Lithium is a shorter version of dilithium which again is a shortform of a compound?
Dilithium vs. Lithium
- Thread starter doctorwho 03
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Good points, JNG. Actually, the above may be the most critical. Yes, ultimately we are left with either the (slang) 'lithium cracking station in a remote location having automated defenses (capable of defeating any pirates) to protect the valuable (non-slang) raw & processed Dilithium or we may have an operation that processes relatively common lithium into relatively low value (but still useful for low warp propulsion) Lithium Crystals. Presumably this planetoid is picked because it is more abundant in lithium and the crystals are needed on a widespread basis. Alternately, we have the example of Praxis to explain why it would be so far from inhabited space (considering what it the shockwave did to Excelsior all the way at the UFP border). Imagine civilian vessels or smaller Federation ships caught in the blast.
The problem then becomes, if Lithium Crystals are an economical, emergency substitute for rare and valuable Dilithium Crystals, why don't starships have a supply of the 'cheap stuff' on hand for the oh-so-common emergency? Of course the real reason is its just a plot device, and if we say there are no Lithium Crystals, only Dilithium, then we are back to wrapping our heads around the idea that the crystals seem to be more valuable than the ships themselves, as there seem to seldom be any backups aboard. Its very puzzling.
As to cracking, I still contend that either it represents refining ore containing the crystals, cutting them into faceted form, or manufacturing a compound from multiple elements. If it is literal "cracking" as we use the term in chemical engineering, then it may be a purification of the crystals themselves, which implies the raw stones are broken apart and then reconstructed synthetically.
If that's the case, then perhaps cracking is indeed the process that converts it into the material that is useful aboard starships - be it 'lithium, dilithium, or what-have-you.
I don't see why this would be a problem. After all, the only ship that ever ran out of dilithium was Kirk's.
And the argument could go that Kirk's ship usually ran on synthetic dilithium, which was only available as microscopic shards embedded in a matrix shaped like a square ping-pong paddle, and carried spares of those paddles but burned out all the available spares in "Mudd's Women". Twice or thrice, Scotty was able to substitute the much more rare (and much more potent) natural dilithium crystals of macroscopic size, but that was a very rare luxury.
By the time of TNG, the Federation would have bountiful supplies of natural dilithium, and would also know how to regenerate it over and over again. There might be spares aboard, but they wouldn't be needed much - indeed, no episode or movie would involve a shortage of dilithium spares.
In Kirk's time, though, Starfleet would largely have to rely on the synthetic microshards - which would result in them having ample shares, but also burning through those substandard spares very quickly, as we saw in "Mudd's Women". And no adversary would covet Starfleet for its stashes or production facilities of dilithium, because those would be so substandard; Starfleet in Kirk's time would be pitied instead.
In ENT, Earthlings wouldn't yet know how to synthesize the microshards, so they would be totally dependent on natural dilithium, but they wouldn't have access to large quantities like they do in TNG. Perhaps Archer's drive would be considered a failure and abandoned because its "fuel" was too expensive?
The "Final Reflection" story about the apparent discovery of natural dilithium wouldn't refer to the first-ever discovery of dilithium, then - but to the strategically significant discovery of a new source for natural dilithium, one that during Kirk's lifetime (but not yet during TOS) would revolutionize Starfleet technology and strategic position. Only the civilian Tagore in that book would be ignorant of the fact that natural dilithium was an annihilation mediator and old news; Starfleet and the Klingons would know this already, and indeed they don't really state otherwise in the book...
Timo Saloniemi
Frankly, I'm a bit insulted by "ST:Enterprise" having everyone in the universe already using dilithium and antimatter to power their starships, as it contradicts "Balance of Terror". In any case I prefer to believe in gradual technological change rather than sudden changes and then centuries of relative stagnation. So, Warp 5 ships? Not a great idea in 2151, and two day trips to Kronos even worse yet. Yes, the "stupid fans" noticed that. In "The Cage", there is clear discussion of a relatively recent break-through in propulsion technology (which 1701 is implied to have), decreasing travel time. In the "Star Trek Spaceflight Chronology" and the novel based in part on it, "The Final Reflection", dilithium's propulsion enhancing possibilities are a recently discovered property (c. 2230), courtesy of TAS's Carter Winston, that make the revolutionary Constitution class possible. So, to me -- prior to the discovery that dilithium could be cut into faceted crystals and used for focusing/concentrating energy in A/MA reactors -- a synthetic substance called Lithium crystals played a similar role, for an indeterminate time (originating sometime between ENT and TOS).
And, no, I don't particularly endorse the TNG Tech Manuals explanation that dilithium is effectively 'nature's way' of making a M/AM reactor. I prefer to believe that humanoid technology provides the magnetic fields containing the AM all the way from storage until it smashes into the matter, and the crystals then properly channel the energy from that annihilation -- but that's just me. Having the reaction take place inside the crystals at best wouldn't help the reaction along and at worst would simply blow the crystals into atoms.
Thus endeth the rant.
Couldn't agree more. Like you, I prefer to pretend properly cut dilithium is a perfect gamma-ray mirror (unlikely as that is, it's more likely than it being effectively an antiproton mirror). Of course, then you have to wonder why starships aren't armored with dilithium. "Photon torpedo? I didn't notice any photon torpedo."
I think the question that really needs answering is why Chekov had to go find a nuclear wessel in order to capture high-energy photons which somehow recrystallize dilithium. Isn't dilithium exposed to high-energy photons constantly?
