The Clever Physics of Star Trek's Deflector Shields
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- Опубліковано 12 лип 2024
- #startrek #science #technology
Deflector shields are an iconic technology in Star Trek. Protecting a ship at high velocities and during combat, these hi-tech force fields effectively function as barriers made of electro-plasma...but could we build something like them in real life?
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- CHAPTERS -
00:00 Intro
00:48 Precursors
02:11 Navigational Deflector System
03:31 Shield Network Generation
05:58 Sponsor Segment
07:13 Real World Basis
09:38 Conclusion
10:35 Outro - Наука та технологія
I should think the prime reason why we would want to find a means of creating shields on space ships is to protect the crew from exposure to dangerous types of cosmic radiation they would encounter in deep space.
Also micrometeorites. There's a lot of junk in our atmosphere right now.
@@Ryukuro not just in our own planetary zone.
Even dust can be a serious hazard at velocity.
Someone put out a video on how much damage would be caused if a needle hit the Earth at just under light speed.
Not huge from the perspective off of the planet, but enough to get the locals attention, to be sure!
There's a 20 year old popular mechanics article about electrified armor that says we can. What we really would need is that 'Inertial Dampening Field'', to prevent you from going Splat!
Shields in the Star Trek universe are much better than the shields in the Farscape universe. There, the shield array only covers about 75% of a ship, leaving big gaping holes that roam the shields. Their solution was to operate 2 overlapping shields, drastically reducing the chance that both would have a huge gaping hole roam into the same location.
I've always assumed that artificial gravity tech, which we know they have in Trek, is a major component of the shields and deflectors.
If I remember correctly from a sourcebook, that's not too far off. The idea was, that the shield warped space in a way to 'deflect' things away from the ship,
yes shields in star trek are screens of gravitons
Like UAPs currently exhibit
I was still fairly young when I heard that artificial gravity was supposed to be an offshoot of warp drive technology. I figured out why that was so even before I knew about the theoretical Albercurrie Drive. It stands to reason that if you've figured out how to create both artificial gravity and anti-gravity (both required for a warp drive) that you'd be able to use that artificial gravity technology inside the ship to keep people from floating around.
Twilight Clone = Best Clone
Good timing on this episode as Lower Decks had the scene in the deflector dish last week in the ep "Room for Growth"
Pausing at 7:16 to say: now I HAVE TO get OR merch! Love how you did that
The TZ clip was pretty good.
i loved theTwilight Zone style ORM commercial.....it fits the sci-fi theme
It's pretty hard to predict what kind of technologies we might invent in the future, but one thing we can be sure of is that the laws of thermodynamics won't change. It's always helpful in physics to look at problems in terms of energy, and the biggest problem with this kind of sci-fi shielding can be thought of as a problem of energy density: if you can generate and focus a large amount of energy over a wide area to create a defense barrier, your opponent can focus the same amount of energy into a very small area to overwhelm and penetrate that barrier.
The idea of magnetically deflecting and melting kinetic projectiles is interesting, but probably not realistic when you're facing extremely high velocity, non-ferrous projectiles made out of a heat-resistant material; transferring enough heat energy to a projectile to melt it as it very quickly passes through a relatively diffuse plasma would require astonishing temperatures. Armour faces similar problems, which is why we stopped using battleships after WWII: it's become much easier to create destructive technologies than to create technologies to resist said destructive potential. When we master fusion we'll have even more extraordinary amounts of energy available to use (besides, unlike on the earth, in the vacuum of space there's no problem with casually lobbing powerful thermonukes at your enemy), so the most likely scenario in future space warfare will probably be a more extreme development of our current military technology situation: weapons of massive and sophisticated destructive potential which can only be effectively countered by stealth, electronic warfare, and active smart defenses like CWIS or anti-missile-missiles. Survival in future space battles will probably depend almost entirely on not being found and not being hit before you can find and hit your opponent.
