half-life? why half-life?

[ríomhaire]

Everyone do Theoretical Physics in 3rd level as Gordon is a theretical physisist so you will understand him better.

 

[NeptuneUK]

as i quote from the simpsons:

"shut up! thats why!"

 

[stuboy]

The lambda symbol, a letter of the greek alphabet, is used in calculations involving radioactivity to represent half-life. Because half-life is the time taken for half of something to be removed, e.g. unstable nuclei, it is taken out of context as a byword for a situation which is unstable or dangerous; the word half-life also has other connotations releveant to the game, e.g. the fact that Gordon's life is partially controlled by the G-man and the fact that the game's style is so vicarious. Ironically, the name seems to fit hl2 better in many ways than hl1. Let's be honest, it also has that sciencey-cool ring to it that says; "you'll get the reference if you're clever".

 

[stuboy]

Oh, and it does have relevance to biology. Bacterial population growth often follows exponential patterns when given unlimited resources.

 

[Myxomatosis]

Oh, and it does have relevance to biology. Bacterial population growth often follows exponential patterns when given unlimited resources.

That has nothing to do with radioactivity or how long it takes half the atoms in radioactive material to decay(half-life)...

And use the edit button...

 

[stuboy]

Will do. Half-life refers to anything undergoing exponential growth or decay, not just radioactivity. For example, in chemistry, the concentration of a chemical in first-order chemical reactions has a constant half-life. Not that it's really worth arguing about.

 

[the_rebel_medic]

easy its called half-life because in HL1 your in a lab with heaps of science and chemicals and minerals and the like. when you refer to the radioactive lifetime in uranium or the likes you call it a half life. half life 2. because its a sequal.

 

[dream431ca]

That's like asking why did we name this planet "Earth"?..for kicks?? Yes.

 

[Sulkdodds]

We should have called is 'Sausage' or 'Klendathu Prime' or something cool like that. Bah.

 

[jOOblaR]

It's cool, it ties in with lambda and it is scientific.

Yeah it does. The symbol in place of the 'A' is the greek letter Lambda, and is associated with scientific term 'wavelength'

 

[Danimal]

Half-life = The time it takes for nuclear material to lose half of it's radioactivity.

 

[Myxomatosis]

Half-life = The time it takes for nuclear material to lose half of it's radioactivity.

We all know that man. They just don't understand why it relates to beating an aliens head in with a crowbar.

 

[Jintor]

Well the entire game and most of its chapter names and stuff are named in order to tie in with science, so...

 

[15357]

We all know that man. They just don't understand why it relates to beating an aliens head in with a crowbar.

well, its a scientific way of beating an aliens head in with a crowbar.

 

[svet-am]

personally, as an engineer, I can't see lamba without immediately falling back into advanced math mode and thinking of using lambda to solve matrix systems of equations (specifically, solving for eigenvalues and eigenvectors).

honestly, for a while, when I first saw the teaser ads for the first game and they just had the lambda logo, I thought Gordon was a "rock star mathematician" of some sort.

 

[Sulkdodds]

Rofl! Like Ian Malcolm!

 

[Salad22]

Better than no-life

 

[iMMuNiTy]

Well my opinion is that lambda, in Half-Life, stands not for wavelength but the Lambda Team.

In Half-Life 2 there were grafitti of Lambda all over the place. I doubt citizens played HL2 and over-excited sprayed its logo all over. Nor is "wavelength" a secret code or anything...

My theory is that Lambda Team survivors, which now work with Eli in his hideout beyond the dam, painted the 'Lambda' signs marking a path for escapees from City 17 to find their way to Eli's Hideout.

 

[DoctorWeeTodd]

I always thought it had to do with all that radioactive waster lying around in both games.