Ancient Trek musings

[Batman]

So TOS 'The Wink of an Eye' was on today and Deela casually steps out of the way of a phaser beam (not that hard to begin with 'cause those things are painfully slow to begin with but I digress). Super-accelerated because of scalosian water and all that. Except all of Kirk's clothes were super-accelerated right with him so why wasn't his phaser? Pretty sure at that kind of speed differential having to deal with clothing that refuses to move would've been quite noticeable

[LadyTevar]

The water had accelerated them possibly beyond the speed of whatever 'phase' a phaser shot?
I never found out what a Phaser beam actually *was* -- phased particles? Phased light shouldn't be that slow, right?

[Solauren]

The water had accelerated them possibly beyond the speed of whatever 'phase' a phaser shot?
I never found out what a Phaser beam actually *was* -- phased particles? Phased light shouldn't be that slow, right?

Phasers are apparently a nadion particle beam. Now, the question is, what the hell is a Nadion.

And kirks clothing was accelerated by his body sweat, obviously.

[Lord Revan]

Also wasn't it said in TAS or TOS that Starfleet uniforms are made of some kind of special organic fiber so it could be said the clothes got effected because of that while a phaser beam due to being inorganic didn't get effected.

[Batman]

The 'organic vs anorganic' makes sense (I need to get around to watching TAS despite the dated animation), as does, in a really icky way, Solauren's idea

[Solauren]

The other possibility is simple conservation of momentum. Kirk's clothing moved at normal speed with him, and so did the phaser when he pulled and aimed. However, the phaser beam, independent of kirk's movement, was unaffected.

In theory, a knife thrown by Kirk would have traveled at what Kirk would have seen as normal speed.

The evidence of this is the fact that Spock was able to make repairs to the ship while under the effects of the water. If momentum wasn't conserved, then he couldn't move anything to make the repairs.

[Eframepilot]

Also wasn't it said in TAS or TOS that Starfleet uniforms are made of some kind of special organic fiber so it could be said the clothes got effected because of that while a phaser beam due to being inorganic didn't get effected.

Ah yes, the unstable molecules dodge.

[Darth Lucifer]

If there's any canon reference to what material Starfleet uniforms are made of, I can't remember it. Except for that one time on Enterprise where they're doing a live video feed to a group of schoolkids back on Earth and Archer passes the buck to Trip when they get asked a poop question...he explains the waste recycling and mentions some of the things they make out of the molecules, boots were one of them.

In TAS when the crew was shrinking, Spock pointed out that Nurse Chapel's titanium bracelet was too big for her but her uniform still fit her perfectly. Spock mentions that the material in their uniforms is composed of some kind of processed algae. Along with some other observations, like the coral decorations in a fish tank, the crew figured out that whatever radiation they were being exposed to only caused organic material to shrink.

[Darth Lucifer]

strike double post, was trying to edit

[Solauren]

Most clothing is made of out organics nowadays anyway. Just really processed stuff.