Sonar fence/Theories

From Lostpedia

Jump to: navigation, search
Main Article Theories about
Sonar fence 		Main Discussion
 Theories may be removed if ... 
  1. Stated as questions or possibilities (avoid question marks, "Maybe", "I think", etc).
  2. More appropriate for another article.
  3. Illogical or previously disproven.
  4. Proven by canon source, and moved to main article.
  5. Speculative and lacking any evidence to support arguments.
  6. Responding to another theory (use discussion page instead).
  • This does not include responses that can stand alone as its own theory.
  • Usage of an indented bullet does not imply the statement is a response.

See the Lostpedia theory policy for more details.

Contents

Possible Mechanisms

  • The fence operates like an infinitely high wall. That's why the smoke monster wasn't able to scale it. The losties were able to climb over it because it wasn't on. Mikhail's "death" was faked.
    • Including the blood?
  • The use of sound to restrain an object, as seen during "Mikhail's death", would be nearly impossible without extensive technological and environmental considerations. It is also difficult to speculate how it could directly induce injury without nearly unreachable sound pressure levels. Such would also affect nearby individuals.
  • The effects during Mikhail's "death" could possibly be explained by electromagnetic effects, rather than sonic. A high field could possibly restrain a diamagnetic object (such as a person) as seen and appropriate oscillation of the magnetic flux could induce an injury. While the field strengths required would be exceptionally high, magnetism on that order of magnitude was observed in Season 2 episodes. Mikhail's reaction to the fence seemed to be from electrocution, because of his apparent difibrillation.
    • Mikhail stated in "The Man Behind the Curtain" that "the fence was not set to a lethal level". Seemingly they have the option of setting the intensity of the fence.
      • What's lethal for one person, may not necessarily be lethal for another. Although the fence did not kill Mikhail it is not to say it may not have been fatal to another person passing through it.
  • The barrier only affects certain individuals, those who have been implanted with a 'receiver' of some sort. Mikhail is one of these individuals.
  • The barrier is microwave rather than sonic in nature. A powerful microwave emitter will produce effects as seen when Mikhail was thrown into the field of effect, and is capable of inflicting gruesome, even fatal injury. However, on lower levels, the injuries, while severe, may not be fatal - merely incapacitating. Additionally, microwaves interfere with any metallic material, and especially unshielded electronics, which would explain why the Monster was unable to cross the perimeter. While a spectral analysis reveals a tonal that is very close to the resonant frequency of the human skull, this would affect only humans. Microwaves affect everything.
    • Although this theory is interesting, it has holes. Microwaves can cause severe burns, and a lot of bodily fluids including blood would come out.
      • Blood can be seen spurting out of Mikhail's ears before he collapses.
  • The perimeter fence initially creates a powerful barrier on either side of the person or object inside the barrier to prevent them from running through (the high pitched screeching heard when Mikhail was first pushed in) before emitting fatal doses of γ (Gamma) radiation sufficient to cause tissue death in the brain. The sound effect is used as a psychological deterrent (as the radiation would be invisible and the sound makes it appear that something is happening and it is not faked).

Purpose

  • In "The Man Behind the Curtain", a character said that the fence was to keep out wildlife. Since the only dangerous wildlife we've seen is the polar bear (which we assume escaped from a zoo type station), it could very well be to keep out the Monster. If that's true, does that mean that The Hostiles controlled it, or could it have been there before they were as well?
  • The barrier creates a field similar to a no-chamber from Dune, and prevents the Others' remote viewing from seeing events inside of it. This is also why the Others' living and work spaces have so many cameras and microphones. The lethality of standing in the barrier is just a side effect.
  • The barrier was used to keep something or someone from escaping the Barracks. Perhaps Dharma kept the "hostiles" inside the perimeter, and once "the incident" occurred, the hostiles took control of the Island. Of course, this would assume that the control panel would have been on the exterior face of a pillar rather than on the inside face to prevent attempts of escape. We still don't know the answer to this.
  • The spectral analysis of the sound made by the sonic barrier, one of the frequency bands corresponds to 972 Hz, which is the average resonant frequency of the human skull (and also 9x 108!). The barrier could be a means of not allowing the Monster to "get into the mind" or "skull" of it's target.
  • The barracks contains (or used to contain) the main control center for the entire island including control of Cerberus but due to 'the incident' Cerberus became damaged or wild and the sonic barrier was set up to protect the senior members of Dharma on the Island.

Blast Door Map

  • May be represented by the red dotted line drawn around the "?" at the center of the map; as we now know that the alarm system completely surrounds the Barracks. The "?" mark might mean the the person who drew the blast door map didn't know what was inside the barrier.
  • This is unlikely considering that the "?" was revealed to be The Pearl, not The Barracks. Mr. Eko asked Locke to take him to the "?" which eventually led to the discovery of The Pearl.
  • On the new blast door map, the Barracks are north-east of the ?.

Ghost Wall theory

  • In The economist, a deleted scene, shows Miles listens to the fence. We know/think that Miles can talk to and hear spirits (Confirmed Dead) by the way he speaks to the boy in the room, and Naiomi. We also know that 'the monster', before killing Eko judged him (the camera went throught the smoke, and his life could be seen), maybe the fence emits some - sort of life/death barrier, hence the reason why Miles can talk to it and why the monster can't past it. {{User:David Gee/autosig}} 04:19, 18 February 2008 (PST)
  • This could also explain why Mikhail's ears bled when he was thrown through them. Perhaps the spirits yelled in his ears so loud only he could hear it.

Miscellaneous

  • Juliet says in Left Behind "We don't know what it is but we know it doesn't like our fences". This suggests that there is more than one sonic fence.
    • She could be referring to the fact that it are lots of pillars as opposed to whole sets of pillars.
    • Juliet mentioning this could mean that the fences were meant for another purpose, and the fact that it keeps out the monster is a side effect of it's real purpose.
  • The fence has different settings determined by an implant in the person who is in the way of the fence. When Mikhail broke the sensor beam there was a high pitched screeching not unlike the sound a 1960s X-Ray machine sounds, perhaps this determined that Mikhail was not an enemy but injured him enough so that he would heal. When the Monster broke them beam it instantly activated the waves which made it retreat suggesting that the barrier can detect what is near it.
Retrieved from "http://lostpedia.com/wiki/Sonar_fence/Theories"