There has been a lot of talk of what is the nature of the time dilation
phenomena between the island and the ****p, the Kahana. Indeed the island
could be with in it or at least surrounded by it on all sides. What is
known that objects take far longer than they should to cross a certain
distance from the island to a point off shore, in this case a freighter.
It was at the time of the launch of Dan's missile about 37.8nm off shore
of Craphole Island but it takes far to long to get from the island to the
freighter and from the freighter to the island. Several things have past
through it to get a feel of what is happening. This doesn't discribe why
and how it is happening, but what the effects are. Lets start with the
first, most objective vehicle traveling through it.
My touch stone data is the 20 second count down from the ****p after the
missile launched. I derived that from the countdown Regina, the woman on
the ****p that Dan was talking to, started when the rocket was traveling
from the ****p to the island. She was counting down from in 5km increments
every two seconds. That means that the rocket was moving at 2.5kilometers
per second. From here I will translate into nautical miles:
Base conversion measurements:
1 kilometer=3,280feet
1 nautical miles equals 6,076 feet
The rocket was moving at approximately 2.5 kilometers a second, which is
8,200ft/s, which in turn is 1.35 nautical miles per second (nmps) since
8,200ft/6,076ft=1.35.
Now Regina vocally counted down for 20 seconds total, until the moment
the missile should had hit, so from the time she started the count to
when the missile should had landed the rocket traveled 27nm (20sX1.35nm).
However, eight (8) seconds had previously elapsed before she started with
the vocal count down. That means the rocket had traveled 10.8nm
(8sX1.35nm) in that previous time. So 27nm+10.8nm=37.8nm, which is the
total distance-or should had been the total distance-the missile
traveled, which in turns mean that the ****p was approximately 37.8nm from
the island. This range would later be confirmed in the episode "The
Constant" when it was mentioned by Juliet that the freighter was about 40
miles away from the island:
From "The Constant" (S4XE5):
JULIET (to Charlotte and Dan about the late helicopter): "You're boat's
forty miles off the coast, it should have taken them what, twenty minutes
to get there? So why aren't you worried?"
Incidently, the speed of the rocket as noted before was 1.35nm/second,
which in turn is 81nm per minute, which in turn is 4,860nm per hour.
However, a funny thing happened to the missile on the way to the island.
It took 31 minutes to get there, which was the out of sync time a
chronometer in the rocket was with a chronometer that Daniel had which
read 02:45:3; the missile clock showing 31 minutes more elapsed time
reading 3:16:23. Now to break it down further 31x60seconds is 1,860
seconds 1,860/28 seconds=66.43. That means it took the missile 66.43
times longer than it should had. This also means, as noted above, it was
moving at 81nm/min. That means it "traveled" a further-subjectively-
2,511nm than it should. Strange.
Now we get to what happened to the helicopter. The helicopter was
expected to take only 20minutes to make the trip from the island to the
freighter. As stated by the freighter was about 40miles off shore. to
keep things consistent I will use the previously derived 37.8nm figure.
The helicopter was expected to cross that 37.8nm in approximately
20minutes (again to keep things consistent we will assume exactly 20
minutes) 20 minutes of course is 1/3 of an hour. This means the
helicopter was traveling at (3X37.8nm/hr) or 113.4nm/hr.
However, a funny thing happened to the helicopter. According to Sayid
shortly after they landed on the ****p it was the "middle of the day"
despite them having left at dusk, near sunset. Jack on the island said
they hadn't heard from Sayid or Desmond for a day:
From "The Constant" (S4XE5)
JACK (to Charlotte and Dan): "Alright. They took off a day ago. Why
haven't we heard from them?"
The same thing that happened to the missile happened to the helicopter.
From the Island and freighter prospective Desmond, Sayid and Frank got
lost in time taking far longer to get from point a to b than it should
had. In the case of the missile 31 minutes, in the case of the chopper
approximately a full day. On the ****p's calender it was December 24, 2004
a day behind at least than the time on the island From these two
incidents the length of the delay is directly related to the speed the
object was going through the phenomena. The missile was moving at
4,860nmph; the chopper 113.4nm/hr. Now to reiterate. Sayid said they
landed on the ****p in the middle of the day. Sayid said this shortly
after he landed on the freighter with Frank and a freaked out Desmond:
"The Constant":
From "The Constant" (S4XE5)
SAYID (To Frank): "Then perhaps you'll share how we took off at dusk and
landed in the middle of the day."
He doesn't realize it yet but it is the middle of the day "yesterday"
from his POV. December 24, 2004 on the freighter. Indeed, he won't know
it is the 24th until he sees the ****p's calendar (it seemed a little
bright to be called dusk on the island but that is what Sayid said).
