Why are bridge consoles always exploding?

[KhanSolo]

First, I get that this has probably been discussed before, but I just don't understand. I guess I don't fully comprehend how the Enterprises have been designed, it seems anytime something overloads or the ship takes a direct hit, a console or terminal explodes in a brilliant shower of sparks (and apparently rocks in "Yesterday's Enterprise") Why??

 

[Timo]

...The enemy death rays pierce the shields, after which the enemy transmits a devious assassination program that takes hold of the computers, bypasses all safeties, and reroutes power to key consoles until they explode?

Timo Saloniemi

 

[Arrrrgggh]

Fuse box technology was lost during WWIII, obviously.

 

[Kemaiku]

I've yet to see a fuse that can stand pure electroplasma being shunted into it straight from a matter/antimatter reactor.

Starfleet just doesn't believe in effecient or safe energy production, when you have infinite resources and 900 billion potential recruits, why bother with basic safety?

 

[Kor]

There is no surge protection.

Kor

 

[SWHouston]

Par for the course for Fed Equipment.
The writers like to cause sensationalistic occurrences, with things breaking down, blow up and at the first bump jutst falling apart over and over again.
I guess it good "show", but it makes one think that anything with Star Fleet on it, is totally junk.

 

[Unicron]

Plus they need an excuse to build more starships.

 

[hux]

If the ships systems are allowed to overload, they would cause massive, ship destroying explosions so the consoles are designed to overload instead to avoid this.

 

[Relayer1]

No-one's thought of wireless links to the terminals.

 

[STEPhon IT]

This was a TNG thing to characters who were irrelevant. I'm not sure it that occurred on Yoy but these thing don't seem to happen to the main cast.
The Captain of the Enterprise C was killed after her ship was attacked, but its surprising something similar didn't happen to Janeway with all the battles that super ship took.

 

[C.E. Evans]

Starships in general are not safe places to be, IMO. All that electroplasma running through every system...it's liking living in a powder keg and giving off sparks...

 

[KhanSolo]

Well, out of all the unlucky junior officers that have gotten killed by exploding consoles, at least none of them were as unlucky as alternate universe Riker getting pelted in the neck with chunks of asphalt from an exploding terminal. haha

 

[B.J.]

Do we have any numbers on how many exploded and/or how many they killed?

 

[Ronald Held]

Surge protection exists but it is woefully short of what is needed in combat?

 

[SWHouston]

They shouldn't need Surge Protection or even a Fuse for that matter.
By this time in Fed experience, they should have improved Shielding to not let anything through. After having been exposed to other technologies for years, and the ability to change/reverse engineer, SF has obviously avoiding ANY improvements to their systems. And this slant toward a "stick in the mud" approach doesn't seem to be anywhere near progressive changes.

 

[Kemaiku]

How could you sleep, knowing a pipe of 120m degree kelvin material that could vapourise you and a portion of the ship instantly is running behind the bulkhead your bunk is against?

And that there has literally never been a safeguard against it exploding other than crossing your fingers and hoping?

 

[stardream]

When you think about it you could use it as a weapon. Just make sure the evil alien is standing in the right spot when someone surreptitiously causes a dangerous overload right there.....

 

[T'Girl]

I've yet to see a fuse that can stand pure electroplasma being shunted into it straight from a matter/antimatter reactor?

But why does a electroplasma conduit need to go to the bridge at all?

Shouldn't a low powered optical conduit go from the bridge consoles to the limited number of locations that require a electroplasma conduit (or valve for same), places like weapons, shields, replicators, etc..

Most of the ship's gismos probably run on moderate amperage electricity, you don't need high energy plasma to operate the doors.

+

 

[Captain Rob]

An optical conduit is just an optical fiber. there's no voltage going trough it at all. Just light. And last time I checked. Light doesn't explode.(Sorry photon torpedoes). There's nothing on that bridge that requires anything more than regular household current. Except of course, the artificial gravity (maybe), inertial dampers and structural integrity field. Which should all be built into the ship's structure. Maybe the ventilation system (life support) requires a little more power. But we've never seen one explode. Just stop working.
Of course the later ships had force fields available everywhere. So that would take some power.
Apparently the TOS Enterprise mostly used good old fashioned copper cable for most of it's power distribution system. As evidenced by the sabotage Ben Finney did in the Jeffries Tube. We saw just regular chunks of black insulated copper cable used as jumpers. Only the hyperpower circuits may have used electroplasma conduits. Such as between the main reactor and the warp nacelles. And the impulse system, auxiliary power and emergency batteries. And of course the weapons system and shields. And the all important navigational deflector.

 

[T'Girl]

An optical conduit is just an optical fiber. there's no voltage going trough it at all.

You're wrong, here a webpage for you.

http://www.thefoa.org/tech/FAQS/FAQ-TEST.HTM

My point was why route the plasma conduit up to the bridge in the first place. It shouldn't be necessary to do so in order to control the plasma's movements and delivery, this can (should) be done remotely from the bridge.

My computer sometimes uses a lot of power, but that power doesn't flow through my keyboard.

_