Physics
The vortex is outside normal space-time, and therefore normal rules of physics do not apply. For instance, in the vortex the equation for the relationship between energy and matter is E = mc3 (The Time Monster). In the Virgin New Adventures novel Just War by Lance Parkin, it was stated that the vortex was built by the Time Lords as a multidimensional spiral that connected all points in space and time. The canonicity of non-television stories is open to interpretation.
The vortex is an extremely hostile environment. In the serial Planet of Giants, opening the TARDIS doors in-flight caused the First Doctor and his companions to shrink to about an inch. Also, in the Second Doctor serial The Enemy of the World, the TARDIS doors open in-flight, pulling Salamander into the space-time vortex, and in Warriors' Gate saw the interior of the ship exposed to the time winds, which age whatever they come into contact with. Time Lords appear to have some resistance to this, although unprotected travel within the vortex is still extremely dangerous and often considered fatal (Shada). In "Utopia", Captain Jack survives for a time in the vortex as he clings to the TARDIS whilst it is in flight; but afterwards he is judged to be dead by Martha Jones, only to revive due to his personal immortality.
In Day of the Daleks a person traveling through the vortex could be drawn to a specific location by the use of a device called a "vortex magnetron".
Read more about this topic: Time Vortex (Doctor Who)
Famous quotes containing the word physics:
“Mathematics should be mixed not only with physics but with ethics.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“The fundamental laws of physics do not describe true facts about reality. Rendered as descriptions of facts, they are false; amended to be true, they lose their explanatory force.”
—Nancy Cartwright (b. 1945)
“Although philosophers generally believe in laws and deny causes, explanatory practice in physics is just the reverse.”
—Nancy Cartwright (b. 1945)