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STID realistic?

Seems like the theory that volcanoes turn oceans into acidic cauldrons of death blew up. Bummer.

Any chance Castrodinium rusts in water?
 
It's hardly an obscure fact that when you combine sulfur gases with water, you get acid. :rolleyes:

Given that Greg Cox addressed this issue in his Khan novels, I'm assuming he thinks it's worth mentioning (and I'm quite sure that Mr. Cox has more than 47 fans).

All I could think of when nuKirk and nuMcCoy jumped into the water was that they were really jumping into acid... and nobody mentioned that fact.

Wow.

How'd you like Gravity?
Never saw it. Don't plan to.

Ohhhh... The writers should have appeased the vast population of volcanologist Star Trek fans in the audience with an obscure fact. All 47 of them...

Got it.
It's hardly an obscure fact that when you combine sulfur gases with water, you get acid. :rolleyes:

Given that Greg Cox addressed this issue in his Khan novels, I'm assuming he thinks it's worth mentioning (and I'm quite sure that Mr. Cox has more than 47 fans).

All I could think of when nuKirk and nuMcCoy jumped into the water was that they were really jumping into acid... and nobody mentioned that fact.
Um, had the volcano actually erupted yet? At least enough to create massive lava flows into the ocean that would acidify the nearby water?

Oh, and this from the USGS in response to FAQ about the behavior of volcanoes in movies:

Q: Can lakes near volcanoes become acidic enough to be dangerous to people?
A: Yes. Crater lakes atop volcanoes are typically the most acid, with pH values as low as 0.1 (very strong acid). Normal lake waters, in contrast, have relatively neutral pH values near 7.0. The crater lake at El Chichon volcano in Mexico had a pH of 0.5 in 1983 and Mount Pinatubo's crater lake had a pH of 1.9 in 1992. The acid waters of these lakes are capable of causing burns to human skin but are unlikely to dissolve metal quickly. Gases from magma that dissolve in lake water to form such acidic brews include carbon dioxide, sulfur dioxide, hydrogen sulfide, hydrogen chloride, and hydrogen fluoride. However, the movie's rapidly formed acidic lake capable of dissolving an aluminum boat in a matter of minutes is unrealistic.

The movie mentioned in passing in the above quote is Dante's Peak.

It takes time for the water to acidify. And, we're talking about relatively small crater lakes, not stuff being blown or flowing into an entire ocean (which hadn't happened, anyway).

Full link: http://volcanoes.usgs.gov/about/faq/faqmovie.php
Yes, I saw Dante's Peak, and read some other information as well, where experts were saying that the movie was wrong in showing both lava flows and massive amounts of ashfall (something about trying to show different kinds of eruptions all together? Paraphrasing here, since it's been many years since I read this).

I thought I saw bodies of water elsewhere on the planet, too (in the scenes where nuKirk and nuMcCoy are running through the forest). At least they looked blue and I assumed they were small lakes or some kind of freshwater bodies.

The ship was in the water for more than "minutes." If nuScotty was worried about saltwater affecting the hull, he should also have been concerned about the possibility of said water being acidic.
 
The ship was in the water for more than "minutes." If nuScotty was worried about saltwater affecting the hull, he should also have been concerned about the possibility of said water being acidic.

Maybe he wasn't worried because the Enterprise has sensors and the acidic level wasn't high enough to be of concern?
 
Needs a line. And a diagram. And a post doc dissertation.

Maybe it will be in the next release' bonus material.
 
The ship was in the water for more than "minutes." If nuScotty was worried about saltwater affecting the hull, he should also have been concerned about the possibility of said water being acidic.
Maybe he wasn't worried because the Enterprise has sensors and the acidic level wasn't high enough to be of concern?
Or maybe the scriptwriters just never thought about the potential problem.
 
The ship was in the water for more than "minutes." If nuScotty was worried about saltwater affecting the hull, he should also have been concerned about the possibility of said water being acidic.
Maybe he wasn't worried because the Enterprise has sensors and the acidic level wasn't high enough to be of concern?
Or maybe the scriptwriters just never thought about the potential problem.

Since the volcano had yet to erupt, I'm not sure why it should be a problem?
 
Castrodinium: Rust-proof AND volcano-proof.

Just sayin'...

ETA: But NOT Romulan plasma weapon-proof, just for clarification.
 
I interpreted Scotty's concerns about the saltwater as just him being overly protective of the object of his affection. He's an ample nacelle man, and he sure has heck wants the captain to treat her right.
 
The ship was in the water for more than "minutes." If nuScotty was worried about saltwater affecting the hull, he should also have been concerned about the possibility of said water being acidic.

They also forgot to mention anyone being worried about the possibility of space sharks eating parts of the hull, the possibility of a meteor striking them in a gravity well, the possibility of the crew going insane because of psychic fish in the water, the possibility of a space amoeba latching on to the hull and making it to the shuttlebay doors, or the possibility of Borg drones beaming aboard. There are many possibilities out there.
 
:rolleyes:

I did notice nuScotty's startled reaction to the sea creature that swam by the viewscreen...
 
