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Originally Posted by Excelsior
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Originally Posted by sts60
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Originally Posted by electromagneticpulse
It is actualy quite a sound theory unlike the star trek one which uses anti-matter injectors and dutirium crystals which i dont think even exist as dutirium is a heavy hydrogen atom IIRC, which wouldn't form crystals H2 metalic liquid would freeze to be like steel i believe and not with a crystaline structure.
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In Star Trek, they use "dilithium" (which is a made-up substance) crystals. You are thinking of deuterium, which is a hydrogen atom with a neutron in the nucleus. |
In Star Trek the warp drive does not require dilithium. Older fusion powered starships like the Phoenix did not have it. Dilithium is used as a moderator to control the matter / antimatter reactions in the warp core.
Deutorium is needed to power a ship's fusion reactors. They power systems like shields and weapons. |
Dilithium is just two lithium atoms which can be used in fusion reactions as they break down into hydrogen atoms, its another way of getting heavy hydrogen atoms IIRC.
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Originally Posted by R.A.F.
If we're talking about moving through normal space, then you would need some kind of a cattle catcher, or deflector shield to "clear a path" for the ship.
Traveling at those speeds, encountering even the tiniest particle would result in a very holey ship.  |
The warp drive some how puts them into "sub-space" which IIRC from one of the episodes it said that in "sub-space" the only thing you could encounter is a worm hole but no ship ever goes into "sub-space" properly.
If space was really warped infront of a ship couldn't it be warped so that all matter goes around the ship and retakes its original place behind it after (as to not blow up a planet if you accidentaly went through it.
What i'd want to know is how you would make one of those shields because it would be simple to create a strong magnetic field around the ship and in that way you could get the aft, port, etc. shields but wouldn't it have to be like a plasma shield as that could easily be held in a magnetic field. I think the ionising the hull plating like in the new Enterprise show would make more sense.
One last thought, how in the heck do they change the polarity of their shields cause if its held by a magnetic field and run on DC power you have 2 polaritys, 3 if you want to turn it off and get shot. on AC power i guess you could have unlimited polaritys by changing the hertz its made at which would also probably screw up the magnetic field and all the power on the ship unless it was taken from a different generator which would be a total waste of space.