So, you think that the spells and other magical stuff that goes on in the Harry Potter books is all just a fantasy, huh? It exists purely in our imagination? You couldn't oh, we don't know, hope to explain all of the magical phenomena that crops up over the course of the books and films using a 7000-word document that breaks them all down in terms of actual, tangible real-world physics? Well, friend, you've got another thing coming, because that document totally exists. And it is mind-boggling. And almost certainly certifiably insane because, honestly, who is smart enough about physics to be able to spin out a 7000-word document on how you can apply it to Harry Potter? And yet, the whole thing kind of works. So far as we can follow, anyway. String theory is a part of what we call theoretical physics, because it's something that's widely accepted with actually being testable. It posits that, instead of the world being made up of tiny little round things called particles, those particles are actually more like strings. This makes it a a self-contained theory of everything that takes into account not only the construction of the universe but also things like gravity and other forces. This Potter dork claims that the wizarding world takes advantage of a hitherto unknown eleventh vibrating string of existence, which the pupils of Hogwarts take advantage of to do a load of things which shouldn't be possible according to conventional physics. Oh and they did the calculations as to how to make flying broomsticks a reality, so that's pretty neat. Not sure it's what Rowling had in mind...
Tom Baker is the Comics Editor at WhatCulture! He's heard all the Doctor Who jokes, but not many about Randall and Hopkirk. He also blogs at http://communibearsilostate.wordpress.com/