Bonus points if you can tell me what grounds Spock has to be smug about nuclear power when he's sitting on a machine whose containment failure would spell the end of the west coast of North America.
Either it's too expensive, must stand up poorly to the other effects of the detonations, or maybe both. I HAVE wondered if you could somehow have special dilithium-tipped photon torpedoes to create some sort of focused, shaped-charge effect.
Timo,
An excellent job to shove everything back into continuity. It does seem to me its a bit back-breaking at times!
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Myasishchev,
All interesting things I agree with. And we're lucky the Klingons/Romulans didn't think of coating their ships with the hand-held device Spock uses to capture that radiation with, or they would be even more undetectable: no gamma ray emissions and they could continually recrystalize their dilithium!
An excellent job to shove everything back into continuity. It does seem to me its a bit back-breaking at times!
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Myasishchev,
All interesting things I agree with. And we're lucky the Klingons/Romulans didn't think of coating their ships with the hand-held device Spock uses to capture that radiation with, or they would be even more undetectable: no gamma ray emissions and they could continually recrystalize their dilithium!
I realized there is another factor undiscussed. The inability of 1701 (or probably any Star Trek ship) to replicate Lithium/Dilithium crystals in an emergency. While this would make sense if Dilithium is an exotic element, ordinary lithium shouldn't be much harder to fabricate from scratch than rubies, for example. So the implication is that either the "lithium crystal" compound contains an exotic element (even if the lithium portion is normal matter) or that the replication/fabrication process of TOS is so energy intensive that it required M/AM power to work (i.e., the impulse engines don't supply enough power). Of course, if one holds that there are only Dilithium crystals, the issue still applies.
The other thing I thought of regarding 'paddles vs crystals' is that at some point I think we see someone holding a burnt out crystal (Mudd's Women, Elaan???). Unless I am mistaken in that recollection, it would seem to indicate that large crystals are normally used for at least some systems.
The other thing I thought of regarding 'paddles vs crystals' is that at some point I think we see someone holding a burnt out crystal (Mudd's Women, Elaan???). Unless I am mistaken in that recollection, it would seem to indicate that large crystals are normally used for at least some systems.
To put up a fight for the "Kirk normally used paddle matrices" theory, perhaps the lump is what you get when overcurrent melts your paddle?
Okay, that was rather pathetic. How about this? "Mudd's Women" is the first episode after the pilot in stardate order. Presumably our heroes are still recovering from the effects of the damage and losses suffered in the pilot: some of the characters are still in the process of finding their niches (Uhura in yellow etc.), and the ship might be running on jury-rigged systems and utilizing makeshift parts, such as low-quality, unfinished synthetic lumps from the Delta Vega cracking process. Which is why these things failed so easily in the first place... After reaching civilization, Kirk would get proper synthetic microcrystals which would carry his ship through future adventures, until natural crystals once again had to be used in "Elaan of Troyius".
Timo Saloniemi
Damn...oops...I mean...Gosh darn Timo!
Lithium and dilithium as short-form references to more complex crystalline substances - now that works for me.
You can see the unfortunate dramatic pauses involving dialogue where terms like "trioxylmonomambojambodilithiumtetratreknobabblite" are being spouted about.
Happy place - occuppied.
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Another possibility about dilithium is that it is an element, albeit one undiscovered yet, that is extremely heavy yet stable and ordinarily artificially produced (cracked?) but sometimes abundant in supernovae remnants which form planetary nebulae.
I'm not at all versed enough in quantum electroweak and chromodynamics (the theories of weak and strong force interactions at the subatomic level) to say whether that is at all plausible, but it's at least as plausible as FTL travel or transporters.
Unfortunately, this doesn't really explain the name, as an element titled "dilithium" would presumably be in the alkali metal group (with "trilithium" beneath it), and hence have one electron in its outer shell. It certainly isn't too much of a stretch to have it possess different chemical properties, as lead does to carbon, but it begs the question why "dilithium" if it's nothing like lithium at all.
But, hey, we often refer to table salt as "sodium," another alkali metal, although clearly it's either ionized sodium or bound sodium, sure as hell not elemental sodium; for all we know, it's dilithium fluoride crystals, and it's also good on french fries.
I'm not at all versed enough in quantum electroweak and chromodynamics (the theories of weak and strong force interactions at the subatomic level) to say whether that is at all plausible, but it's at least as plausible as FTL travel or transporters.
Unfortunately, this doesn't really explain the name, as an element titled "dilithium" would presumably be in the alkali metal group (with "trilithium" beneath it), and hence have one electron in its outer shell. It certainly isn't too much of a stretch to have it possess different chemical properties, as lead does to carbon, but it begs the question why "dilithium" if it's nothing like lithium at all.
But, hey, we often refer to table salt as "sodium," another alkali metal, although clearly it's either ionized sodium or bound sodium, sure as hell not elemental sodium; for all we know, it's dilithium fluoride crystals, and it's also good on french fries.
Fairly old novels mentioned a second periodic table with dihydrogen, dihelium, dilithium, etc.
Timo,
I don't have any grudge against paddles, but I can't say that paddles are the primary usage in TOS. They were used in a particular area. Large crystals seem to be related to major power usage (propulsion, shields, presumably phasers?). Franz Joseph made the little side nobs on the Phaser II represent their dilithium crystal access points. One could argue that dilithium is being used as part or as the "transtator", but it is speculative.
As to the other commentators, all excellent points -- I'm too short on time today other than to just drop in and tip my hat, but keep going.
I faintly recall; I really like the notion, because it paints a (thin) veneer of plausibility on the phlebotinum.
