Polarized Hull Plating

[Dave]

Originally posted by gr8scott
I thought that the way a ST Starship went into "warp" was by creating a "warp bubble" around itself. .
....So, if this is correct, then once a starship launched a photon torpedo, once outside the ships field, it would disintegrate, or turn into energy... right? Unless it had it's own warp field!

That's what I thought too. I'm sure some explanation could be thought up for it, but the real problem with Star Trek in general is that they thought up cool things in the 1960's and then have tried to adapt them as physics has overtaken science fiction. At some point the whole 'house of cards' has to colapse.

[gr8scott]

But, we all have to admit... It's really cool when a sci-fi author dreams up something in a novel, then it turns out to be plausible, or even reality - like geosynchronus orbits of satellites (Clark).

Wonder if they'll ever get warp bubbles to happen.

[gr8scott]

Originally posted by gr8scott
[b]So they put a warp bubble/field around the mass and moved the warp field faster than light... the mass inside becomes irrelevant. You could move a bannana faster than light if it could generate a warp field.

I never quoted myself before... So, maybe they shouldn't call it a "Warp Drive"... maybe it's more appropriate to call it an "Irrelevant Drive" What does "warp" have to do with it. Nothing's getting "warped". Not even time apparently. ST crews don't age slower or anything because I assume the "warp" bubble is protecting them from relativity - so it becomes irrelevant!

[ray gower]

Originally posted by gr8scott


I never quoted myself before... So, maybe they shouldn't call it a "Warp Drive"... maybe it's more appropriate to call it an "Irrelevant Drive" What does "warp" have to do with it. Nothing's getting "warped". Not even time apparently. ST crews don't age slower or anything because I assume the "warp" bubble is protecting them from relativity - so it becomes irrelevant!

Don't think the laws of relativity are contradicted (or involved), both ends are in 'normal' space.

A ship travelling faster than light is still subject to normal time in the real world.

Where it would look different would be if you are watching it from some fixed point and then only because what you are seeing has taken 'x' years to get to that fixed point so they look younger than you are at that point in time.

Which makes sense, but you have probably shaken hands with them after the trip, before you see they got there.

[APenny]

I'm new to the forums, but as a theoretical physics major I thought I would try to shed some light on the principles involved in "Warp Drive."

First, you have to let go of any attempt to equate warp with speed in the traditional sense. Sure, you can measure an amount of time it takes to go from one place to another, but you can't use that speed to determine relativistic effects on the ship, as it's not actually moving that fast.

Confused yet?

Ok, if the ship isn't actually moving that fast, how does it travel the distance in such a short period of time? This is where "warp" comes into play. The warp bubble of a ship would, theoretically, compress space in front of the ship, and expand space behind it, literally reducing the distance... not increasing the speed.

I suppose I could explain in more detail, but that would likely bore the crap out of everyone.. I hope the information given makes sense. I can expand on it later if anyone is interested. (there have been some actual experiments done with this theory, but nothing conclusive so far).

[Delvo]

Originally Posted by Dave

I don't think the writers have any idea what 'polarizing the hull plating' means.

I figured it just meant running a mild electrical (or other energy) current through them in order to alter their structure.

Some substances do rearrange their atoms when energized like that. If your computer screen is thin and flat, then it's probably an example; a "liquid-crystal" display has components that switch back and forth between two different kinds of atomic structure (not exactly liquid or crystal in either case, but that's close enough to get the basic idea), depending on whether or not an electrical current is running through them. In one mode, they're transparent, and in the other mode, they're opaque, so this is used to control how much light is allowed to pass through them. (The background light is always on, even for "black"; the opaque liquid-crystal elements are just blocking that light from getting out to your eyes.)

There might be some other technologies out there that use substances that change structure and traits based on whether or not they're energized, but if so, I can't name them, because they're not as well established as LCD yet. But experiments are underway for other applications, such as a fabric that hangs loose like any other cloth when not energized and then becomes rigid and hard like a thick resin shell when you pass a current through the fabric, or a filter whose holes can be loosened or constricted. (The former has been researched for the military, and was shown in "Batman Begins" as a fully working prototype sheet, which Batman had reshaped a bit made to make his cape, so the cape would harden in the shape a pair of bat-wings he could essentially hangglide on.)

So, given the latest concepts and what might be on the horizon in this materials technology, I simply took hull-plate polarization as an example of a bi-modal material that just becomes more impervious to weapons when it's zapped with a current.

[FONTAINE]

This is a very intereting discussion, i belive PHP is a process when electro magnetic forces are indued into the hull materials which makes it several times of magnitude harder that can withstand kenetic weapons such as rockets, missles and nuclear weapons with ease. im not sure if it could block particle or energy weapons as in ENT the hull seemed to depolarize after a few shots. energy sheilds, screens or deflectors as they are called are gravaton feilds which fold around the ships, stations hull. this is much more advanced than PHP as it can block energy directed weapons and can be remodulated to protect a certain part of the ship where as PHP could not.

[Dave]

Originally Posted by Delvo

I figured it just meant running a mild electrical (or other energy) current through them in order to alter their structure.

Some substances do rearrange their atoms when energized like that.

The atoms within metal alloys do soldify in certain patterns when they cool that make them stronger than the pure metal alone. I guess that somehow inducing that same kind of pattern into a metal, or polarising all the atoms to face in the same direction would alter their phyical properties, and make them stronger.