Hand Phaser

[Mange]

Those hand-phasers, what are they useful for? Killing flies? I remember a TNG episode, Conspiracy from the first season (one of the few good episodes of TNG). In that episode, aliens (quite similar in appearance with the ones from ST II) from an other galaxy tries to take over the Federation by using the bodies from senior Federation officials. Picard beams down, and to make a long story short, a fire fight erupts. I don't remember who fires the specific phaser shot (I think it was Picard), but it hits a painting portraying the solar system, and guess what? The painting doesn't even get scorched! It would be fun if anyone had a screencap since this means that we must give the poor Federation some sort of advantage...

[Ted C]

Those hand-phasers, what are they useful for? Killing flies? I remember a TNG episode, Conspiracy from the first season (one of the few good episodes of TNG). In that episode, aliens (quite similar in appearance with the ones from ST II) from an other galaxy tries to take over the Federation by using the bodies from senior Federation officials. Picard beams down, and to make a long story short, a fire fight erupts. I don't remember who fires the specific phaser shot (I think it was Picard), but it hits a painting portraying the solar system, and guess what? The painting doesn't even get scorched! It would be fun if anyone had a screencap since this means that we must give the poor Federation some sort of advantage...

I think Brian Young has a clip of it squirreled away somewhere, since he once used it to demonstrate the incredibly slow propagation speed of a hand phaser beam.

[Darth Servo]

I'm sure there are plenty of instances where a hand phaser beam didn't do squat to the wall it hits.

[Slartibartfast]

Yeah but people can say that it's some kind of uber tri-californium-bi-wyomium alloy wall. This is a painting hanging on the wall we're talking about...

[Kamakazie Sith]

Those hand-phasers, what are they useful for? Killing flies? I remember a TNG episode, Conspiracy from the first season (one of the few good episodes of TNG). In that episode, aliens (quite similar in appearance with the ones from ST II) from an other galaxy tries to take over the Federation by using the bodies from senior Federation officials. Picard beams down, and to make a long story short, a fire fight erupts. I don't remember who fires the specific phaser shot (I think it was Picard), but it hits a painting portraying the solar system, and guess what? The painting doesn't even get scorched! It would be fun if anyone had a screencap since this means that we must give the poor Federation some sort of advantage...

Hey, I remember that episode. I remember how they reduced the guy at the end to a puddle of gore. That episode just happens to be the most gory episode in Star Trek history......

I find it absolutely amazing how some people can be so damn selective, but I guess we're all like that in some way.

[Kamakazie Sith]

Yeah but people can say that it's some kind of uber tri-californium-bi-wyomium alloy wall. This is a painting hanging on the wall we're talking about...

Or maybe just maybe for the same reason blasters don't blow people apart and Leia wasn't reduced to bloody gibblits they also use different power settings, like stormtroopers to conserve energy.

[dworkin]

I'ld always imagined that walls (and paintings, china plates, glass vases) were made out of polygonium, which as we all know from PC games is the most indestructable substance in the universe. Does wonders for Ms Croft too

Why they don't make spaceships out of the stuff is beyond me.

[Ted C]

Or maybe just maybe for the same reason blasters don't blow people apart and Leia wasn't reduced to bloody gibblits they also use different power settings, like stormtroopers to conserve energy.

Leia didn't get hit, unless you think her arm is made of metal. She caught shrapnel blown from the wall just behind her.

Nonetheless, we can probably conclude that the phaser in the incident described in the OP was probably not on the highest possible setting. Furthermore, phasers are highly effective against organic targets but relatively ineffective against metallic targets. This might be a design feature, since they're most commonly used as security weapons aboard starships, where you probably don't want to do a lot of damage to the ship in pursuit of an intruder.

[Kamakazie Sith]

Or maybe just maybe for the same reason blasters don't blow people apart and Leia wasn't reduced to bloody gibblits they also use different power settings, like stormtroopers to conserve energy.

