Physics question: portals at bottom of a lake and in a desert

Portal 2

Game » consists of 18 releases. First released on Apr 19, 2011

Portal 2 is the sequel to the acclaimed first-person puzzle game, carrying forward its love of mind-bending problems and its reckless disregard for the space-time continuum.

Physics question: portals at bottom of a lake and in a desert

#1 Posted by RainVillain (471 posts) - 2 years, 1 month ago

If one portal was located on the bottom of a lake, and an other one located surface of a desert ground, what would happen? How much of the water would spill out into the desert?

#2 Edited by Vitor (2673 posts) - 2 years, 1 month ago

Uh, most of it, surely? The force of the water would push it down and then up through the other portal until there wasn't enough pressure to force the rest through.

Water would probably seep under the sand, thus leaving the area above the second portal free for more to come through. No resistance above means probably all the water would drain out.

#3 Posted by Gabriel (4036 posts) - 2 years, 1 month ago

Most of it.

#4 Posted by RainVillain (471 posts) - 2 years, 1 month ago

@Vitor: I don't think all of it, because eventually the pressure would even out on both sides... right?

#5 Posted by HitmanAgent47 (8577 posts) - 2 years, 1 month ago

It won't work, the portals will not even make it though the water, rather just dissapear because you can't create a portal though water.

#6 Posted by xaLieNxGrEyx (2034 posts) - 2 years, 1 month ago

There's no such thing as portals

#7 Posted by Getz (2894 posts) - 2 years, 1 month ago

@bigmuffpi said:

" @Vitor: I don't think all of it, because eventually the pressure would even out on both sides... right? "

If the ground in the desert was flat, the water would just continue to flow outwards until the lake emptied. If it was at the bottom of a basin or something, then the pressure would equalize.

#8 Edited by MrKlorox (11085 posts) - 2 years, 1 month ago

Depends on the shape of the desert (are we talking about the bottom of a valley?) and how dry the ground is (how much water will be absorbed).

If it was two identical swimming pools and the portals were placed at the very bottom, the water would end up being distributed evenly.

#9 Posted by Ezekeilpurger (319 posts) - 2 years, 1 month ago

@HitmanAgent47: and portals can't be on sand, since it's just a bunch of tiny rocks.

#10 Posted by Vitor (2673 posts) - 2 years, 1 month ago

@Ezekeilpurger said:

" @HitmanAgent47: and portals can't be on sand, since it's just a bunch of tiny rocks. "

What if they were moon rocks?

#11 Posted by luce (4045 posts) - 2 years, 1 month ago

@Vitor said:

" @Ezekeilpurger said:
" @HitmanAgent47: and portals can't be on sand, since it's just a bunch of tiny rocks. "
What if they were moon rocks? "

#12 Posted by Afroman269 (7388 posts) - 2 years, 1 month ago

I like portal 2.

#13 Posted by TooWalrus (11971 posts) - 2 years, 1 month ago

Even if the @Afroman269 said:

" I like portal 2. "

Me too.

#14 Posted by Brendan (6931 posts) - 2 years, 1 month ago

A portal can only be placed on a flat surface, can it not? But even seemingly flat walls have texture...

#15 Posted by D_W (960 posts) - 2 years, 1 month ago

The was a mine that built under a lake once, and by accident someone had drilled upward and pierced the bottom of the lake. This created an incredible whirlpool that ended up sucking even a few boats down it.
I'd imagine that putting a portal at the bottom of a lake would have a similar effect. It would probably make for a really crazy fountain in the desert depending on the depth of the lake (ie, greater depth = higher fountain effect).

#16 Posted by Vexxan (4577 posts) - 2 years, 1 month ago

Science!

#17 Posted by Yanngc33 (4472 posts) - 2 years, 1 month ago

@xaLieNxGrEyx

There's no such thing as portals

LIAR

#18 Posted by MisterChief (828 posts) - 2 years, 1 month ago

@Brendan said:

" A portal can only be placed on a flat surface, can it not? But even seemingly flat walls have texture... "

I think it has to be a texture painted with moon rocks.

#19 Posted by AhmadMetallic (18957 posts) - 2 years, 1 month ago

i wanna place a portal on your MOM

RITE GUYS?

#20 Posted by D_W (960 posts) - 2 years, 1 month ago

@Ahmad_Metallic: That was the first thing I did! OOOOOOOOOOHHHHHHHHHHhhh!

#21 Posted by zudthespud (3229 posts) - 2 years, 1 month ago

The water would shoot out pretty fast, depending on how big the lake is. Every 10m underwater is another atmosphere of pressure, so if the lake was a reasonable size there would be a lot of pressure firing the water out. Then it would reach equilibrium, when the pressures on both sides of the portal would be the same. That's assuming the desert fills with water. This is all assuming Newton's laws on conservation of energy were warped to fit in with portals. There's a lot of assumptions to make this work.

#22 Edited by Wuddel (1689 posts) - 2 years, 1 month ago

@bigmuffpi: I am saying (almost) all of it, als long as the desert is flat, endlessly large and you have the same atmospheric pressure above them. The portals would simply behave as the tubing in communicating vessels.

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