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I apologize if this is a n00b question, but I was just watching ST 6 again the other day and I noticed that that Vulcan gal zapped what appeared to be a metal (steel?) pot with a hand phaser, and it appeared to be completely disintegrated.

I thought phasers could only disintegrate organic matter... is this a discrepancy or is there some easier explanation?

Thanks in advance.

They appear to be ineffective against heavy metals, but perhaps this pot was made of a light metal such as aluminum (this is quite common). Also, it total mass is MUCH smaller than that of a human body, a hand phaser's normal target.

True enough. The phaser reaction seemed to consume only the cooking pot and left the slop inside intact.

What that says about Starfleet chow, I leave for others to judge.

Kurgan wrote:I apologize if this is a n00b question, but I was just watching ST 6 again the other day and I noticed that that Vulcan gal zapped what appeared to be a metal (steel?) pot with a hand phaser, and it appeared to be completely disintegrated.

I thought phasers could only disintegrate organic matter... is this a discrepancy or is there some easier explanation?

Thanks in advance.

Well obviously since phasers don't leave clothes, and they work on hulls, I think non-organic matter is also affected.

When is the last time you saw a person disintegrate from phaser fire? DS9?, TNG? Anyone? Seems like something else the producers have forgotten.

Phasers are not completely ineffective against heavy metals, they are just much less effective. I would imagine a phaser ought to do in a steel pot quite easily.

I think they would be able to disintegrate heavy metal. However the power requirement curve is going to be getting very steep as the object gets denser and larger.

The pot vapourization is... disturbing. If the pot was vapourized, then there was a non-visible cloud of metal floating around the galley. Wouldn't that be a "little" dangerous? Or are transporters bio-filters that good?

That little type 1 phaser had vaporization capabilities. Riker did it to Uta in that one TNG episode.

Warspite wrote:The pot vapourization is... disturbing. If the pot was vapourized, then there was a non-visible cloud of metal floating around the galley. Wouldn't that be a "little" dangerous? Or are transporters bio-filters that good?

It would be quite toxic. It would also be quite visible. As I've said elsewhere, it obviously does not vapourize things. It simply makes them "go away" rather than turning them into vapour. The only way you can rationalize it is dissolution into neutrinos.

Frank Hipper wrote:When is the last time you saw a person disintegrate from phaser fire? DS9?, TNG? Anyone? Seems like something else the producers have forgotten.

There was also a DS9 episode where the crew trigger so old security protocol on DS9 and a couple Bajorans were vaporized by a phaser that appeared in the replicator.

I think it has more to do with melo-drama (get the person to sickbay or have them make a death speech) and the fluffy "always set to stun" Starfleet habit than anything.

Yeah, I remember the TNG episode, but I'm fuzzy on the DS9 one. I remember the replicated phaser thing. Now it must have been a specific booby trap, because otherwise, couldn't anyone just replicate a phaser rifle and go on a shooting spree?

On a related note, I wondered why the crew didn't replicate swords or something when the Borg boarded their ship in "First Contact." Worf was the only one really equipped to fight them in the end.

Frank Hipper wrote:When is the last time you saw a person disintegrate from phaser fire? DS9?, TNG? Anyone? Seems like something else the producers have forgotten.

I noticed that, too, in the Season 1 TNG ep, "Conspiracy." The dude they phasered at the end, his name was Remmick IIRC, appeared to suffer a combination of NDF and thermal effects; for some reason, he was getting the job in layers -- it resembled what one might imagine a microwave might do to someone, one layer of tissue at a time. Bizarre.

Wait, doesnt NDF stand for Nuclear Disruption Field(or similar)?

If it works by breaking up the nuclear bonds between nucli & shunting the stuff 'elsewere' then Iron would be the hardest element for it to 'vaporise'.

So wouldnt ultra heavy elements actually be easier to vaporise due to their inherirently low stability? Of course elements in the proposed 'Island of stability' for super heavy elements (> atomic number ~115) would be super stable, thus harder to breakup.