Timeline for In Star Trek, does the transporter conserve the momentum of transported objects?
Current License: CC BY-SA 3.0
17 events
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| Jun 16, 2020 at 9:31 | history | edited | CommunityBot |
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| Nov 3, 2016 at 20:26 | comment | added | RimaNari | I just have to add it, even if that means to become a necromancer. Both mentioned examples don't cut it, as the crew of a shuttle has a momentum of (more or less) zero within their reference frame of the moving craft. The momentum the shuttle has will stay the same, even after the crew had been transported away. But I recall there being instances where a whole space craft that was moving is transported on board, so you can mention those. | |
| Apr 15, 2014 at 22:42 | comment | added | Zan Lynx | Sort of nitpick on the Portal Gun. It does change the energy state because it can be used to move an object higher in a gravity field, giving it more potential energy. For a falling object in an environment with no atmosphere acceleration is continuous and speed continues to increase. | |
| Aug 16, 2013 at 1:24 | comment | added | David Z | My thought would be that the process of "locking on" to a transportation target involves setting the transporter to use a reference frame in which the target doesn't have any (or much) momentum. | |
| Aug 12, 2013 at 20:46 | comment | added | KutuluMike | Keep in mind, most people dramatically misunderstand what those conservation laws mean. They don't mean "mass/energy/momentum is not allowed to change". They mean that the sum total across the entire system must match before/after. All the transporter has to do is convert the momentum into something else (like heat energy, which happens in nature all the time) to avoid violating those laws. | |
| Aug 12, 2013 at 6:34 | comment | added | Lèse majesté | @wanm89: Plus, the transporter can also automatically detect and disable weapons and even create duplicates (forget conservation of momentum; what about conservation of mass and energy?). | |
| Aug 11, 2013 at 20:31 | comment | added | ewanm89 | Also, the biofilters show the ability to alter the pattern as they alter it filtering out known contagions. | |
| Aug 11, 2013 at 20:29 | comment | added | ewanm89 | @Izkata or she programmed the transporter to maintain the momentum of the round, particles.... | |
| Aug 11, 2013 at 19:53 | comment | added | Stan | Don't believe mass to energy / energy to mass conversion violates the current laws of physics. Excellent answer though and, as you point out, many areas for discussion around 'transport'. | |
| Aug 11, 2013 at 15:08 | comment | added | Izkata | Counter-example: The gun Ezri used in one episode of DS9 when trying to find a killer | |
| Aug 11, 2013 at 11:29 | comment | added | Thaddeus Howze | Perhaps physicists shudder every time they see the transporter in action. There are so many physical laws being violated, from their perspective, what is one more... I know Ethicists do, and often Spiritualist do as well, since the question of is it right to destroy the body and then restore it and the question of what happens to the immortal soul is still a regular one in Star Trek circles. So, since the transporter is an equal opportunity offender, I guess that is the best we can hope for. | |
| Aug 11, 2013 at 11:09 | comment | added | Madeyedexter | Thank you very much for your answer. Started to make sense to me. But still say their bodies are scanned and converted into energy. What about their kinetic energy which was the implicit property of their material existence. Where does it go? The beam that is focused on them for transportation provides energy for the same. But the kinetic energy is still unbalanced. | |
| Aug 11, 2013 at 11:00 | vote | accept | Madeyedexter | ||
| Aug 11, 2013 at 9:20 | history | edited | Thaddeus Howze | CC BY-SA 3.0 |
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| Aug 11, 2013 at 9:20 | comment | added | Thaddeus Howze | Yes, I know. I was trying to keep the examples simple. Whenever they transport anyone, anywhere, there is a differential in movement. The surface of the Earth is moving at 1000 miles per hour in relationship to a fixed point in space. | |
| Aug 11, 2013 at 9:10 | comment | added | Mr Lister | Much more common than the few examples you mentioned. In the TOS, they're transporting people from the ship in orbit to planet surfaces in every episode. And not from stationary orbit! Also all the ship-to-ship transports, where the ships weren't standing still. | |
| Aug 11, 2013 at 7:46 | history | answered | Thaddeus Howze | CC BY-SA 3.0 |