"Shields are down to 32%!"

[Amaris]

Polarzing is actually real technology right here in our own time period. Applying an electromagnetic charge to materials to increase its strength is real technology. For Enterprise, that is one thing that actually made good sense.

Really? We have that kind of technology? Awesome.

J.

Certain ceramics become harder when electricity is passed through them.

Fascinating. I feel like I should have known that.

J.

 

[Brent]

Really? We have that kind of technology? Awesome.

J.

Certain ceramics become harder when electricity is passed through them.

Fascinating. I feel like I should have known that.

J.

Yeah, it is actually pretty cool, cause our current shuttles use similar ceramics. So if they had built a system to pass electricity through them, in essence, the command could be given to "Polarize the hull" on the shuttle

 

[Herkimer Jitty]

I liked how crewmembers on the Kelvin added additional remarks like "Are our shields even there?" and stuff like that, so it wasn't just one guy rattling off a number.

 

[OtterVomit]

What's interesting is when the Enterprise came out of warp in the middle of the debris field, we hear "Deflector shields are holding!" Well...the deflector shields are allegedly different from the shields that keep weapon fire away from the ship. The deflector shields are meant to push space debris away from the ship's path so things like tiny asteroids do not go zipping through the bridge and cause explosive decompression. So saying "Deflector shields are holding" while the ship is being pelted with debris was confusing to me.

 

[Sisko_is_my_captain]

I really missed the sparkly show when weapons fizzle on shields.

 

[Checkmate]

Apparently, the shields in Star Trek can stop debris traveling faster than light by many, many multiples (and thus with more kinetic energy than I can even imagine) from totally pulverizing the ship. Or energy weapons that are off the charts. But the moment an abysmally slow-moving physical object of any noticable size happens along, the shields are utterly useless. Not stressed, not strained, not anything. It's like they're not even there.

I'll never understand it.

 

[cultcross]

Apparently, the shields in Star Trek can stop debris traveling faster than light by many, many multiples (and thus with more kinetic energy than I can even imagine) from totally pulverizing the ship. Or energy weapons that are off the charts. But the moment an abysmally slow-moving physical object of any noticable size happens along, the shields are utterly useless. Not stressed, not strained, not anything. It's like they're not even there.

I'll never understand it.

Is it possible they work similarly to the personal defence shields in Stargate? That is, the repulsive force of the shield is directly proportional to the kinetic energy directed against it. Slow moving objects are therefore deflected less and can even get through. (Of course that doesn't work in every Trek situation - it wouldn't have allowed them to hold the barn door open in Relics, for example, but I'm trying dammit!)