I like MIchio Kaku a lot, I think he's a great science communicator and really knows his stuff but I don't thing we should interpret these takes on sci-fi technologies as anything more than fun "what if?" thought exercises. They're first and foremost a great way to get the public excited about thinking scientifically and interested in physics, I don't think they're really meant to be a serious analysis on workable technologies we're actually likely to see in the future.
No it's not hard to predict. It's just a question of being a balance of bold enough to believe in the future, and pragmatic enough to not let your brain leak out of your ears as it flies off to Neverland. And, at least in this context, making two predictions...one for a continuation of capitalism (which, really just means doom), and one for a more sensible and robust economic system that isn't beholden to the whims of the apes that participate in it.
Great video! The deflector shield is one of the most underrated technologies used almost every episode. Thanks for bringing some attention to them, lol!
That Twilight Zone commercial was fantastic! 😂 Thank you for the video!
Stay well out there everybody, and God bless you, friends. ✝️ :)
Thank you Nathan!
Finally someone asking the real questions.
Loved the ROD SERLING impersonation,ya sure got the voice,but I still am hoping to buy some OR products soon.Another great show !
Well actually in the early 2000s. We were experimenting with certain types of force fields. Personally one of my favorites is plasma glass. And I believe NASA during the 90s and the 2000s was experimenting with high strength electromagnets to create a sort of force field, which imparted a large induction field in a plate of copper literally blasting it to pieces. Only reason why we don't use it is because it's very hard to protect electronics from high intensity electromagnetic fields, unless if you put every microchip and electronic component in vacuum tubes. 🤷😎✌️
Your Show is excellent ass always!! Love, love, love your "Twighlight Zone" Commercial!!! Do more Do more!!!! Your Rod Sterling impression was great!!!!!
Welp! I am most certainly in The Twilight Zone.
Michio Kaku is the man.
Well done as always. Live long and prosper. 🖖
Thank you so much Kevin! LLAP
There is an actual military document where they explore possible futures for humanity and a Star Trek future is the prime future and one to look forward to. So its likely already in the works, especially given a lot of this type of information would be classified. I believe a Star Trek future is possible (obviously not necessarily in its prime but definitely its beginnings.) within our lifetime, as well as disclosure. I think in a more positive outcome, our life spans will expands, chronic disease will be a thing of the past, and so forth. Prior Choice Economics + Fusion energy can fundamentally change how our world operates, bring about energy abundance, on the road towards eliminating poverty as prior choice economics is an add on system based on prosperity not scarcity and much more. Alternatives exist we just need to explore them more, and have a more positive outlook.
Was wondering how you were going to bring real world science into this one.
I was not disappointed!
I love that merch add, so surreal
Loved the video! I thought you were going to mention that Boeng had patented the first use of "forcefields" in 2015 called blast wave defense system; it's not to the level of star treck but can be used for incoming shockwaves caused by bombs.
Trek
Liked the video. Nice style, a combination of in-universe and in-realworld information, both equally weighted. A pleasure to watch.
No, we should build hull armour ala Voyagers last episode.
Thank you Tyler very interesting (:
Great video! U know the MIC is drooling over this tech! Lol 😆
Worker Bee's need a video
Videos like this are always so interesting and thought-provoking. Tremendously good work all-around! One does dare to dream!
Another great video! Always come with the best Trek info. The polarized hull plating tech I could see coming to reality. Love the merch commercial btw. Lol!
Thank you Odari!
Your assistant script editor is the best.
;)
Another great video 📸
Pretty sure deflectors and shields are not the same tech. I'm pretty sure they are different tech. Not entirely sure what the differences are, but I am pretty sure they are different tech. Other than that, this was a good video.
I liked this video. Keep up the good work.
