the "science" of star trek countdown (spoilers)

[Captain_Amasov]

But hey, how about the

Spoiler: plot point

Enterprise E commanded by Data???

I'm interested in how they explain that.

My guess is:

Spoiler: guess

They built him a new body and downloaded him out of retardo the robot. Or maybe, in some crazy bizzaro switch, it was actually B-4 who died. Even though that makes no sense.

Spoiler: possibly

Starfleet still has Lore's old body don't they? Maybe they used his positronic brain and installed Data into that.

 

[SalvorHardin]

No, you have heard wrong.

There is a rare element, called decalithium but noone says it is only on Romulus.
It is just a rare, valuable element.
And one of the places they know to get it is the Kimben system which is where Nero and Spock go.

And as for the "moved to Vulcan" part, it's Vulcans that have developed the way to process it, produce Red Matter from it and use that Red Matter to create an artificial wormhole.


As for where the supernova is, i believe all we get is "Deep in Romulan territory" and that it can be seen from the roof of Spock's house on Romulus using some kind of telescope

Thanks, I'd really not read anything on this plot point except for what was in the review. I'd misunderstood the bit that called it a "Romulan mineral".

Sounds reasonable enough, for Star Trek. I assume, then, that the plan is/was to wormhole away the star before it explodes? May be bad news for the Feds if the Romulans would have a chance to set the final coordinates.

No, I made a mistake in my previous post
It is not a wormhole they create by using Red Matter but a regular black hole.
The plan is to create the black hole in the Hobus system and have it devour the supernova there before it can spread. No moving the star to another location would take place.

It is my belief that Spock also sees this as a great opportunity to forward his unification agenda. Imagine if Vulcans are responsible for saving the entire Romulan empire. It is no wonder he wants the mineral taken back home.

 

[cultcross]

No, you have heard wrong.

There is a rare element, called decalithium but noone says it is only on Romulus.
It is just a rare, valuable element.
And one of the places they know to get it is the Kimben system which is where Nero and Spock go.

And as for the "moved to Vulcan" part, it's Vulcans that have developed the way to process it, produce Red Matter from it and use that Red Matter to create an artificial wormhole.


As for where the supernova is, i believe all we get is "Deep in Romulan territory" and that it can be seen from the roof of Spock's house on Romulus using some kind of telescope

For the record, Spock says 'isotope' not 'element' in the panel shown above. Made-up elements (like Stargate's Naquadah) are difficult to fit in with established science - there aren't any gaps in the periodic table, for one, and you have to have a reason why the element doesn't exist anywhere we can detect it, or been seen in particle accelerators. Isotopes we haven't discovered are more plausible. The name seems to imply this is an isotope of lithium, perhaps one with an atomic mass of ~10, given the prefix 'deca' (the usual weight of lithium is ~7 so a mass 10 isotope is on the plausible list).

Of course the problem here is the word in context is an obvious play on 'dilithium', which somewhat screws up the atomic mass theory

 

[SalvorHardin]

No, you have heard wrong.

There is a rare element, called decalithium but noone says it is only on Romulus.
It is just a rare, valuable element.
And one of the places they know to get it is the Kimben system which is where Nero and Spock go.

And as for the "moved to Vulcan" part, it's Vulcans that have developed the way to process it, produce Red Matter from it and use that Red Matter to create an artificial wormhole.


As for where the supernova is, i believe all we get is "Deep in Romulan territory" and that it can be seen from the roof of Spock's house on Romulus using some kind of telescope

For the record, Spock says 'isotope' not 'element' in the panel shown above. Made-up elements (like Stargate's Naquadah) are difficult to fit in with established science - there aren't any gaps in the periodic table, for one, and you have to have a reason why the element doesn't exist anywhere we can detect it, or been seen in particle accelerators. Isotopes we haven't discovered are more plausible. The name seems to imply this is an isotope of lithium, perhaps one with an atomic mass of ~10, given the prefix 'deca' (the usual weight of lithium is ~7 so a mass 10 isotope is on the plausible list).

