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Thread: Transporters and antimatter

  1. #1
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    Post Transporters and antimatter

    My apologies if this is on the wrong forum. I'm not really sure where this should go (I almost put it on the Spacedock forum, but it seems more a general thing than Spacedock-specific).

    Basically, if you have an antimatter containment unit,and you transport it away from the vessl, will the antimatter go with it? I remember that there were transporter bombs in FASATrek, but I don't know if they're considered canon or not. And the only time I remember a torpedo being used in a similar manner, the Borg themselves broought it on board, and they're transporters seem a wee bit different.

    Thanks, all!

    Pat

  2. #2
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    Red face

    I think that you can transport the antimatter. If memory serves right, i think that is how they arm antimatter torpedoes. They transport antimatter into them right before launch, but I could be wrong.

  3. #3
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    In the TOS episode Obsession, Kirk and a red-shirt ensign beamed down to a planet with an anti-matter bomb. The odd part is, both of them survived...

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    LUGTrek isn't really dead. Not as long as we remember it.

  4. #4
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    On page 68 of the ST TNG Technical Manuel it says:
    “Antimatter, even contained within storage pods, cannot be moved by transporter without extensive modifications to the pattern buffer, transfer conduits, and transporter emitters for safety reasons… (Specific exceptions apply for small quantities of antimatter stored in approved magnetic containment devices…”

    One of these containment devices is seen in the TNG episode “Peak Performance”

    Hope this helps.


    ------------------
    Just remember, even though it’s a vacuum,
    In space no one can hear you Clean.
    -J.T.

  5. #5
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    "One of these containment devices is seen in the TNG episode “Peak Performance”"

    ...and another in the afore-mentioned Obsession...

  6. #6
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    Smile

    Originally posted by Sarge:
    In the TOS episode Obsession, Kirk and a red-shirt ensign beamed down to a planet with an anti-matter bomb. The odd part is, both of them survived...
    Well, they had already used their quota of redshirts in that episode.

  7. #7
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    Thanks guys, that does help.

    Pat

  8. #8
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    Here's a twisted thought ...

    Transporters create matter from energy, using stored patterns. Basically, they work like replicators, except they can handle much more complex objects (such as living beings).

    I've always assumed that, as long as you had the pattern for an object on record, a transporter could be used as a replicator in a crunch situation. Heck, I figure that if someone beamed up the Mona Lisa, you could make multiple perfect copies as long as the original pattern remained in the buffer.

    So then, could you use a transporter to beam anti-matter directly onto the bridge of an enemy ship? And you wouldn't even need to beam over the fancy magnetic-bottle containment device ...

    Okay, let's say the enemy ship's shields are still up. How about just beaming the antimatter right next to the ship?

    Of course, that's basically what a photon torpedo is -- an anti-matter charge in a self-propelled device. The difference is, of course, the use of a transporter to transmit the anti-matter.

    In a way, Janeway already used this idea -- pretty effectively I might add -- when she beamed a photon torpedo directly into a Borg ship. Nice explosion.

    I'm guessing, however, that she probably would have beamed the anti-matter that was inside the photon torpedo directly into the Borg ship if she could have done it without risking the safety of her own crew. I figure she didn't want the chance that the beam would be blocked, causing the anti-matter to wind up being "returned to sender" ...

    Any comments?

    Eris

  9. #9
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    "Why not just beam antimatter/gernades/sleep gas canisters to the bridge of the enemy ship?"

    First off, you can't beam through shields. If the shields are down, the ship will shortly be toast anyway. Why not "just" hit the brige with a photon topedo?

    Phasers and photon torpedoes have a greater range than transporters. A PC can try the old transporting a bomb thing in my game... but he has to make a Starship Systems(transporter) check. And they have to have their OWN shields down (at least for an instant). Invariably the target number for a Starship Systems (tactical) check is easier.

    That's not to say that it's never useful to transport bombs... but they are usually less effective than conventional weapons.

  10. #10
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    Exclamation

    Originally posted by Jabara Eris:
    In a way, Janeway already used this idea -- pretty effectively I might add -- when she beamed a photon torpedo directly into a Borg ship. Nice explosion.

    I'm guessing, however, that she probably would have beamed the anti-matter that was inside the photon torpedo directly into the Borg ship if she could have done it without risking the safety of her own crew. I figure she didn't want the chance that the beam would be blocked, causing the anti-matter to wind up being "returned to sender" ...

    Any comments?

    Eris
    The detonation of a photon torpedo is more damaging than a similar amount of "raw" anti-matter. The torpedo uses small "packets" of AM allowing for greater anhilation.



    ------------------
    Greg

    "Calm may work for Locutus of Borg here, but I'm freaked and intend to stay that way."

  11. #11
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    I think the biggest difficulty in transporting an antimatter bomb is the fact that both of your shields must be down.

    Transport takes 5 seconds, a few of which require your shields down, but you don't want to cut it too close, and have residual shield energy reflecting stuff around.

    With the borg, they apparently have much more experience (are adapted) with antimatter attacks from the outside-in rather than the inside-out.

    And in that Voy episode, they didn't have time to heavily modify the transporters, so a torpedo casing was used (which is an approved device for handling antimatter)

    ------------------------
    Specific exceptions apply for small quantities of antimatter stored in approved magnetic containment devices
    Define "small" amount

    1 kilogram of antimatter will produce a Very Large Nuclear-sized blast.

  12. #12
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    Actually, if I remember correctly, 1 kg of antimatter would crack the Earth's crust, if not shatter it completely. Antimatter's nasty!

    Pat

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    Exactly - so how small is "small"

    That's what I meant by the Capital Letters.

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  15. #15
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    Antimatter damage (math removed for simplicity’s sake):

    The reaction of .5 kilograms of antimatter with .5 kgs of normal matter would release about the same amount of energy as a 21.3 megaton nuclear warhead.
    I believe the bomb dropped on Hiroshima was about 1 kiloton (or .001 megatons). A friend of mine told me the US military now had nukes that were rated at 50 megatons.
    One kg of antimatter cant fracture the Earth’s crust. It can make one almighty big bang however.

    A photon torpedo contains 3 kgs of reaction mass (1.5 kg of matter and 1.5 kg of antimatter). This means a photon torpedo does about 64 megatons. On page 84 of the DS9 Technical Manual it says that photon torpedoes are rated at 18.5 Isotons. This would mean that one Isoton probably equals 3.5 megatons.


    ------------------
    Just remember, even though it’s a vacuum,
    In space no one can hear you Clean.
    -J.T.

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