The term "Inertial dampers"

[Ethros]

Long time Trek viewers will of course be familiar with the term Inertial dampers (though sometimes it seemed to be pronounced as 'dampeners') which as Memory Alpha puts it-

are a system used on almost all starships to counter the effects of rapid acceleration/deceleration of a starship by sustaining and absorbing the natural inertia of a vessel as it either moves through space or if it is under attack from another vessel.
http://memory-alpha.org/en/wiki/Inertial_damper


Anyway, I was just watching Alien (1979) tonight and noticed Dallas uses the term early on in the film when the shuttle is landing on the planet. I found this interesting as I always assumed it was some technobabble term Trek made up during the TNG era. Yet this was a full 8 years before TNG even began airing.

So, is this an actual scientific term? And when did it first get used in Trek? (Memory Alpha doesn't say)

Cheers

 

[cultcross]

The term is almost always credited to Star Trek, But I couldn't tell you a specific reference to its first use. Star Trek certainly made the concept well known and it's been used by many others since (most prominently recently, Stargate SG-1).

 

[Cyke101]

It goes both ways, too. Trek loves referencing other works of sci-fi, like Back to the Future, the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, and Buckaroo Bonzai.

 

[c0rnedfr0g]

page 3 references "inertial dampers" altho that itself is a reference from the TNG Technical Manual

http://ntrs.nasa.gov/archive/nasa/casi.ntrs.nasa.gov/20070031912_2007031208.pdf

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Physics_of_Star_Trek

 

[roguephoenix]

the original series should have had this too. was it ever mentioned? cause they can't really go to warp without it or everyone would liquify.

although interesting note that with that in place, nothing in the ship should really be shaking when being hit by enemy weapons. the famous/iconic trek sway and stagger shouldn't even exist. lol

 

[Timo]

Well, "inertia" is a relevant scientific term, and all fictional milieus featuring fast-moving spacecraft should have a technology that negates inertia. What exact terminology applies - "inertial damp(en)ing", "inertia cancelling", "antinertia" - would depend on the tome. But "damping" has become something of a modern standard in literature and television alike.

Timo Saloniemi

 

[captcalhoun]

the original series should have had this too. was it ever mentioned? cause they can't really go to warp without it or everyone would liquify.

although interesting note that with that in place, nothing in the ship should really be shaking when being hit by enemy weapons. the famous/iconic trek sway and stagger shouldn't even exist. lol

TOS had them, they just weren't mentioned.

the TNG TM mentions 'characteristic lag' or something during radical manoeuvres which is what causes the drunken stagger.

 

[All Seeing Eye]

I always thought it was Inertial Dampeners.

 

[backstept]

no, it's 'dampers' . . . you wouldn't want everything to get wet eh?

 

[Timo]

Both spellings would seem to be correct, and both could be taken to indicate that waterproofing has failed. For some reason, Wiktionary asserts that "to damp" is archaic while "to dampen" is to be preferred for modern usage, while I have observed no such bias in the literature I usually read...

Timo Saloniemi

 

[Ethros]

I think sometimes its just the actors maybe saying or pronouncing it wrong. There are definittely times where itertial/interia and dampers/dampeners are used

 

[Newspaper Taxi]

A spaceship can't fly if the inertia is too dry. That why it needs to be continually moisturized by the Inertial Dampeners.

 

[All Seeing Eye]

Dampeners

2. To deaden, restrain, or depress:

LINK

So the Inertia Dampeners 'restrain' the inertia.

 

[cultcross]

Dampeners

2. To deaden, restrain, or depress:

LINK

So the Inertia Dampeners 'restrain' the inertia.

damper
n. 1. One that deadens, restrains, or depresses: Rain put a damper on our picnic plans.

link


It can be either. Believe me, I had my sarcy reply all typed, but then checked it.

 

[Johnny]

A spaceship can't fly if the inertia is too dry. That why it needs to be continually moisturized by the Inertial Dampeners.

Haha! I'm in stitches! That's gonna be my msn name!

 

[Nebusj]

Anyway, I was just watching Alien (1979) tonight and noticed Dallas uses the term early on in the film when the shuttle is landing on the planet. I found this interesting as I always assumed it was some technobabble term Trek made up during the TNG era. Yet this was a full 8 years before TNG even began airing.

For what it's worth, the Science Fiction Citations For The Oxford English Dictionary project credits Trek novels with the first printed uses of ``inertial dampers'' and ``inertial dampeners'' --- http://www.jessesword.com/sf/list/?page=5
--- so it would be of interest to them surely if Alien predates that. (It'd likely be in the novelization for a print citation.)