#ex novo blobby

[furiarossa]

Hey hi :3 ghost worldbuilding enthusiast here, I would love to hear what you have on the ways ghost interact with different types of light and sound waves, if you have any ideas about that of course, feel free to ignore my weird curiosity ;D

Hey, hi! You asked a complicated question. We love complicated questions! In order to answer to this, we had to figure out how ectoplasm works. And to figure that out, we had to understand what is actually ectoplasm.

It was a nice trip in physics (and sci-fi), that helped us defining better the nature of ectocreatures.

So, today, we'll dive into the world of sound and light (with the help of our blobby ghostie, Ex Novo!).

Interactions with sound

Uncoded ectoplasm

Uncoded ectoplasm tends not to react to sound waves in any way.

The sound wave does not transport matter, because the molecules remain where they are; instead it transports energy, that is the ability to set molecules in motion, making them vibrate up and down.

However, ectoplasm has an internal strength generally greater than that of sound waves: with highly mobile electrons, detached from their nuclei, whizzing at high speed and with very high motility within the material, ectoplasm is unpenetrable from "low" vibrations! The sound waves will therefore pass through the ectoplasm, if it has a low ionization, or will slide around it, if the ionization is high.

Uncoded ectoplasm, while not interacting with the sound waves around it, can actually make sounds! When hit with enough force (for example with a laser), the ectoplasm moves rapidly from regions of high density to more stagnant areas, those of lower density. The ectoplasm, which thickens in the transition zone between the regions of low and high density, generates a series of pressure pulses, i.e. sound waves.

With a frequency close to one trillion Hertz, the sound that is generated reaches the highest possible frequency for this type of material, approximately 6 million times higher than what can be heard by mammals. It is therefore impossible for a human being to hear the sound produced naturally by non-codified ectoplasm, since it only produces sounds with a frequency higher than 20,000 hertz, i.e. ultrasound, a category of sounds not perceptible to the human ear.

Coded ectoplasm

Spirits can communicate despite being composed of ectoplasm, simply by using electrical micro-discharges coming directly from their core: this is because plasma is mainly composed of ions that have their own mass and density. Since the density of the plasma is different from that of the cold air surrounding the discharge, by managing to modulate the power of the discharge, it is possible to move the boundary front between cold air and plasma.

By virtue of the difference in density, the movement of the air-plasma boundary causes a movement of the air itself and, consequently, the pressure waves responsible for the diffusion of sound originate.

In addition to being able to produce sounds, spirits can also interact with them, for example with the simple act of perceiving sound (hearing). This is because the core is able, by modifying the density of a specific area (such as the eardrums), to create structures capable of vibrating when hit by a sound wave.

Interactions with light

Uncoded ectoplasm

The brightness of the non-coded ectoplasm is a good indicator of the time that has passed since its detachment from a living entity: the thin layer of phosphorus that covers it naturally tends to wear out if not renewed by the biological processes of the coded ectoplasm.

Uncoded ectoplasm also tends to have, over time, lower densities, which allow light to pass through transparently. Due to the internal excitation of the particles, the non-codified ectoplasm will still tend to emit some light, although it does not have the typical phosphorescent light: the "younger" one will have a more intense brightness, similar to that of a light bulb, while the "older" one, which has lost its viscosity, will appear noticeably duller and more transparent.

Coded ectoplasm

The coded ectoplasm is always covered with a thin layer of phosphorus, an element involved in the vital functions of all known life forms. Just like in humans, phosphorus accounts for approximately 1% of the body's weight.

Due to its very high reactivity, phosphorus is the ideal substance for covering a body with ectoplasm, supporting it to interact with the outside world, and it is precisely because of this thin layer, which is continuously hit by the plasma ions (as happens in a plasma television), that ectoplasm bodies are always surrounded by a luminous halo.

This phenomenon is called phosphorescence.

Invisibility

Spirits incarnated in an ectoplasmic body are capable of making their presence invisible to both humans and ghosts, and even to photoscanning devices (such as cameras); this occurs thanks to the controlled production of plasmons.

The plasmon is a quantum of plasma oscillations, that is, a quasiparticle resulting from the quantization of plasma oscillations, halfway between magnetic waves and particles. In particular, ectoplasmic entities exploit surface plasmons, i.e. plasmons localized near the surface of a solid, normally used (by humans) for the production of metamaterials.

Surface plasmons allow light to flow around an object, making it perfectly invisible.

Incarnated spirits also have the ability to make other people and objects invisible as long as they are in physical contact with them, extending their plasmon field.

Trivia

A luminous ectoplasm, in otpoelectronics, is also called a "phosphor", because they work like regular phosphors, by emitting light through their phosphorus coating properties!

Being covered in white phosphorus, the outer layer of the ectoplasmic bodies is poisonous to humans. Don't eat ghosts, kids!

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And that's roughly what we think about how ghosts interact with light and sound! We hope it was enough, but... if you have any other question, maybe more specific... we would gladly, with joy, answer it!

And of course this applies to all of you! Help us build our lore with your questions!

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