Leia didn't get hit, unless you think her arm is made of metal. She caught shrapnel blown from the wall just behind her.

Nonetheless, we can probably conclude that the phaser in the incident described in the OP was probably not on the highest possible setting. Furthermore, phasers are highly effective against organic targets but relatively ineffective against metallic targets. This might be a design feature, since they're most commonly used as security weapons aboard starships, where you probably don't want to do a lot of damage to the ship in pursuit of an intruder.

I'll have to take another look at ROTJ I always thought she took a direct hit. However, we still have numerous other examples of Imperial Officers taking direct hits and not being blown apart. However, my point is that they aren't going to be running around firing at max power anymore than SW characters will be.

[Sidious]

Was the phaser on stun before they actually reached the sitting guy maybe?

Dont have that season on DVD, going from memory heh.

[Ted C]

I'll have to take another look at ROTJ I always thought she took a direct hit. However, we still have numerous other examples of Imperial Officers taking direct hits and not being blown apart. However, my point is that they aren't going to be running around firing at max power anymore than SW characters will be.

Our good buddy DarkStar has pictures on his Blasters page.

ww w.st-v-sw.net/STSWblaster.html

(remove the space to get a good URL)

[Slartibartfast]

Or maybe just maybe for the same reason blasters don't blow people apart and Leia wasn't reduced to bloody gibblits they also use different power settings, like stormtroopers to conserve energy.

Leia didn't get hit, unless you think her arm is made of metal. She caught shrapnel blown from the wall just behind her.

Nonetheless, we can probably conclude that the phaser in the incident described in the OP was probably not on the highest possible setting. Furthermore, phasers are highly effective against organic targets but relatively ineffective against metallic targets. This might be a design feature, since they're most commonly used as security weapons aboard starships, where you probably don't want to do a lot of damage to the ship in pursuit of an intruder.

That still makes you think why don't security people wear at least some thin layer of plastic over (or under) the uniform to protect from the so-weak-can't-scorch-glass-or-canvas beam.

[Howedar]

I'll have to take another look at ROTJ I always thought she took a direct hit. However, we still have numerous other examples of Imperial Officers taking direct hits and not being blown apart. However, my point is that they aren't going to be running around firing at max power anymore than SW characters will be.

Our good buddy DarkStar has pictures on his Blasters page.

ww w.st-v-sw.net/STSWblaster.html

(remove the space to get a good URL)

It seems unlikely that her parka thing glowed/caught fire from shrapnel. Shrapnel doesn't do that.

[Robert Walper]

Or maybe just maybe for the same reason blasters don't blow people apart and Leia wasn't reduced to bloody gibblits they also use different power settings, like stormtroopers to conserve energy.

Leia didn't get hit, unless you think her arm is made of metal. She caught shrapnel blown from the wall just behind her.

That bolt looks like it hit her to me Ted.

[Connor MacLeod]

I'll have to take another look at ROTJ I always thought she took a direct hit. However, we still have numerous other examples of Imperial Officers taking direct hits and not being blown apart. However, my point is that they aren't going to be running around firing at max power anymore than SW characters will be.

Our good buddy DarkStar has pictures on his Blasters page.

ww w.st-v-sw.net/STSWblaster.html

(remove the space to get a good URL)

It seems unlikely that her parka thing glowed/caught fire from shrapnel. Shrapnel doesn't do that.

Not neccsearily. Blasters inflict damage through heating objects up, so in order to cause something to explosively shatter (ie create anyn sort of "shrapnel") would involve very rapid heating... thus it is quite likely the shrapnel itself would be hot.

[Howedar]

And so it is with shrapnel from grenades and artillery rounds and such, heated by the explosion of the round. They still tend not to light things on fire, and certainly don't make a little jet of flame.

[Darth Wong]

And so it is with shrapnel from grenades and artillery rounds and such, heated by the explosion of the round. They still tend not to light things on fire, and certainly don't make a little jet of flame.

