# Star Trek tech features that logically should exist but didn't seem to **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** tv-shows-scripted, star-trek-paramount\ **Created:** [March 18, 2021, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-tech-features-that-logically-should-exist-but-didnt-seem-to/938193 "2021-03-18T16:30:10Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 8
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2021, 5:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-tech-features-that-logically-should-exist-but-didnt-seem-to/938193/142 "2021-04-06T17:12:48Z")
> [@RickJay](#): > > Why did it just punch through? Someone forgot to pull the [safety pin](https://media.gettyimages.com/photos/an-raf-ground-crewman-known-as-a-liney-pulls-the-safety-pin-from-a-picture-id828643472?s=2048x2048)? ---
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2021, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-tech-features-that-logically-should-exist-but-didnt-seem-to/938193/143 "2021-04-06T18:07:41Z")
> [@RickJay](#): > > Why would they even have a weapon that does that? Arming distance? That’s the only thing I can think of. ---
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2021, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-tech-features-that-logically-should-exist-but-didnt-seem-to/938193/144 "2021-04-06T19:12:44Z")
I always thought “battle stations” was kind of ridiculous in Star Trek. Only in “Wrath of Khan” do they actually show what going to “battle stations” meant- the crew shifts jobs, clear away flammable stuff, etc… and that’s in one scene before they go to battle the _Reliant_ in the Mutara Nebula. Otherwise, the lights change color and that’s about it. ---
**Author:** ![eschereal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschereal/32/18939_2.png) [@eschereal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschereal)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2021, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-tech-features-that-logically-should-exist-but-didnt-seem-to/938193/145 "2021-04-06T19:41:45Z")
I am convinced that there is some form of transporter technology attached to handheld phasers, because instantly vaporizing a person/creature would result in some sort of concussive event that, I suspect would have a blast radius far greater than what we have seen as typical phaser firing range (do not use these things indoors on “kill”). The phaser-transporter unit must be displacing all that material to somewhere else to forestall catastrophes. I wonder if Randall Munroe has done the math on this. ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2021, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-tech-features-that-logically-should-exist-but-didnt-seem-to/938193/146 "2021-04-06T20:02:32Z")
> [@eschereal](#): > > I am convinced that there is some form of transporter technology attached to handheld phasers, because instantly vaporizing a person/creature There’s also the “automatic boundary” feature, which disintegrates the person and their clothes (and more than once, the phaser itself), but ONLY the person, not the chair they are sitting in, or the wall they are leaning against, or the first inch of the floor/ground they are standing on. The disintegrate setting is a different setting than destruct, which turns the phaser into a bomb. That does more than vaporize someone. It makes a most satisfactory boom. The kill setting just kills the subject (if they have physiology similar to humans) without vaporizing them. (It’s more humane.) The stun, well, stuns. The heat setting simply increases molecular activity. Good for warming cold coffee. There’s also the fine focused beam, good for cutting through tough metal. These aren’t just different strengths of the same beam - each beam is modulated, or one might say, phased, in order to do different tasks. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2021, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-tech-features-that-logically-should-exist-but-didnt-seem-to/938193/147 "2021-04-06T20:23:56Z")
> [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](#): > > There’s also the “automatic boundary” feature, which disintegrates the person and their clothes (and more than once, the phaser itself), but ONLY the person, not the chair they are sitting in, or the wall they are leaning against, or the first inch of the floor/ground they are standing on. Then there is that troublesome scene in _ST VI: The Undiscovered Country_ where a kitchen pot is vaporized without damaging or even toasting the dough? meringue? within. Shouldn’t that mean that a phaser blast would leave behind the contents of a creature’s digestive tract? For that matter, what the hell is that KP clown _making_ in that pot? After the pot goes bye-bye, the contents just sit there, holding up a large whisk. Anything with the ability to do that is too thick to be using a hand-held whisk on. ---
