead, she had brought a diverse assortment of small objects that she thought might look interesting enlarged, some that could be fun to watch explode, and a bottle of water, to see if they could actually manage to enlarge some microorganisms. She was certain that Phoebe would have some interesting ideas too, and she was excited to do some science.

 

[Phoebe Holland]

When Stella had approached Phoebe about an experiment and asked her if she had a microscope, Phoebe had been disappointed to say she didn’t have one. It made her wonder if anyone at school had one, and she had been tempted to ask Professor Pendleton. But she didn’t think the man would need something like that for any of his potions, and after what had happened in her second year she was a little hesitant to approach the man about any sort of experiment. The enlargement charm had its risky side, as it could make things explode, and she couldn’t imagine that Professor Pendleton would be thrilled to know Phoebe was interested in experimenting with it.

But Stella had some really cool ideas, so Phoebe was definitely not going to say no. It was nice to think a bit more about how things worked and push them to their limit. Phoebe had been brainstorming about this all week, trying to think of interesting experiments to do. She was older than Stella and wanted to impress her, so it wouldn’t be very good if she didn't’ come up with any ideas. But honestly, she was a little unsure. She wanted to know if the limit to which the objects could be pushed were different depending on the material, so she had brought a few different things to try it on. Would something like paper explode as violently as a marble would? Or would it simply catch fire? Phoebe also brought the scales she used for potions, as she was curious if bigger objects would be heavier by default. Was there actually more matter added to the object or was it simply appearing bigger but really the same amount of material? Phoebe also decided to bring some snacks, both to eat and to experiment on. She knew food couldn’t be created with magic, but if it could be enlarged indefinitely that would mean there was still a limitless amount of food. Phoebe wondered if the energy stored within the food would increase if the item had been enlarged. Did the enlarged food keep you full for longer too? It wouldn’t be an easy thing to prove, but they could at least try some and see what happened.

Carrying her materials and notebook, Phoebe made her way to the abandoned classroom where she had agreed to meet with Stella. She pushed the door open with her foot and carried her things inside, putting the scale down first. She was glad to see the younger girl already there, and gave Stella a big grin. “I’m here! Sorry I’m a bit late.”