Deflectors are for navigation and shields are for defense.
ua-cam.com/video/W8yGOHx-oV0/v-deo.html
We already have a working model, The Earths Ionosphere! Its ionised gases reflect low energy EM waves. As you increase the Ionisation the EM waves it can reflect also increase in energy. Energy is matter, matter is energy. Just an Engineering problem ;)
another possible technology might be shielding an object with a electromagnetic field so strong that an object stop so violently that vaporises
@@cybermonk3072 this is science not fantasy
sorry but yes but field would be electro magnetic in nature and the atmosphere causes things to burn up
If a shield blocks radiation (including light) both ways, then the spaceship becomes black to outside viewers. If it blocks incoming radiation, then the ship becomes blind. If it doesn't block outgoing radiation but does block incoming radiation, the ship would be visible to outsiders but become really dark as all outside sources of illumination would be blocked.
I need to be drinking to buy any UA-cam merch. Just the way she goes. The stars will align and I'll be blitzed as I happen upon some video of yours. Buying will commence. Everyone will gain.
great video!
I really dig your Twilight Zone advert!
Sorry I'm late, work be workin' me .... So without further adue "Wooooooooo Hooooooooo" an new OrangeRiver video!!!!
Was looking forward to this one.
Something of note; the shields are not omnidirectional at all times (although they can be)... that would use far too much power; the ship uses sensors to direct shields towards threats... otherwise the Picard Maneuver would make zero sense since any shot would hit the shields from either position.
Can't beat nerding out over how feasible Sci do stuff is 👍.
I love the anti-ad. Reverse psychology combined with sci-fi
Wow, I didn't realise untill today that you work with THE ALAN SMITHEE. His work is truly uncountable, it's like he's like a whole bunch of people who don't want their name put on a piece of work.
A truly iconic collaboration indeed
Defensive shields like startreks would make most military tech today obsolete overnight.
could we build something like a Sonic School driver from Doctor Who in real life
Screw* its a screw driver bud
Lol sonic school driver. 😂 Delivering kids to schools across the galactic interspace
lots of bus drivers driver kids to school, is that the kind of school driver you want?
The fundamental problem with shields is that if you can see through it, your enemy can shoot through it. If your enemy can't shoot through it, you can't see through it.
But if we ignore this problem, the NX-01 should have had shields. The navigational deflector and warp drive are in the same basic technological area as shields.
Maybe it's like two way mirrors? You can see out, but it blocks incoming lasers?
@@peytonmac1131 But such a mirror blocks the other side from seeing you. The light is coming in to you to see.
Wrong, you can use plasma or hardlight. Just use hardlight only at a higher intensity outside visible light.
Really enjoyed this thanks 🙂🖖
Yes eventually we will be able to build Star Trek type Shields, despite what any scientists are saying right now, we will be able to get there eventually to build them, who knows possibly sooner than later.
Aside from naked optimism, what makes you think so? Serious question. There are many valid reason to think this kind of technology is not feasible.
Personally, I think it is less impossible than any form of FTL drive, but more impossible than gamma-ray lasers or kugeleblitz engines.
@@Coridimus Anything possible will occur eventually
@@0011peace A sophist quip at best.
@@Coridimus no fact of life. Nothing can be can be kept from that which he can imagine
@@0011peaceMore sophistry.
A kind of "shield" we already have, would also be the magentic field in the tokamak fusion reactor, which holds the very hot plasma in place, so that it wouldn't touch the inner surface of the reactor. So I would imagine a forcefield as a kind of very strong magnetic field (like the magentic "shield" of the planet we live on).
thanks for the video, live long and prosper
The question is will shields protect us from the insane lethal radiation that exists in space which will make space travel damn near impossible for humans?
Space does not contain "insane lethal radiation." There's some radiation, most notably from the Van Allen belts, but it's nowhere near as dangerous as some people like to make out. And the Van Allen belts are thin while spaceships travel fast (yes, even non-fictional spaceships) which means that astronauts don't spend much time inside the most radioactive parts of the belts. Add on to that, most of the Van Allen belts is alpha or beta radiation, which can be fairly easily shielded against.
Now, if you're talking about electronics such as robotic probes, that really is a problem. They can't self-repair the way we humans do, and they usually don't have much redundancy so if a stray radiation particle damages part of the electronics, that's the end of it.