That's right. It seem they did acknowledge the reality of their situation pretty well, highlighting the danger to the ship from the nearby eruption, the ash cloud, the effects of the water and the salt, and even the harmless sea creatures in what was a very short, fast-going scene with enough prime directive talk to barely have a place to fit another line. The possibility of water acidification was number 7251 on their list of troubles at that point, and number 561 on Scotty's personal list of worries, and that probably applies to any other possibility for that matter, because they had real problems right there and couldn't care less for possibilities. The lack of algae leftovers on the top of the hull is a more significant omission.

Oh, and I do think Scotty was irrationally agitated at that moment. I don't think there was any danger to the Enterprise either from the salty water or acidified water after only a day in there, Scotty was just uncomfortable with his ship doing something that's been barely done before, and with Kirk out of the ship for the night, he hadn't had the chance to express his frustration to him that entire time. Perhaps some other issues occurred during night-time we don't know about that upset him further, so he was just throwing the salty water there at Kirk in an expression of that. It doesn't have to make more sense than that.
 
Uhura: Captain, my boyfriend is about to be barbecued!

Kirk: Just a minute. Scotty was talking about how the slight increase in acidity on the hull is going to ruin the paint job.​

or

Uhura: Captain, my boyfriend is about to be barbecued!

McCoy: Dammit, Jim, do something!

Kirk: Relax. We still have 47 seconds until the eruption.

Scotty: Captain, the slight increase in acidity on the hull is going to ruin the paint job.

Kirk: Sulu, get us out of here! Now! Now! Now!​
 
The ship was in the water for more than "minutes." If nuScotty was worried about saltwater affecting the hull, he should also have been concerned about the possibility of said water being acidic.
Maybe he wasn't worried because the Enterprise has sensors and the acidic level wasn't high enough to be of concern?
Or maybe the scriptwriters just never thought about the potential problem.

And that would be because worrying about such a problem would have been a colossal waste of time (both for the characters in the story AND for the writers).
 
Scotty: Captain, the slight increase in acidity on the hull is going to ruin the paint job.

Kirk: Sulu, get us out of here! Now! Now! Now![/INDENT]

I must admit, I did notice the Enterprise looking ultra-shiny-white as the title card came up, despite it having just flown thrown right through a volcanic ash cloud.
 
Maybe he wasn't worried because the Enterprise has sensors and the acidic level wasn't high enough to be of concern?
Or maybe the scriptwriters just never thought about the potential problem.
And that would be because worrying about such a problem would have been a colossal waste of time (both for the characters in the story AND for the writers).
Or maybe the scriptwriters just never thought about it. There are scriptwriters who write SF who don't know anything about science, and one of the ideas proposed for TMP involved ancient Mayan gods (or Incan gods?). When somebody mused that the audience wouldn't go for that, the twit who proposed the idea said, "So what? They'll never know the difference."

So maybe someone can explain it to me, because in all the 3 times I saw this movie, I still don't get why nuSpock had to physically go into the volcano in the first place. Why didn't they just drop the bomb out of the shuttle and operate it remotely?
 
Or maybe the scriptwriters just never thought about the potential problem.
And that would be because worrying about such a problem would have been a colossal waste of time (both for the characters in the story AND for the writers).
Or maybe the scriptwriters just never thought about it. There are scriptwriters who write SF who don't know anything about science, and one of the ideas proposed for TMP involved ancient Mayan gods (or Incan gods?). When somebody mused that the audience wouldn't go for that, the twit who proposed the idea said, "So what? They'll never know the difference."

So maybe someone can explain it to me, because in all the 3 times I saw this movie, I still don't get why nuSpock had to physically go into the volcano in the first place. Why didn't they just drop the bomb out of the shuttle and operate it remotely?

Uhura calls him on it later: He's acting like nothing matters anymore--a result of losing Vulcan. And probably the same magnetic fields that were screwing with the Enterprise would screw with a remote control.
 
Or maybe the scriptwriters just never thought about the potential problem.
And that would be because worrying about such a problem would have been a colossal waste of time (both for the characters in the story AND for the writers).
Or maybe the scriptwriters just never thought about it. There are scriptwriters who write SF who don't know anything about science, and one of the ideas proposed for TMP involved ancient Mayan gods (or Incan gods?). When somebody mused that the audience wouldn't go for that, the twit who proposed the idea said, "So what? They'll never know the difference."
Was it the same twit who gave us a Greek God in TOS or the one who gave us a Meso American God in TAS?

I'm curious. How does "one of the ideas proposed for TMP involved ancient Mayan gods (or Incan gods?). When somebody mused that the audience wouldn't go for that, the twit who proposed the idea said, "So what? They'll never know the difference."= "Knows nothing about science". Also,the difference between what?
 
So maybe someone can explain it to me, because in all the 3 times I saw this movie, I still don't get why nuSpock had to physically go into the volcano in the first place. Why didn't they just drop the bomb out of the shuttle and operate it remotely?
Because it's more dramatic that way.

/thread
 
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