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Lengths of Metal and Burning Iron/Steel


ZeldaDad

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So I just have a quick question that I haven't found an answer to yet. Maybe I've just over looked it. But I'm listening to the Alloy fo Law audio book and I'm at the fight on the top of the train and at one point, Wax Pushes off the tracks a couple times.

 

My question is this: To what part of the metal do the blue lines of Steel/Iron point if the metal is extremely long?

 

My initial instinct was to say the middle but then I though about super long beams of metal like the tracks and it made me reconsider. Something I hadn't thought of till I was typing this was maybe it just reads each different section of the bars on the tracks as a separate piece of metal, but that's still pretty long. And then you look at cars or huge girders or very long poles. For instance the spires of Kredik Shaw. Vin pulled herself up to the tips of these a few times if I remember right. So do the lines move? What do you think?

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Ok yes I agree, the more I think about it. So the question I'm thinking is, where do the lines point? They can't point everywhere on the metal at once or they'd be planes, not lines.

I just realized I've always assumed when you Push, it pushes on the part where the line touches. Maybe that's not even the case. Maybe the line points to the center, but you can Push or Pull on any part.... damnation that's probably it.

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Didn't Vin say the lines were different thickness the first time she burned Iron?

That depends on how far away they are I thought, could be a size thing though.

Thinking about it the line could just emanate from the piece of metal which is closest to the Allomancer, so in the case of the tracks they'd just stay a direct line between the Allomancer and the closest part of the tracks.

Edited by Voidus
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I think it'd be the center and not the part closest to you. That way it would take into account the whole object. With the rails I'd assume it would point to the center of the visible track or the amount of rail within a certain distance, not the entire thing. 

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I always imagined pushing and pulling worked with something like an inverse square law (which matches how EM forces in nature work--B.S. does seem to like his science). This would explain how pushing force seems to diminish the further one is from the target (eventually, you can no longer even push on an object). On a long object like a railway, you could integrate to find the net force from the whole object (like the classical infinite line charge problem in physics) and the iron/steel line would then point in the direction of the net force. A very long rail would thus act approximately like it was infinite (as very far parts contribute very little to the total) and so you would always find that the line would point to somewhere near you (probably the closest part of the rail to where you are).

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In the Fight between Kelsier and the Inquisitor Kar, Kelsier spun Metal Ingots around. I think you can push on any part of the Metal.

You very clearly cannot push on any part of the metal. It's stated time and time again that you can only push on the complete object, not on parts. Kelsier's trick of spinning the metal was some kind of legendary savant stunt that is supposed to be generally impossible, not something anyone can do. 

 

And the thickness of the lines is supposed to reference distance away, not size.

 

As for the actual question, this one bugged me a bit too when I was reading Alloy, so I looked it up. It is definitely worth noting that railroad rails are not one giant piece. They are individual pieces between 15 and 40 ft long.

 

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  2. The length of standard rails has historically been related to the length of the cars used to transport them. From an early range of 15-20 feet, rail length increased with car size until a standard of 39 feet (easily accommodated by the once-common 40-foot car) was reached.
  3. Rail - TRAINS Magazine
    trn.trains.com/.../Railroad%20Reference/ABCs%20of%20Railroadi...
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    Trains
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