I have a theory, a fan theory: I can explain all the rocks

I think I figured this one out, why we have so many rocks fall on the floor when there is a ship battle in Star Trek and the answer is stupidly obvious.

All the ships have Trellium D lining the inner walls of their ships and despite the expanse not existing anymore the Federation never rescinded this design element.

 

Why would they do that with Vulcans aboard many of those ships???

 

I never understood why people think they're rocks, when they can simply be foam insulation inner hull lining stuff

 

24th century asbestos

 

I think some review videos on YoubeTubey made mention of their being rocks. Which seems strange, since anyone nearby being bopped on the head by one might not find it pleasant - some of said rocks were sizeable and not many actors like getting stoned while on set, right?

Spoiler: Of course,

if they do it while off the set and more as a metaphorical allusion rather than literally being bopped on the head is not important right now...

 

In my headcanon, there is a substance incorporated into the material used for interior bulkheads etc aboard 24th century starships that congeals when put under explosive force so that explosions don’t cause sharp, smaller, deadly shrapnel.

 

But some of those rocks looked sharp. IIRC some of them got embedded in Riker's head in Yesterday's Enterprise.

 

I just rewatched those parts. Not only in Riker's head, but in a different scene in the same episode even in captain Garrett's skull.

 

Those exploding consoles pack a wallop!

 

Even if that was the explanation, you still would expect that by the 24th century they had found a more hightech solution than packing rocks with Trellium-D into those consoles.

 

I don’t know man….it’s probably worth exploring in an entire novel series.

 

But it's not just the consoles it's the ceilings and walls too, and why does eps power have to go through consoles that's like saying your keyboard needs to route mains power because reasons

 

Can I see a picture of these rocks?

Maybe they're space junk/meteor bits that slip through tiny, split-second vulnerabilities in the ship's walls and force fields during warp.

 

Here you go

 

Yeah looks like some sort of isolation, blown to bits.

 

Aside from Yesterday's Enterprise, I can't say I've ever noticed rocks on ships elsewhere and indeed had always thought of it as an oddity in that episode.

 

The most advanced Federation starships ever built. Insulation? Moon rocks. Just piled into the walls. Fuses? Never heard of them.

What could go wrong?

 

It's one of the biggest flaws in Star Trek that the federation, or Earth at least has so much technology but no one thought to invent surge protection or some kind of fuse for things that might explode.

Worse even that they think running plasma through consoles is a good idea when they don't need that as the are mere control / display panels so why did they even think that was a good idea?

 

I've never considered any of that blast debris to be "rocks". Their ships are outfitted with consoles, workstations, furniture, lighting fixtures, insulation, & presumably not every wall is solid bulkhead, & most of it is covered with decorative molding.

These things can be made of literally anything imaginable, & a lot of it looks like resin molding. A big solid mass of gray resin would bust apart & look just like rock after blast distress.