science

Laputa

Laputa is a science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Laputa rather than just read about it. In short: Laputa is a flying island described in the 1726 book Gulliver's Travels by Jonathan Swift. It is about 4½ miles (7¼ km) in diameter, with an adamantine base, which its inhabitants can manoeuvre in any direction using magnetic levitation.

Key takeaways

Laputa belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Laputa to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Laputa from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Laputa is a flying island described in the 1726 book Gulliver's Travels by Jonathan Swift. It is about 4½ miles (7¼ km) in diameter, with an adamantine base, which its inhabitants can manoeuvre in any direction using magnetic levitation. The island is the home of the king of Balnibarbi and his court, and is used by the king to enforce his rule over the lands below.

Location Laputa was located above the realm of Balnibarbi, which was ruled by its king from the flying island. Gulliver states the island flew by the "magnetic virtue" of certain minerals in the grounds of Balnibarbi which did not extend to more than 4 miles (6.5 kilometres) above, and six leagues (29 kilometres) beyond the extent of the kingdom, showing the limit of its range. The position of the island, and the realm below, is some five days' journey south-south-east of Gulliver's last known position, 46° N, 183° E (i.e. east of Japan, south of the Aleutian Islands) down a chain of small rocky islands.

In foreign languages In Spanish translations of Gulliver's Travels, "Laputa" was renamed as "Lupata", "Laput", "Lapuda", and so on, to avoid similarities with the phrase "la puta" ("the whore").

Legacy On Mars's largest moon, Phobos, there is a regio, Laputa Regio, which is named after Swift's Laputa because of his 'prediction' of the two then undiscovered Martian moons, which his Laputan astronomers had discovered. In the 1964 comedy film Dr. Strangelove, the primary target for the B-52 bomber crew is given as "the ICBM complex at Laputa". The 1986 Japanese animated fantasy film Castle in the Sky, directed by Hayao Miyazaki, derives its name and basic premise from Swift's novel. From 1999 to 2006 in Japan, Mazda sold the Mazda Laputa, a Rebadged version of the Suzuki Kei.

References

Citations

Sources Miyazaki, Hayao (2009) [1996]. Starting Point: 1979–1996. Viz Media. ISBN 978-1-4215-6104-2. Napier, Susan J. (2018). Miyazakiworld: A Life in Art. Yale University Press. ISBN 978-0-300-22685-0. Swift, Jonathan (2008) [1726]. Gulliver's Travels. Oxford World Classics. introduction by Claude Rawson, explanatory notes by Ian Higgins (reprint ed.). Williams, Kathleen (1968). "Gulliver in Laputa". In Brady, Frank (ed.). Twentieth Century Interpretations of Gulliver's Travels: A Collection of Critical Essays. Prentice-Hall. pp. 60 & ff. ISBN 9780133715675. "Laputa Regio". Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature. USGS. Retrieved 29 May 2024.

Further reading Page, Michael; Ingpen, Robert (1998). Encyclopedia of Things That Never Were. New York: Penguin Studio. pp. 94, 150–1. ISBN 0-14-010008-3.

External links

Gulliver's Travels at Project Gutenberg

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Laputa

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Laputa claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Laputa before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Laputa ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Laputa

In research: Laputa appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Laputa in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Laputa is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Fictional Asian countries, Fictional aircraft, Fictional city-states, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Laputa outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Laputa in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Laputa means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Laputa out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Laputa in simple terms?

Why does Laputa matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Laputa?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Laputa.