I always figured the navigational deflectors were the bumps on the secondary hull surrounding the gold radar dish on the original 1701. And the dish was the primary sensor and subspace radio. But somewhere in TNG it seemed the dish became the deflector. Oh well.
I enjoyed this episode 👍🏼
Great vid, this subject keeps me up at night. If the field is impenetrable and gets hit by an asteroid, would the impact send the ship hurtling like a billiard ball in space?
What if a shield was not a wall but a pushing force. Look up the alcubierre froning drive. Not from the aerostronix video, but from his scientific papers.
I am somewhat confused. In the beginning you say that shielding is particulary needed for superluminal speeds. But is warp drive not made for warping space such that a speedy spaceship is not required? It travels at a ‘slow’ speed through warped space. No worries for speedy particles that could damage the ship. So no shielding required to protect the ship for that purpose. Plenty of other reasons though! But I just love your videos Tyler!
Well, even lots of real-world theories that try to calculate the requirements for faster-than-light travel factor in obstacles that could potentially be in a ship's way. I'd imagine that charting an FTL course would involve finding a route that's not necessarily a straight line to the destination but one that bends around astronomical objects in the ship's flight path!
orange River i want You to make fringe video that focused on presidential sescsession ❤🙏
Starfleet's shields are as effective as Worf as security officer. 😆
Once we come up with a power source capable of handling it anything is possible
We also need a strong enough power source.
Bell labs have a patent for charging the armour plating of a tank to discharge when hit by an explosive. I've come up with 3 systems 1. Electromagnetic induction, the use of to induce eddy currents in any metal armaments to repel them 2. Graphene balloons, inflating multi-layered graphene balloons around a craft. 3. Longitudinal waves, longitudinal can travel at different sub-light speeds, unlike transverse waves, which always travel at the speed of light, the higher the amplitude, the faster they travel, so if you generate a number of single polarised (positive or negative) pulses of increasing amplitudes they will catch up with each other at a predetermined distance, to prevent repulsion a small tail of the opposite charge can be added to each pulse.
Leflong and prosper🖖🏻
Loved the cut away to tell us not to buy the merch.
In the end, it still comes down to use figuring out how to customize material at the sub-atomic scale and becoming capable of mass producing those subatomic materials in enough quantities as to do a very wide range of things. In addition we would need to make quantum particle control systems that would control energetic flows of customized quantum particles.
As interesting as the super heated plasma shield is, it really isn't a Star Trek shield.
In the end, a Star Trek shield is a quantum system controlled layer of energetic quantum particles, not a super heated plasma, not an electro-magnetic field, not an electro-static field.
Truth be told, the only way Star Trek ships would become real life possible, absolutely requires being able to mass produce materials built out of customized sub-atomic quantum structures for just about every thing, from its hull structure, ship framing, the Duranium plating, to its power systems conducting plasma, as well as, its processing and memory speeds, since both power systems and data systems will absolutely require room temperature super conductors, which we simply will not be able to make without being able to make quantum subatomic customized materials.
Without mass production of such quantum subatomic materials, all Star Trek ships would have to be as huge as Star Wars ships, since they would be limited to only Electron based power and computer control systems, just like Star Wars ships. Mass production of customized subatomic particles is why ST always wins against SW, both in technology and in defenses against force powers. Force powers still interact with the universe at a physical level bigger then the atomic scale, so force powers can't defeat quantum controlled sub-atomic energy defense systems, unlike how it can defeat the electron limit systems of the star wars universe.
Control over subatomic particle energy simply gives you such a sheer level of advantages way beyond an electron controlled system could ever dream of doing, even after constructed massive ships or bases the size of the second death star. It is why most ST:TNG ships and later can destroy entire planets if they wanted too as well as slice and dice the second death star like a hot knife threw butter.
Everything for ST tech becoming a reality, hinges on figuring out the Quantum subatomic scale of the universe and how to custom build both material and energy systems with it. Other wise, you won't have the room temperature super conductors you need, you won't have Duranium, you won't have Nadeon Particle energy weapons, nor will you be able to pack the power of 20 Second Death Stars into the ship the size of the Defiant.
