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Science Memes @mander.xyz

ekZepp @lemmy.world

6mo ago

Science saves lives

43 comments

Love that this suggests that for vampires, it's all in their head
- Loony Toons logic. You won’t fall until you realize you should be falling.
  
  So true
- Love that this suggests that for vampires, it's all in their head
  That’s what Terry Pratchett’s Carpe Jugulum tells us. With sufficient exposure and willpower vampires (or “vampyres” as this more modern variety calls themselves) can become immune to sunlight and holy symbols!
  
  Out of those 41 books, that one's a fav.
  
  Also a plot point of an older also amazing book (spoiler alert?)
  !Richard Mattheson's I Am Legend. Not even close to the same as the movie!<
- Literally Charles McGill

However, it doesn't reflect everything. Maybe it's a particular part of sunlight that impacts vampires, one that gets absorbed by the Moon's surface.
- I wanted to see for myself and it looks like the spectra of the sun and moon are fairly similar:
  Moon: https://olino.org/blog/us/articles/2015/10/05/spectrum-of-moon-light/comment-page-1/
  Sun: https://seos-project.eu/earthspectra/images/Solar-spectrum_th.png
  Looks pretty similar I gotta say
  That being said, the intensity is of course much lower of the light reflected from the moon.
  
  "Similar" is not identical. I'm assuming that slight difference is technically where the vampire-harming properties lie (lore-wise).
  Kind of like how Duncan MacDougall published a study that human souls have weight, as he recorded someone losing 21 grams at the moment of their death. Not very significant at all, but perhaps humanity lies in the subtleties...
- Vampire hunters with IR blasters!
  
  Would an older TV remote suffice? At least for very small vampires?
  
  almost literally the plot of JJBA
  
  Didn't Blade have some sort of UV gun in one of the movies?

What if vampires' non-reaction to mirrors is why reflected sunlight does not bother them?
If we can figure out the magic wavelength, we could take out vampires with flashlights.
- Reminds me of the part in Bloodlines where you (a vampire) are captured and they run a series of tests, including shining UV rays on you (it doesn't do anything).
- Seemed to work out for Blade.
- I hear the Speedwagon Foundation uses intense UV.

This is funny, but I think stereotypical vampire lore still stands. I think it's only direct sunlight that is an issue. If a vampire stands in a room with an open window, but off to the side, they're generally considered fine. If light reflected off a wall is ok then why is the moon not?
- Yeah, sunlight on clouded days doesn't hurt us either.
  
  Hush, mate! You trying to blow our cover‽

I love how this implies that sunlight only hurts vampires if they know that sunlight is supposed to hurt them
- It's Loony Toons physics.
- The BBC series Dracula really explores this trope in a really interesting way. Worth a watch without spoilering anything.

My theory is that vampires can only handle sunlight in small doses, not when the sun is directly shining on the Earth.
- Huh... turns out I'm a vampire.
- i love the idea of london being infested by vampires since it's almost always overcast, and vampires going on holiday to the nordics in the winter

Why are nights cooler if reflected sunlight is just sunlight?

Science: The poison is in the dose.
Language: It’s a good joke, I love it!

But mirrored light does not affect vampires?
- We learned it like this at school:
  Light beam bounces once or more, suck that victim dry, senor
  Light beam bounces none or less, seek the curtains now, princess
  
  Werewolf school didn't teach me shit....i mean they did teach me how to shit to properly mark my territory, but didn't use any fancy poems or nothing.

also, from what I can find, it looks like the moon only reflects 1-3% of UV light back

Nerds saving lives, one vampire factoid at a time.

Did this really happen?
- Everyone is saying it.

count Dracula wasn't destroyed by sunlight, he just had weaker magical powers. during the day he could only change form at dawn, noon, and dusk, although he maintained that power throughout the entire night.
- But he's the OV (Original Vamp). According to Supernatural logic, the Alpha monster is immune or isn't affected as badly by weaknesses as converted monsters.
- He wasn't, but Count Orlok from Nosferatu (1922) was

I always head-canon that sunlight reflected off of moon rocks has some property that makes it not dangerous for vampires, sucks out the hamon or something.

43 comments