I've been thinking about the rocket experiment and the time that passes when Ben and Locke turn the wheel. When Ben first turns the donkey wheel, he moves to Tunisia instantaneously (his wounds are still fresh). However, time has passed in the real world since the moment he turned the wheel, since the oceanic six have already made it back to the US by the time Ben lands in Tunisia. This is a weird time discrepancy.
Later, when Locke turns the wheel, he ends up landing three years later than the oceanic six in the real world, even though the time on the island has only been a couple of days.
Finally, when Locke returns to the island, three years have passed on the Island as opposed to the six months or however long he spent getting the oceanic six back on the plane.
I think that time moves at a different rate on the Island than it does in the real world. However, I don't think its a fixed rate, I think its variable. I think that sometimes Island time is faster than real world time, and sometimes its slower, which would explain why Locke's 2 days could equate to 3 years real world time, but then his 6 months of real world time could equate to 3 years on the Island.
I think the donkey wheel is a way of controlling the rate of time the Island experiences. Before Locke turns the wheel, Island time is moving much slower than real world time, so 2 days = 3 years. The same thing holds true for Ben: the amount of time in between when the 06 got outside of the Island's "radius" and the time he turned the wheel equated to the 3 months or however long it took for him to land in Tunisia.
I think the button was a way of keeping the rate of time flow constant rather than variable. When Desmond stopped pushing the button, Island time began to move slightly slower than real world time. By the time Faraday did his rocket experiment, the Island was moving even slower compared to the real world, so the time the rocket spent in the air before entering the Island's "radius" equated to "extra time" when Faraday checked it (if it took 10 seconds for the rocket to reach faraday, and the rocket was in the radius for 3 of those seconds, the amount of time it was in the air before entering the radius would seem like 7 seconds on the Island but would actually be 30 minutes real world time).
What Locke did by "fixing" the wheel was sync Island time back up with real world time. As a result, 3 years had to pass on the Island to "even out" the three year discrepancy between Island time and Real-world time which Locke experiences. I think that if Faraday were to do his experiment NOW, there would be no discrepancy because the Island's time rate has stabilized.
There you have it, not really scientific but it makes sense to me. Theory by ivey_driveshaft
Later, when Locke turns the wheel, he ends up landing three years later than the oceanic six in the real world, even though the time on the island has only been a couple of days.
Finally, when Locke returns to the island, three years have passed on the Island as opposed to the six months or however long he spent getting the oceanic six back on the plane.
I think that time moves at a different rate on the Island than it does in the real world. However, I don't think its a fixed rate, I think its variable. I think that sometimes Island time is faster than real world time, and sometimes its slower, which would explain why Locke's 2 days could equate to 3 years real world time, but then his 6 months of real world time could equate to 3 years on the Island.
I think the donkey wheel is a way of controlling the rate of time the Island experiences. Before Locke turns the wheel, Island time is moving much slower than real world time, so 2 days = 3 years. The same thing holds true for Ben: the amount of time in between when the 06 got outside of the Island's "radius" and the time he turned the wheel equated to the 3 months or however long it took for him to land in Tunisia.
I think the button was a way of keeping the rate of time flow constant rather than variable. When Desmond stopped pushing the button, Island time began to move slightly slower than real world time. By the time Faraday did his rocket experiment, the Island was moving even slower compared to the real world, so the time the rocket spent in the air before entering the Island's "radius" equated to "extra time" when Faraday checked it (if it took 10 seconds for the rocket to reach faraday, and the rocket was in the radius for 3 of those seconds, the amount of time it was in the air before entering the radius would seem like 7 seconds on the Island but would actually be 30 minutes real world time).
What Locke did by "fixing" the wheel was sync Island time back up with real world time. As a result, 3 years had to pass on the Island to "even out" the three year discrepancy between Island time and Real-world time which Locke experiences. I think that if Faraday were to do his experiment NOW, there would be no discrepancy because the Island's time rate has stabilized.
There you have it, not really scientific but it makes sense to me. Theory by ivey_driveshaft