**Author:** ![abcdefghij](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/43a26b/32.png) [@abcdefghij](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/abcdefghij)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2021, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-tech-features-that-logically-should-exist-but-didnt-seem-to/938193/148 "2021-04-06T20:31:50Z")
> [@eschereal](#): > > The phaser-transporter unit must be displacing all that material to somewhere else to forestall catastrophes. > [@Does the Star Trek franchise explain how teleportation is achieved?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-star-trek-franchise-explain-how-teleportation-is-achieved/939400/26): > > They put the shoes in subspace ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2021, 9:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-tech-features-that-logically-should-exist-but-didnt-seem-to/938193/149 "2021-04-06T21:13:51Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > Then there is that troublesome scene in _ST VI: The Undiscovered Country_ where a kitchen pot is vaporized without damaging or even toasting the dough? Oy, I just rewatched that. I’d forgotten how stupid the entire scene is. What’s with all the stereo gear in the galley? How stupid Chekov is. How slow “security” is. How thick that pancake batter is! And, for the record, the pot was “wayporized”. ---
**Author:** ![eschereal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschereal/32/18939_2.png) [@eschereal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschereal)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2021, 9:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-tech-features-that-logically-should-exist-but-didnt-seem-to/938193/150 "2021-04-06T21:19:17Z")
Are you suggesting that my dryer has a transporter unit in it and subspace is littered with unmatched socks? Was the transporter first developed by careful study of the dryer effect? ---
**Author:** ![Bootb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e19b73/32.png) [@Bootb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bootb)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2021, 11:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-tech-features-that-logically-should-exist-but-didnt-seem-to/938193/151 "2021-04-06T23:49:00Z")
> [@Mijin](#): > > 1. Fake windows. Seeing “white dots on black background” is going to get as old as the starfield screensavers did in the 90s. I think a ship spending that much time in space would want to have fake daylight at least some of the time. I understand the desire for simulated daylight. But why have fake windows when you already have real windows? [![](https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/memoryalpha/images/4/4b/USS_Enterprise-D%2C_These_Are_the_Voyages.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20190727031723&path-prefix=en) ](https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/memoryalpha/images/4/4b/USS_Enterprise-D%2C_These_Are_the_Voyages.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20190727031723&path-prefix=en) ---
**Author:** ![Pavelb1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/439d5e/32.png) [@Pavelb1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pavelb1)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2021, 4:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-tech-features-that-logically-should-exist-but-didnt-seem-to/938193/152 "2021-04-07T16:32:41Z")
Like Khan…i think Chang was playing with him. In TWOK, A shield-less (Though they do have ‘screens’ up…whatever that is) 1701 is hit with a photon torpedo. ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2021, 4:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-tech-features-that-logically-should-exist-but-didnt-seem-to/938193/153 "2021-04-07T16:54:51Z")
Stairs. If you want to get from one deck to another you either take the turbolift, or climb a Jeffries Tube. Why don’t they have stairs? ---
**Author:** ![eschereal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschereal/32/18939_2.png) [@eschereal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschereal)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2021, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-tech-features-that-logically-should-exist-but-didnt-seem-to/938193/154 "2021-04-07T17:07:03Z")
You do not “climb a Jeffries Tube” to get between decks. The Jeffries tubes were specifically in the struts between the lower hull and the engine pods and nowhere else. ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2021, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-tech-features-that-logically-should-exist-but-didnt-seem-to/938193/155 "2021-04-07T17:26:50Z")
> [@eschereal](#): > > The Jeffries tubes were specifically in the struts between the lower hull and the engine pods and nowhere else. I have to say, that’s not correct. They were all over the ship. There are Those Who Believe that gangways as seen in TOS were “Jefferies Tubes”, though I am not one of them. For me, JTs were for access to systems only. > **[Jefferies tube](https://memory-alpha.fandom.com/wiki/Jefferies_tube)** > > A Jefferies tube, also known as a service crawlway or service duct was a type of access tunnel or internal maintenance conduit that was used to provide crew access to various ship's systems. In emergencies, they were also used for moving around the... ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2021, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-tech-features-that-logically-should-exist-but-didnt-seem-to/938193/156 "2021-04-07T17:27:50Z")