Of course the problem here is the word in context is an obvious play on 'dilithium', which somewhat screws up the atomic mass theory

You are correct.
I shouldn't be posting when I should really be sleeping

First I turned the black hole into a wormhole and then the isotope into an element.
Oh well

 

[M'Sharak]

Better Living through Science!

 

[blockaderunner]

Uh....who cares?

This is Star Trek, not Gattaca! with a few scant exceptions,There's about as much scientific plausability in Trek as there is in Lord Of The Rings. So as long the characters are believable and the story captivating, who cares about the "science"? BTW, in regards to Star Trek, the word science shouldn't be in quotations but, rather, be followed up by a.


Don't get me wrong. I love Trek and I know that some scientists were inspired by Trek to persue their chosen field, but it doesn't mean that it's a substitue for The Science Channel or Nova.

 

[Admiral Buzzkill]

...it doesn't mean that it's a substitue for The Science Channel or Nova.

Neither of which are substitutes for reading.

 

[3D Master]

Indeed, the danger of nearby supernovae has been the subject of scientific conjecture for decades now. It's a real threat, hardly junk science.

To a species that has no FTL travel, no FTL detection methods, no FTL communications: sure.

To a species who has all that, and can thus simply pack up and leave long before the devastation hits, or build the right shields and radiation catchers to protect their planets from the radiation wave far in advance; a super nova is pretty much no threat at all; unless it's their home star that is exploding. (And even then, you should be able to see it coming long enough in advance to pack up and leave.)

No, you have heard wrong.

There is a rare element, called decalithium but noone says it is only on Romulus.
It is just a rare, valuable element.
And one of the places they know to get it is the Kimben system which is where Nero and Spock go.

And as for the "moved to Vulcan" part, it's Vulcans that have developed the way to process it, produce Red Matter from it and use that Red Matter to create an artificial wormhole.


As for where the supernova is, i believe all we get is "Deep in Romulan territory" and that it can be seen from the roof of Spock's house on Romulus using some kind of telescope

Thanks, I'd really not read anything on this plot point except for what was in the review. I'd misunderstood the bit that called it a "Romulan mineral".

Sounds reasonable enough, for Star Trek. I assume, then, that the plan is/was to wormhole away the star before it explodes? May be bad news for the Feds if the Romulans would have a chance to set the final coordinates.

No, I made a mistake in my previous post
It is not a wormhole they create by using Red Matter but a regular black hole.
The plan is to create the black hole in the Hobus system and have it devour the supernova there before it can spread. No moving the star to another location would take place.

It is my belief that Spock also sees this as a great opportunity to forward his unification agenda. Imagine if Vulcans are responsible for saving the entire Romulan empire. It is no wonder he wants the mineral taken back home.

That doesn't make any sense. You create a black hole, to stop a star from turning into a... black hole? And if it's only a neutron star that it'll turn into, you make something worse! The Black Hole itself will be able to produce every bit as bad, if not worse gamma bursts than the super nova, especially while the black hole is devouring the super nova, giving you double the horrible effects!

Also, a super nova doesn't spread, the radiation from a super nova spreads.

Which gets us to the final two problems. First science: a black hole doesn't devour a star in a few minutes; it takes thousands of years before it's eaten a star whole; and won't stop the super nova from releasing its deadly radiation; in fact, already hinted at above, it'll make it WORSE!

Second; continuity. Why in blazes do the Romulans need the Vulcans' help with generating a black hole, and why would they need a rare mineral? The Romulans' ships are POWERED BY artificial black holes. They generate them all the time!

 

[ancient]

Maybe it'll make a subspace shockwave, like in TUC.

 

[Therin of Andor]

You create a black hole, to stop a star from turning into a... black hole? And if it's only a neutron star that it'll turn into, you make something worse! The Black Hole itself will be able to produce every bit as bad, if not worse gamma bursts than the super nova

Black holes suck.