Today’s question comes from QSFer Beth Brock:
The law of conservation of mass states that for any system closed to all transfers of matter and energy (both of which have mass), the mass of the system must remain constant over time. How does this relate to shifters? Does the story become a “fantasy”? What do you do to keep science in mind when you create a shifter?
This is especially relevant in the case of people that shift into really small things – like birds or monkeys, or into really large things, like dinosaurs.
I know, I know, once you’ve accepted the possibility of “supernatural” things like shifting, why quibble over sciencey things like overall mass?
Because that’s what we do here at QSF. *grin*
So jump right in – how much “sense” does shifting have to make, scientifically? And have you read anything that came up with a decent explanation for how a man (or woman) could become, let’s say, a cuttlefish?