One thing I noticed about the flight time of the rocket. It, as noted
should had taken 28 seconds to reach the island. However, it took 31
minutes. 31 minutes is 1,860 seconds; 1,860/28=66.43. It took 66.43 times
longer than it should to get there from the Island/****p POV.
If I apply this 66.43 times figure to the Island POV of how long the
helicopter took to get to the freighter I believe they went back 22 hours
in time! 66.43X20minutes=1,328.6 minutes, which is 22 hours 8 minutes and
36 seconds. Let's round it off to 22 hours. That would explain they
taking off at dusk-near sunset-and getting to the freighter in the
"middle of the day." Lets say it is about 8pm or so on the island which
would be dusk at the time they took off-remember they are in the southern
hemisphere near Australia so it is summer and the days are at there
longest in late December (in fact the winter solstice was about three
days ago island time, two days ago freighter/world time). Go back 22hrs.
That would make it 6pm in the afternoon on the freighter, still bright
sun****ne at that time of the year, the *previous* afternoon, "the middle
of the day". This will also line up with Jack saying they were gone for a
day. Strange.
Oh and by the way if the Chopper took 22.1433 hours (22hrs 8min 36sec) to
get to the freighter from the Island/freighter POV, that means the
helicopter traveled an apparent distance of-guess what? 2,511nm, the
same travel distance as the rocket, but moving only at 113.4mph which
would had to be moving to get to the Kahana in 20mins while the ****p was
40 miles off shore. So the elapsed time to get from point a to b through
the phenomena is pro****tional the speed it travels which mean there is a
constant distance! The phenomena, from the POV of the island and the
outside world including the freighter is-again subjectively-2,511nm wide.
Some people has wondered why there is not time delay between the island
and the ****p like there was with the chopper and the rocket. This
explains why there is still instant radio communication. Light-which is
what radio waves are, just invisible to our eyes-move at 186,000 miles
per second. Now the ****p is 37.8nm off shore the radio transmission
should take 1/(186,000miles/37.8nm)= 1/4921st of a second, a very tiny
amount of time that it should get from the ****p to the island or vice
versa. Now have it go through the phenomena:
1/(186,000/2,511nm)=1/74th of a second. That mean it takes light ie radio
waves 1/89.71th of a second to cover that distance instead of 1/5959.6 of
second. Who is going to notice the difference the time lag between
1/4921st and 1/74th of a second even if the signal takes around 66.43
times longer to get to the island and to get back from it to the ****p
than it should?
Now I get to what I admit is the most speculative aspect of my argument:
Micheal and Walt's boat. The speed of Micheal's boat was not explicitly
stated nor it can be deduced like we did with the missile, helicopter and
the speed of light, but let's say it was 20mph, a reasonable speed for a
boat of that size I think. According to the rocket travel time-the only
example of the near exact elapsed time of travel between the ****p and the
island provided by Regina's countdown-the phenomena is a Island/****p POV
2,511 wide as noted before. 2,511/20mph is 125.55 hours travel time
125.55 hours equals 5 days, 5 minutes and 33 seconds, again assuming a 20
mph constant speed that is how long it took Micheal and Walt to traverse
the phenomena from the Island/outside world POV to the 37.8nm radius from
the island the freighter is now. Expressed another way:
66.43X2hrs=132.86hrs. 132.86hrs/24hrs=5.36 Days.
Of course, from their POV it took only two hours to move that 40 odd
miles again assuming a 20mph constant speed-and they didn't get lost in
the phenomena, especially in the thunderhead, which I have a feeling that
they did given Walt being tall and all. Further, just like on the chopper
and rocket Micheal and Walt would not perceive any time lost on the
journey anymore than Sayid did unless to observe the sun position in the
sky.
Of course this also assumes that the phenomena is of uniform distance
from the island at all points, since Micheal's boat left the island from
a different place than the where the chopper left and the rocket landed,
hence the different course bearing that Ben sent him on as oppose to the
course Frank flew his chopper with.
Now all of this is subject to adjustment as more data is gathered, but
given what we know now I think these figures show what is happening when
object try to move through the phenomena. However, as I said before, it
doesn't explain how or why. That is for a later time. I caution though:
Don't look for a theory that is totally in sync with accepted scientific
facts they, the writers and producers, are trying to tell a story. The
phenomena is similar to the real life Theory (and fact) of relativity in
which the closer to the speed of light you go the difference between the
internal space****p time and the time outside of the ****p differs.
However, it is obvious that that is not EXACTLY what is going on here
since nothing is moving anywhere close to the speed of light, except of
course the radio transmissions. Look for something that sounds plausible
like a mini black hole or wormhole, something based on science but not
totally a scientific explaination that you can find in science books or
on the Science Channel. :-)
--
----->Hunter
"No man in the wrong can stand up against
a fellow that's in the right and keeps on acomin'."
-----William J. McDonald
Captain, Texas Rangers from 1891 to 1907
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