"Beaming" makes noise?

[RobertScorpio]

I actually asked this question about two years ago, we got a lot of great answers, but none of them really satisfied me. I'm hoping, with so many new members, a new answer can be given that would answer;

If "beaming" makes a noise, and there are a couple instances where it seems as if it does, then what is making the noise? Or, does beaming not make a noise, and the editing just made it seem as if it did?

Rob

 

[Admiral Buzzkill]

Why wouldn't it make noise? Most things do.

 

[Starlock]

Has it ever been pointed out that in the episode "Day of the Dove" that the Klingon transporter didn't make any noise?

Besides, as a safety precaution it makes sense to have some form of sound occur to warn that a transporter beam is arriving before the sparkles occur.

(Mainly to benefit those Crewmembers, Alien lifeforms and Trek Fans who are visually impaired and might wander into a beam by mistake - n'est ce pas? )

 

[RobertScorpio]

Has it ever been pointed out that in the episode "Day of the Dove" that the Klingon transporter didn't make any noise?

Besides, as a safety precaution it makes sense to have some form of sound occur to warn that a transporter beam is arriving before the sparkles occur.

(Mainly to benefit those Crewmembers, Alien lifeforms and Trek Fans who are visually impaired and might wander into a beam by mistake - n'est ce pas? )

Oh, I know its done for "us", and for plot reasons, but thats the "forth wall" answer. What would be the real 'inverse' answer?

Rob

 

[Trollheart]

I'm no scientist (so we asked someone who was!) but, would the action of all those disassembled molecules reassembling and bouncing off of, and against each other not make the sound? Sort of like why thunder is loud?

No?

In that case, a wizard did it!

 

[Chaos Descending]

Hell, even lasers make noise. Small handheld laser pointers are too quiet to be heard, but the large 40W industrial type lasers we have at work make a very noticeable high pitched whine when firing.

 

[Ssosmcin]

The energy of the beam itself makes the shimmering noise, rather than the machinery. There are specific sounds for the transporter console and the rest of from the beam. Back in Pike's time, it was louder and more obnoxious...

When i was younger, I used to ask this same question, mostly because of all the other shows which had people poppin in and out. I Dream of Jeannie, for example, had a sound effect whenever Jeannie appeared , disappeared, or whatever, yet clearly the sound was not heard by the characters. However, Trek seemd to have all of their sounds happening in their real world. Even the "bwowowow" of Trelane's teleportation, I imagine.

 

[RobertScorpio]

The energy of the beam itself makes the shimmering noise, rather than the machinery. There are specific sounds for the transporter console and the rest of from the beam. Back in Pike's time, it was louder and more obnoxious...

When i was younger, I used to ask this same question, mostly because of all the other shows which had people poppin in and out. I Dream of Jeannie, for example, had a sound effect whenever Jeannie appeared , disappeared, or whatever, yet clearly the sound was not heard by the characters. However, Trek seemd to have all of their sounds happening in their real world. Even the "bwowowow" of Trelane's teleportation, I imagine.

In TREK's case, you say the energy is causing the shimmering sound, but what does that mean? Is it electro magnetic? Is it the sound of the atoms in that area being destroyed?

Rob

 

[Kirk1980]

I think the distinctive transporter whine is the sound of all the energy needed to disassemble and reassemble all the molecules combined with the inrush/expelling of air molecules in their wake.

 

[Harry-Canyon]

Of course it makes noise! does anything make a sound? it's obvious.

 

[Londo]

The thought that you can hear yourself being literally pulled appart on a sub molecular level is rather disturbing,.

perhaps they should program it so your auditory system goes first and returns last

 

[Trollheart]

If an inanimate object is beamed down, and there's no-one there to hear it, does it make a sound?

 

[SchwEnt]

On the subject of transporter noise, I'd just like to interject that I always loved the loud reverb sound humming of the transporter in "The Cage". That was just the machine, not the actual beaming process itself.

It was really great, sounded damn powerful, as it should be. It's a tremendous mechanism, is it not? Converting mass quantities of matter to energy and back again? Sounds like something akin to the LHC. It SHOULD sound like it did in "The Cage".

Of course, for practical dramatic purposes...that incessant sound would really ruin many of the dramatic scenes that take place in the transporter room, so that was the end of that. Too bad.

Carry on...

 

[Ronald Held]

Maybe the ACB makes sounds while moving/interacting with the atmosphere?

 

[plynch]

It is the sound of the atoms screaming as they're being disintegrated. Or perhaps it is the soul dying, since it can't transmigrate to where a duplicate organism is being created on a planet's surface out of different matter. That is the premise of my new fanfic novel, "Is There In Truth No Zombie."

 

[SpyOne]

I swear I read somewhere that the sound is created by the heterodyne effect of ... something. The sensors?
Anyway, they interfere with each other slightly, and this creates an audible effect.

plynch, you'll need to tweak your premise just a little: the transporter puts you back together out of the very same stuff, hence the term "matter stream" and McCoy's comments about having his atoms scattered across space. Still doesn't make it impossible that the soul can't make that trip, if that's what the story demands.

 

[Orcus]

And all that presumes that souls exist...

 

[wildstar]

What about just the displacement of air, wouldn't that make noise? Electricity makes noise, arcing and so on, the energy putting molecules together or pulling them apart certainly could.
As for Klingon ones being silent, I remember reading in a Trek novel that they've developed silent ones for covert uses. Maybe the Feds don't have this tech yet.

 

[Nardpuncher]

Hell, even lasers make noise. Small handheld laser pointers are too quiet to be heard, but the large 40W industrial type lasers we have at work make a very noticeable high pitched whine when firing.

You work with lasers! That's just so cool!

Maybe it's because I'm 36 years old, but that must still be so cool to be able to tell people. Especially kids...I work with lasers!

 

[Timo]

Has it ever been pointed out that in the episode "Day of the Dove" that the Klingon transporter didn't make any noise?

To be sure, the dramatic music goes to such a crescendo at that point that we wouldn't hear the sound of the Starfleet transporter, either.

Timo Saloniemi