Lesson Five: A.M.E In Depth

Distance from the Sun

Light and object recieves from the sun varies with the inverse of the square of its distance from the sun. Meaning it decreases as the distance increases. Light spread is larger the further from the sun, the further something is the less sunlight it gets. Refer to the diagram in the lesson for a visual explanation.

Angular Size

The size of an object as seen by an oberve. It is not physical size but rather an angle. It is the greatest angular seperation within an object measured in degrees, arcminutes and arcseconds. The bigger the object the more light it sends to Earth.

Albedo

Comes from the Latin word for white "albus". The albedo of a surface is the ratio of light reflected off. No light reflected would mean an albedo of 0 whereas 100% light reflected would mean an albedo of 1. Darker surfaces have lower albedo and lighter have higher. Magnesium oxide has an albedo of 0.96 and is the substance with the highest albedo known. The lowest is black velvet with 0.01-0.03 albedo.

Phase

Phase can be described by a number between 0 and 1 Phase is the proportion of the body that is lit. The more that is lit the more light it will reflect. If a body is sometimes or always closer to the sun than Earth eg. the Moon or Venus it will have a complete set of phases. From almost none visable (new) to almost all (full).

The portion of body in the light can also be affected by being blocked by a another body or the shadow of another body.

The above four points are all seperate from one another and do not effect eachother. A new moon has the same albedo as a full moon for example. 

See the lesson for the formula to calculate amount of light reflected to Earth.

Dr Mansour's Contribution

Magical Albedo Versus Optical Albedo

Dr Mansour modified the formula to show reflected magic rather than sunlight. Her reasearch showed that lighter objects reflected more than darker ones, with exceptions. Magic easily passes through clouds and walls where light does not. She defined magical albedo and optical albedo. The values are often similar though. She also discovered that reflected magic interact with each other.

Interference

The only part of A.M.E unique to magic. Reflected magic is influenced by other reflected magic. Constructive interference is when magic from two or more objects enhance each other. The magic usually reflected becomes stronger. Destructive interference is when they partly or wholly cancel each other out so there is less or no magic from either. Total constructive intereference doubles the magoc whereas total destructive interference is the complete cancellation of magic. 

Objects 90 degrees apart have no interference. Objects closer have constructive interference, the closer the more constructive. Objects further than 90 degrees have destructive intereference and the further apart the more destructive. The more magic a body reflects the more it interferes and the less it is interfered with. Interference ranges from -1 to +1. 

Jupiter and Mars create constructive interference based on their alignment. 

Putting It Together

Interference component of the equation encompasses the total interference from all visable bodies. 

See the lesson for the formula for AM.E Quotient.