We can make basic energy shields 🛡 which are easy to make. Since the technology is already in use in many places around the world. But I won't say what till it's tested in about 5 years. So yes we are very close indeed 👌.
maybe, but if you've ever read "Whitey on the Moon" by Paul Kersey, you'll know why we can't.
Most Trek sheilding is based on gravimetric technology, the manipulation of gravity/anti-gravity fields to create a high density gravity envelope surrounding a ship. You didn't even mention this?
Depends on what it is your trying to deflect. I remember that in Enterprise they used to polarise the hull against blaster type weapons. I suppose if you could work out what the magnetic frequency of certain weapons are it would theoretically be possible to have a reverse magnetic effect against them!
Tyler loves a good ramming
Not quite sure how the video would go, but a video on old Star Trek games such as ST Shattered Universe, St Legacy or ST Armada 2 etc would be cool, Legacy and SU have interesting stories to them, plus George Takei as Sulu in SU.
At warp speeds the warp field is the shield. Debris accumulates on the front of the wave.
@@subraxas in Star Trek you are correct. But with a real warp field and faster than light travel there are real scientist who stated what I only repeated above. “The Alcubierre Warp Drive: On the Matter of Matter”
“To see how the Alcubierre drive could devastate an entire star system, you have to know a little about how it would work. The ship would consist of a central pod, and a large flattened ring around it. The ring would have to be made of an as-yet unidentified kind of dense exotic matter capable of bending space-time.
Supply the craft with enough energy, and the very fabric of the universe can be warped. NASA now believes this would require orders of magnitude less energy than Alcubierre originally thought. When activated, space behind an Alcubierre drive expands while contracting in front. The ship itself hums along in a stable pocket, or bubble in space. It turns out the bubble is the problem.
As your faster-than-light ship sails through the cosmos, it’s not alone. Although we often think of space as empty, there are loads of high-energy particles shooting through the void. The University of Sydney research indicates that these particles are liable to get swept up in the craft’s warp field and remain trapped in the stable bubble.
The longer the journey lasts, the more of these dangerous particles build up. This doesn’t affect the ability of the warp drive to keep bending the laws of the universe - it’s the stopping that’s going to ruin your day.
The instant the Alcubierre drive is disengaged, the space-time gradient that allows it to effectively move faster than light goes away. All the energetic particles trapped during the journey have to go somewhere, and the researchers believe they would be blasted outward in a cone directly in front of the ship. Anyone or anything waiting for you at the other end of your trip would be destroyed.
Because of a funny little quirk of relativity, there is no upper limit to the amount of energy a Alcubierre drive could pick up. A long trip could vaporize entire planets upon your arrival. The researchers are beginning a new round of number crunching to see how bad the problem is. It’s possible the deadly particle beam could be projected in all directions, making Alcubierre drives unworkable. That spiffy warp ship might make a better weapon than method of transportation.”
This is why I prefer the B5 system
Why should deflectors be needed at warp? Afaik the warp works in a way that a space bubble is created to travel trough the surrounding space. In this bubble no additional movment happens, so no highspeed impacts should expected. This should only happen while traveling in normal space, except objects could penetrate the warp bubble, and that shouldn't be the case for space materials like atoms, molecules or astroids.
A gravitational fields should be the answer. Ask Bob Lazar how to do that.
Area 51 (the beta test version for Section 31) has force fields, they’re just saving them for the next war.🚀🛸
There is a kinda popular urban legend/conspiracy theory about this with something called the 3M factory force field accident that supposedly happened back in the early 1980's
Good vid. It helps in my project to make a realistic space fiction setting. Iv seen a few other helpful vids about weapons and warp drive, but Iv not found any on sensors. How do they theoretically work in Trek? We have often hear "Scan for life forms." but how would that work? I think someone should make a vid on sifi sensors.
WHY IS THE IMPOSTOR FROM AMOGUS ON UR THUMBNAIL OMG OMG OM G OMG!!!
