All you ever wanted to know about The Iris and the Wormhole

[briguy213]

or, maybe because it is a tv xhow they do not need to worry about the kawoosh hitting the iris.

[BackStageJim]

I thought that the 'Kawoosh' formation is after the event horizon has formed. Since the 'event'' has not formed, then it would not impact the iris.

Sort of a chemical reaction. too much of product 'B' and it expodes .. otherwise inert.

[Mio]

This is, perhaps, the most answered question on these forums.

The vortex can not form because it is made up of particles. These particles can't form because the iris is too close:

Here's the transcript that proves it, its from A Hundred Days



The open the gate to Edora, and the malp doesn't reform.

TEAL’C: If the Edoran STARGATE were truly buried, how then was the wormhole established.

CARTER: The meteor hit while the wormhole was active.

DANIEL: So, so?

CARTER: So it’s possible that the molten naquada hardened just above the event horizon.

DANIEL: Like an iris.

But the vortex didn't occur, so a cavern wasn't created.

HAMMOND: Wormhole physics, a field, Major, that you pioneered, states that under these conditions, ordinary matter won’t even reintegrate on the other side. There’s no way to overcome that.

CARTER: I think there is, Sir. And I’m not the one who thought of it. SOKAR did.

HAMMOND: SOKAR?

CARTER: Yes, Sir. When he tried to breach the iris by bombarding it with a particle beam. Sub-atomic particles barely small enough to reintegrate produced energy as they decayed.

HAMMOND: Which caused the iris to heat up.

CARTER: Exactly. Now, if we could do the same thing we could melt the hardened naquada barrier just above the event horizon and create a pocket of superheated gas.

HAMMOND: And then what?

CARTER: Well, then all we have to do is open the Gate again, Sir. The unstable vortex it normally generates would then be allowed to expand into that pocket and create an even larger cavern. One person might be able to go through, Sir, and dig it out.

They basically fire particles at the barrier until it pushes it back far enough to allow the kawoosh to form.

[Mio]

Energy is not always matter. the kawoosh is pure energy just like light or a magnetic field are all types of energy. Light is not considered matter.

DANIEL
Well you're right in that it is an illusion. It's not actually water.

RIGAR
Then what is it?

O'NEILL
Magic.

CARTER
It's an event horizon made up of quantum particles that form a wormhole.

We know that the event horizon is made up of particles, Therefore, its reasonable to assume that the kawoosh, since it is basically a forming event horizon, is also made up of particles.

[Elite Anubis Guard]

Mio just gave you the best explanation!

[Mio]

Mio just gave you the best explanation!

Aww. ::feels loved::

[Ancient 1]

Ah....asked and answered....again.

[Star_Lord]

While this thread is still running, I just wanted to point out one other thing to do with the kawoosh. On Earth when a wormhole is established the stargate still makes the sound of the "kawoosh" forming and then receding back into the event horizon even when the Iris is closed. Obviously a mistake but i just thought it was funny. BTW Thank you all for your answers even though this has been asked a million times.

[daveFDIS]

Perhaps a more appropriate question would be how did they install the iris anyways? Wouldn't they have a disassemble the gate or something? Just something I've noticed ever since "Children of the Gods".

[robinmdh]

in the origional movie the kawoosh was explained as a pressure equalizing effect, ofcourse since watergate would have pushed huge quantities of water trough the gate that isn't entirely true
but with a 3 micron clearing you could argue thath it would create a vacuem so there is no need for the kawoosh
ok thath's far fetched so it's the script why do you care anyway ?

[Col. Newman]

This belongs in Science and Tech

[Lucreleia]

I just read the transcript of Children of the Gods, and I wondered how it is possible that the energy vortex of the incoming wormhole does not destroy the iris.
The first iris was made of titanium, and the second one of a trinium-titanium alloy, but for what I know, the vortex destroys everything in his path.
I have seen in some episodes that the iris is closed before the vortex appears, so....
Could someone bring some light to this question?

If this discussion was set before, my apologies.

[Jeffer]

i wonderd the same thing and i just give it to a plot hole

[Eoin]

i think because the iris is 3 or 0.3 microns away from the event horizon it stops the vortex from forming, erm... im sure someone else could explain it better

[Qasim]

This question comes up all the time:

Why is the iris not disintegrated by the wormhole?
There is a microscopic gap between the iris and the wormhole event horizon -- less than a few microns ("Serpent's Song"). Just as the iris does not allow matter to reintegrate, so also does it not allow whatever it is that makes up the "whoosh" to burst forth. Though the Stargate is occasionally activated with the iris already closed, the "whoosh" does not reintegrate and affect the iris. It is apparently not necessary in order for a wormhole to be established.