I beg to differ. There are lots of little tubes all over every ship, and always called Jeffries Tubes. One example, among many. [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/L5wZSZRxokY/hqdefault.jpg "How to enter Jefferies tube properly") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L5wZSZRxokY) ---
**Author:** ![alphaboi867](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alphaboi867/32/3898_2.png) [@alphaboi867](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alphaboi867)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2021, 3:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-tech-features-that-logically-should-exist-but-didnt-seem-to/938193/157 "2021-04-09T03:48:10Z")
> [@Mijin](#): > > Fake windows. Seeing “white dots on black background” is going to get as old as the starfield screensavers did in the 90s. I think a ship spending that much time in space would want to have fake daylight at least some of the time. > Regardless, they’d probably be switchable, like the viewscreen on the bridge. Why are there even so many real windows in the first place? One nice detail of Battlestar Galactica was that the only place on the whole ship was a ceremonial bridge of no strategic importance (the actual command center was deep within the ship). ---
**Author:** ![Mijin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mijin/32/9369_2.png) [@Mijin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mijin)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2021, 4:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-tech-features-that-logically-should-exist-but-didnt-seem-to/938193/158 "2021-04-09T04:14:51Z")
I would put lots of “windows”. It helps maintain the sanity of the people on the ship. I am sure that we would do this right now with submarines and the like, if we had the technology to do it and the power drain was negligible. At least some of the time you have to show what’s really out there (otherwise they might lose all touch with reality) but the rest of the time you can show whatever keeps people happy and/or informed. (I don’t blame them for not doing this in the show, I am just talking about how things would play out in a “real star trek” scenario). ---
**Author:** ![eschereal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschereal/32/18939_2.png) [@eschereal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschereal)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2021, 5:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-tech-features-that-logically-should-exist-but-didnt-seem-to/938193/159 "2021-04-09T05:11:58Z")
You could just make the hull out of seamless transparent alumin(i)um (i.e., corundum) with a layer of harmful-radiation-absorbing water between the inner and outer shells and just paint or dye it on the inside where you want it to be opaque. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2021, 5:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-tech-features-that-logically-should-exist-but-didnt-seem-to/938193/160 "2021-04-09T05:51:41Z")
Corundum is aluminium _oxide_. And making your hull one giant crystal is not a great idea in a universe that goes on _and on_ about the (supernatural) powers involved in “resonance frequencies” [and the like](https://memory-alpha.fandom.com/wiki/Resonance_frequency). ---
**Author:** ![abcdefghij](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/43a26b/32.png) [@abcdefghij](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/abcdefghij)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2021, 8:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-tech-features-that-logically-should-exist-but-didnt-seem-to/938193/161 "2021-04-09T08:34:19Z")
> [@Mijin](#): > > I would put lots of “windows”. It helps maintain the sanity of the people on the ship. I am sure that we would do this right now with submarines and the like, if we had the technology to do it and the power drain was negligible. I’ve spent quite a bit of time looking out the “window” of a submerged submarine and, most of the time, there wasn’t much to see at all. Undifferentiated blue-green during the day and undifferentiated pitch-black at night. Sometimes you’d get streaks of bioluminescence at night, but much of the open ocean doesn’t have a lot going on. I suspect there’s an analogy with interstellar space in that regard. One time (and only one time) we were surrounded by a pod of dolphin. We put both scopes up and spent at least an hour watching them swim around and above us. That was pretty cool, but it would be hard to justify the cost of the transparent aluminum for as often as it happened. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-tech-features-that-logically-should-exist-but-didnt-seem-to/938193.md?page=7) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-tech-features-that-logically-should-exist-but-didnt-seem-to/938193.md?page=9)