0:04 I paused the video and just replying to the topic itself. The idea of a shield that is some kind of invisible force field. Sounds cool yes?
I gave this a quick thought and the first thing you must do is first look at nature on earth as well in outer space.
Have we seen or witnessed or documented anything remotely that resembles a force field/shield in nature be it biological or
from something not organic? Have to make a list of the most simplistic to the most complex. With the most complex you must then ask if
can science replicate that?
A tortoise shell
Slugs when threatened will flush out of their bodies a lot of slime
poisonous frogs that emit poison from their skin
Electric eels who also sense living prey 's via electrical conduction.
A planet's atmosphere.
Various tests by Nasa or JPL on using sound as a shield... nice video on that.
Creating vibrations so super intense that anything near would either move away or be obliterated.
To create a shield as in how it is formulated in sci-fi shows you would have to maybe know the objects polarity because
Your shield around a ship would ether project away or attract the object.
Inventions would have to be made into frequencies not being used yet as we are in our infancy when dealing with this technology.
My own theories on how to get there faster is to look at nature more closely. I have a gut feeling we are close but not getting there
because our power of invention currently does not take mother nature into account which we can still learn tons from in years to come.
My own idea before we create/invent shields we need to invent an energy transmuter of sorts.
All matter has a frequency. It would perhaps take a hole field array of transmitters focused out in front to run this transmuter and I Can see many people
dying trying to perfect this device. Ideas of the wizards trying to transmute lead into gold comes to mind on ability to transmute objects out of thin air.
A transmuter would be the basis for shields and the real holodeck.
You use this fictional transmuter with the data of that lets say the metal silver. You shoot the field array of many frequency transmitters into a single spot in space.
The area in space being focused on may or may not need any micro matter and it would either be destroyed or able to make it larger by adding frequency of energy on it.
Wait hold on... at warp speed the ship is stationary while space is contracted in front and expanded at the rear therefore the ship has zero velocity, correct?
🖖
Your real world force field is not really a force field. It's more like an energy armor since you have physical parts in, it like the carbon nanotubes. You can't really turn the nanotubes off.
Ever done an episode about fantastic planet?
I did! About a year and a half ago, when my channel was smaller and nobody watched it lol: ua-cam.com/video/ffju26GhR3A/v-deo.html
@@OrangeRiver haha I watched that video! It was great! I love Fantastic Planet. Very original/unique in every sense of the word
🙂
They may already actually exist. I have already said too much.
Maybe?
The key to any of this is a massive inexhaustible power source….
💛🤓
Okay, I’m only a minute into your video, and have been a ST fan for decades.
I have NEVER considered “Deflectors” or “Shields” to be related. Deflectors, in my mind, move s*#T out of the way when moving at high warp. Shields, in my view, deflect weapons.
Resuming playback.
lasers cant even penetrate our navigation shields don't they know that
I'm only a minute in, but Am I mistaken by remembering that Star Trek shields stated out by being electrical'ish hull type barriers or something like that?
Wait, did I miss there something? Since you said the NX Enterprise had no shields or the likes, how did they then have any kind of deflector?
Can star trek starships maneuver in real life like they do in Strange New Worlds?
Couldn't we use mirror like surfaces to reflect lasers?
here at 54 views
Does nobody Remember the Floating frog in a magnetic field? which technically is a force shield made of a magnetic bottle... which was tiny in fact but of course it has apparently faded in to obscurity. Peace and long life.
um i beg to differ and i have proof i designed a forcefield. and i am not going into detail. but it works
You did not type “um” surely? Backspace broken?
Could Polorized Hullplating be a real thing?
I wonder why Singh didn't build shields into Data?
@@subraxas Also, personal shields are not a feature that humans have. It would make Data even more non-human and distort his development. If he can use his shields to protect himself or hurt others, he won't try to negotiate and use his words to placate people. It would also make people more afraid of him. It could make him more like Lore.
Great stuff, really enjoying your videos~!