Do we have any analyses of shrapnel from THEL tests? I would tend to suspect that the shrapnel from violent heating-induced expansion would be of a somewhat different nature than the shrapnel produced by high explosive, which is optimized to create the maximum amount of overpressure for its chemical energy.

[Lord of the Farce]

My take on the fountain of sparks flying from (or around, whatever) Leia's arm: Along the other Rebels on the mission, Leia should have (at the very least) been wearing some sort of protective clothing, something like Padme's battledress or a lighter version of what the Naboo security people were wearing.

[Ted C]

My take on the fountain of sparks flying from (or around, whatever) Leia's arm: Along the other Rebels on the mission, Leia should have (at the very least) been wearing some sort of protective clothing, something like Padme's battledress or a lighter version of what the Naboo security people were wearing.

Which outperforms Stormtrooper armor? I doubt it.

It looks to me like the shot either barely missed her or just grazed her, with the majority hitting the wall behind her and creating that jet of white-hot sparks. Her sleeve was either ignited by the light contact with the blaster bolt or the spark shower.

I don't see how anyone can claim that the jet of metallic sparks we see came from a human arm, especially when she wasn't seriously injured.

[Howedar]

Do we have any analyses of shrapnel from THEL tests? I would tend to suspect that the shrapnel from violent heating-induced expansion would be of a somewhat different nature than the shrapnel produced by high explosive, which is optimized to create the maximum amount of overpressure for its chemical energy.

I don't know that THEL has ever hit anything to get shrapnel yet. I know that even having sparks and shit landing on you (from welding or something) won't cause a jet of flame to appear sideways from your clothing though.

[Darth Wong]

I don't know that THEL has ever hit anything to get shrapnel yet. I know that even having sparks and shit landing on you (from welding or something) won't cause a jet of flame to appear sideways from your clothing though.

Sparks carry very little energy because of their tiny mass, so that goes without saying.

[Howedar]

Er, I was thinking the little globs that sometimes fly around when you're MIG welding. Molten (I assume) spheres about 1mm across, probably. They'll char and stick to cotton, but they don't tend to light you on fire.

[Isolder74]

Most likely it was a grazing hit that was compounded by the Bolt then hitting the wall. The Grazing hit was given more damage that it should have had after hittingthe wall.

Truely Darkstar does not show the entire sequence and the does not alow Star Wars to dial down the power but gives Star Trek Free reign in that department. Very unfair. And to make his clame worse the TNG hit like it is ata different agle. If the angle of the hit is taken into account then the SW shot bearly touches Liea's uniform but then explodes on the wall. It interacts with her clothes and then the wall very close togather.

Note the major damage was done by the sparks coming from the wall

[Alyeska]

Leia didn't get hit, unless you think her arm is made of metal. She caught shrapnel blown from the wall just behind her.

You are very much incorrect. Leiha was hit cleanly on the side or her arm and no damage was done to the wall. All wall hit have incredibly bright blasts. On the other hand we see a small flash on her arm and nothing from the wall behind. She took the entire force of the hit.

Now, one explination is that as powerful as blasters are, since the Stormies aren't fighting people with armor, they have turned down the power to sufficent levels where body mass shots are a likely kill. Hit someone in the arm and you don't kill them.

[Mange]

Leia didn't get hit, unless you think her arm is made of metal. She caught shrapnel blown from the wall just behind her.

You are very much incorrect. Leiha was hit cleanly on the side or her arm and no damage was done to the wall. All wall hit have incredibly bright blasts. On the other hand we see a small flash on her arm and nothing from the wall behind. She took the entire force of the hit.

Now, one explination is that as powerful as blasters are, since the Stormies aren't fighting people with armor, they have turned down the power to sufficent levels where body mass shots are a likely kill. Hit someone in the arm and you don't kill them.

Please explain what logical reason could be behind that! It's totally unsupported. Leia was hit by a glancing blow.