Exploding Consoles Of Doom Explained At Last

Discussion in 'Trek Tech' started by Flashover, Nov 7, 2010.

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  1. Nerys Ghemor

    Nerys Ghemor Vice Admiral Admiral

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    Why is it not more frequent to discharge the energy back out onto, say, the shields, the way DS9 did in "Civil Defense"? Or into space, if the shields weren't up at the time? Might this not be preferable to exploding consoles?
     
  2. blssdwlf

    blssdwlf Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    Maybe it was Chekov who got burned when V'ger hit the Enterprise in TMP?

    But that is interesting that the lethal exploding consoles seem to start after TWOK.
     
  3. dgguy2006

    dgguy2006 Lieutenant Junior Grade Red Shirt

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    I believe that Flashover is correct, in that a battle situation deals with inconceivable amounts of energy. However, I would envision a Borg-inspired diffusion net that could reroute some (if not all) of the released energy back into the shield capacitors or phaser arrays.
     
  4. Flashover

    Flashover Lieutenant Commander

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    Timing. They knew they were going to get a massive power surge, and they had enough time to set up a bypass to dump all the power outside.

    In a combat situation... beam hits ship --> surge travels through hull into power system --> surge protector fails --> isolator fails --> Ensign McOno gets a photonic facial. We're talking zero reaction time.
     
  5. Nerys Ghemor

    Nerys Ghemor Vice Admiral Admiral

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    So why not a pre-existing way to discharge the energy outside, similar to the way that a lightning rod is there to ground a lightning bolt?
     
  6. Flashover

    Flashover Lieutenant Commander

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    And we're back to the product I manufacture.

    What I'm getting at is these systems FAIL sometimes no matter how much engineering and thought you put into them.
     
  7. Christopher

    Christopher Writer Admiral

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    ^Yes. Exactly. It's not that the ships don't have defenses against these things, it's that no defense is completely infallible. Every form of protection can be overwhelmed if its limitations are exceeded.

    I think the problem, though, is that the modern Trek shows and movies have made exploding/sparking consoles into such a routine element of battle scenes that it gives the impression that there are no defenses.
     
  8. SicOne

    SicOne Commodore Commodore

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    Which book? Can't recall reading the explanation but would like to. I have most of yours.
     
  9. Agony_Boothb

    Agony_Boothb Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    I wonder if starfleet have a special memorial to all those who copped a face full of sparks in the course of defending the Federation.

    I can see it now... a bronzelithium (tm) statue of ensign redmond mcshirt getting blown backwards with his bronzelithium (tm) face melted for dramatic effect.
     
  10. Flashover

    Flashover Lieutenant Commander

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    I'm not too worried about the sparking and flames and stuff.

    What baffles me is the fact that some consoles seem to be full of ROCKS.

    WHAT THE HELL.

    This is to be expected in the Geology Lab, but no on the bridge!
     
  11. blssdwlf

    blssdwlf Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    ^^ The "rocks" are what happens to TNG-era building materials zapped. Must be the new materials :D

    @mickmike - a memorial plate with the lost crewmember's name stamped onto the console section that exploded could be a morale killer :)
     
  12. Agony_Boothb

    Agony_Boothb Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    i was actually thinking more of a massive like 20 foot tall statue at starfleet hq.

    those who had their eye balls melted deserve nothing less
     
  13. Christopher

    Christopher Writer Admiral

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    Solid-state circuitry. :D
     
  14. Flashover

    Flashover Lieutenant Commander

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    And if you divert power from the warp drive to the main viewer do you end up with a plasma-screen? :guffaw:
     
  15. seekertwo

    seekertwo Commander Red Shirt

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    Why not have the crew wear rubber gloves during Red Alert?....
     
  16. SicOne

    SicOne Commodore Commodore

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    "101 Uses For A Dead Horta"...hey, they have to have SOME contribution to the Federation, yes?
     
  17. George

    George Lieutenant Commander Red Shirt

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    What about transistors? As of now, they're just easy-to-melt metals, but I would imagine that by the 24th century the Federation would have come up with some kind of viscous liquid conductor which reacts with the material of which the wire casing is made to form a hyperinsulating gas.

    I mean, it would be similar to burning wood, sort of. C (s) reacts with heat and O (g) to form CO (g).

    Similarly, if we let the viscous liquid used in the wiring be X, and let the material of the inner tubing of the wires be Y, then X (l) reacts with heat and Y (s) to form XY (g).

    In other words, the inner wiring would turn into gas as soon as too much power is flowing through it, say, 25 megawatts (i.e. for example, 5000 V * 5000 A).

    So, if this kind of transistor were to be inserted into every wire going into and out of the shield systems and hull, no panels would explode.

    And since there are replicators, it can be synthesised at no cost, and wouldn't affect the building of the ship.

    Of course, there could be several problems, eg. the viscous liquid might be very corrosive, or extremely toxic, but I'd say the likelihood of that is relatively low.
     
  18. 137th Gebirg

    137th Gebirg Admiral Premium Member

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    Makes perfect sense. Thanks for this explanation! :techman:

    I guess this would also explain that the starboard power coupling has a flashover rating of zero, then. :D
     
  19. Herkimer Jitty

    Herkimer Jitty Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    Yeah, but that's nowhere near as exciting as:

    -Blaring klaxons
    -Blinky red lights
    -Benign white smoke

    and...

    -Exploding consoles


    Speaking of which, just what the hell is that benign white smoke?
     
  20. Flashover

    Flashover Lieutenant Commander

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    All electronic devices are powered by smoke of various colors. If you put too much power into said devices the smoke will be displaced and the device will stop working.

    Also happens if you reverse the polarity.

    Good example would be that old Athlon 1800+ chip I destroyed this afternoon. I was overclocking it, and I turned up the Vcore voltage too high, and sure enough the smoke came out. Without that smoke the chip is useless.
     
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