Wouldn’t polarizing the hull basically mean magnetizing it? That always bothered me.
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veroxii@aussie.zone 1 year ago
Polarize the hull plating!
lolcatnip@reddthat.com 1 year ago
paholg@lemm.ee 1 year ago
I would assume it’s an optical polarizer. Like on sunglasses or LCD screens.
Kolanaki@yiffit.net 1 year ago
They’re clearly forcing the shield to be split amongst two opposing ideals.
shasta@lemm.ee 1 year ago
Out the window you go!
famousringo@sh.itjust.works 1 year ago
If a big magnet protects spaceship earth from cosmic rays, a smaller magnet should protect spaceship enterprise from death rays.
But seriously, my take was always that there was something like an inner and an outer hull, and by polarizing them with opposing charges you might reinforce them so explosions are less likely to blast the outer hull off. Kind of like a magnetic lock around the entire ship.
gregorum@lemm.ee 1 year ago
Fun fact: all starfleet ship’s hulls are now constantly polarized, mostly to deflect random space dust, debris, etc. while traveling at sub-light. Not sure if it’s stated in canon when they started doing this, but in a few episodes, before walking in the hull, it gets mentioned that they have to depolarize it first.
Stamets@startrek.website 1 year ago
2150s. No, seriously. That’s been a thing since Archer. Hull polarization actually started as the first line of defense before shields became common place and much stronger. The NX Class and the Shuttlepod both had polarized hulls. They even make a mention in one of the episodes that while they’ve been away from Earth for months that Earths polarization tech has improved efficiency by 12%. But when shields started gaining more ground and traction, hull polarization wasn’t needed as much so it slowly slid to the background and was only used when necessary like when Voyager needed more stability or when the Delta Flyer was trying to be located. I remember something else about using it to modulate against a tractor beam too somewhere in DS9.
That being said, I’m not sure where you’re getting the information about constant polarization and deflecting space dust. Typically that’s what the deflector array was for. I’m not saying you’re wrong or anything, it’s Star Trek. There’s tons of inconsistencies and backups and redundancies. I’m just curious so I can add it to my giant folder of useless Star Trek info that’s buried in the back of my brain.
gregorum@lemm.ee 1 year ago
I’m aware of when hull polarization began being used, but one can infer from more recent dialog that it’s now a “constantly-on” feature.
Also, the deflectors are typically for use at warp speed.
Stamets@startrek.website 1 year ago
The deflectors are vital at warp speed but they’re still on at sublight speed. I also cannot find a single mention of polarized hull ever being used to repel dust/dirt at any speed. That’s why I asked. Memory Alpha doesn’t address it at all and google is returning zero results.