posted
Ok, so by now I must look like a complete Treknology maniac but here I go anyway...
I'm designing a ship for myself (I really can't draw on a computer so unless I scan it you'll probably never see it) and I've been asking myself about what's in those damn engines, plasma injectors in particular. The TNG manual stated that there was a pair of injectors for each warp coil segment but in TNG "Eye of the Beholder" I believe, they only show a single pair at the front of the nacelle. In addition, the Sci-Pub poster of the Ent-nil show a single set of plasma injectors for each nacelle. I know that the show takes precedence, but is there anything I've forgotten? What should I do?
------------------ -If you ask me, I think continuity is highly overrated... *Brannon Braga*
-Where were you when the brains were handed out? *Sonic the Hedgehog*
posted
Do you think we would have let you in here if you weren't a Treknology maniac? :-)
Anyway, that's an interesting question. "Eye of the Beholder" does seem to suggest that there's just a single injection system in the front of each nacelle. However, we really can't see much of what's going on back in the rest of the nacelle. It's possible that there are injectors set between each set of segments, and they were just hidden from view.
I think this is one of those cases where it's impossible to say definitively what's going on. If you want to believe the TM, go ahead. If you want to believe that "Eye of the Beholder" refutes the TM, that's fine, too. No-one can really prove anything one way or the other.
------------------ "...more people buy Harry Potter novels than the works of Alexander Pope, but that's no measure of their quality." -Tom Aylward-Nally, December 29, 1999
posted
Sorry, but I looked it up in the TM and it says (not literally, I've got the German version) "there is one injector for each warp field coil". I think that's what we saw in EOTB. And the glimpse we got from the interior of the nacelle corresponds perfectly with the schematic in the TM. So where's the problem?
posted
I think the problem is in the definition of "coil". Is a coil the entire engine in one nacelle? Is a coil one segment of the engine? Or is a coil one vertical pair of segments?
------------------ "...more people buy Harry Potter novels than the works of Alexander Pope, but that's no measure of their quality." -Tom Aylward-Nally, December 29, 1999
posted
Well, I just checked the picture in the Encyclopedia and we can cleary see that the injector are really close together. The only thing inside the rest of the nacelle (except for the coils) is a conduit of some kind running the entire length of the engine starting from the bottom of the injector. If there are other injectors, they are between the coils and really far apart, so much we can't see them. But I've already made up my mind, I'll go with the Tech Manual. Thanks
------------------ -If you ask me, I think continuity is highly overrated... *Brannon Braga*
-Where were you when the brains were handed out? *Sonic the Hedgehog*
posted
Okay, there is one thing I still didn't get: How many plasma injectors are there? One per nacelle or one per coil segment (that would make 18 injectors per nacelle)?
posted
That's what I'm trying to find out. The show had one pair of injectors for each nacelle. The Tech Manual says a pair for each coil pair, so 18 per nacelle. Thus the dilemma.
------------------ -If you ask me, I think continuity is highly overrated... *Brannon Braga*
-Where were you when the brains were handed out? *Sonic the Hedgehog*
posted
Well according to one of my favortie trek tech sites Daystorm Institute Technical Library http://www.adeadend.tripod.com
there is only one plasma injector per naccele he also has a pic to back it up .
Also i believe that the tech manuals arnt canon so im going with what ive seen on the show.
------------------ "I am First Omet'iklan, and I am dead. As of this moment, we are all dead. We go into battle to reclaim our lives. This we do gladly, for we are Jem'Hadar. Remember, victory is life."
posted
Well, until now, I've always believed the Tech manual's explaination of how a warp field is created but that would appear to contradict that picture.
Originally, I always assumed the warp field was created by the plasma injectors of each coil segment opening one after the other along the axis of the nacelle. The converging plasma stream would collide in the exact middle of each coil and SOMEHOW it would energize the coils. This would then create a peristaltic(?) force along the warp field. Well, that's how I used to understand it.
If we accept the picture, it means there's a single pair of injector per nacelle. Since we lack any canon info on this, we have to theorize. I propose that each injector pair is continusly open; it is the plasma pulse from the warp core which, while passing between the coils along the nacelle, somehow energize them.
I read 2 years ago an interesting theory dealing with the creation of a "Tensor string" with the plasma or something within the nacelle but I don't remember any of the details. Has anyone read it too?
------------------ -If you ask me, I think continuity is highly overrated... *Brannon Braga*
-Where were you when the brains were handed out? *Sonic the Hedgehog*
posted
Do you mean Subspace physics by Jason Hinson? I've read it. But I don't think it says anything about the number of injectos. Personally, I think that there is one injector per coil, and they switched off all but one in "Eye of the Beholder" when this guy tried to jump into the nacelle to committ suicide. I still remember he somehow prevented Data from deactivating the plasma injector, but maybe only the one next to the control room. That would explain the picture, wouldn't it?
posted
Well, there's another picture with a full view of the interior of the nacelle from the control room and we only see one pair of injectors...
Ok, let's summarize! Canon says there's one pair in each, the Tech Manual says there's one pair per coil segment. Since the Tech Manual was the first Trek book I ever got and I always considered it better than some of the Tech shown on screen (especially in VOY), I'll go with it. Case closed (for me at least)!
------------------ -If you ask me, I think continuity is highly overrated... *Brannon Braga*
-Where were you when the brains were handed out? *Sonic the Hedgehog*
posted
Oh, I didn't meant that it was closed, just that I had pretty much made up my mind. Which your picture pretty much changed. Thanks a lot for ruining my existence DHunter ! Just kidding...
However, now there's something I don't understand. We now that the plasma stream is responsible for the creation of a warp field. But why is the stream heading toward the FRONT of the ship? I don't really know how to say this, but for the ship to move foward, the coils must be energized by the plasma from front to rear to create a peristaltic motion, not the other way around. And what's that big conduit on the bottom of the nacelle? Anyone care to theorize on the subject?
By the way, that picture and the fact that the injectors are in the rear contradicts the Galaxy MSD seen on screen. In it, the plasma conduits from the warp core end up in the front of the pylon and are connected to some kind of big "plasma distribution system" or something. I know MSDs aren't supposed to represent the ship exactly but I consider them canon unless proven otherwise (which in this case it has been).
Plus, how do they send plasma from both the lower and upper injector ? If both are synchronised, there are two possibilities:
-The plasma conduit, once under the nacelle, climbs inside the wall of the engine and upon reaching the middle of the height, it splits in two, one going up to the upper injector and one going down to the lower one. Quite complicated.
-Under the nacelle, the plasma conduit splits in two. One stream goes to the top of the nacelle to the upper injector while the other one's plasma is somehow delayed for a short while (to insure synchronisation with the upper injector) before going straight to the lower injector.
------------------ -If you ask me, I think continuity is highly overrated... *Brannon Braga*
-Where were you when the brains were handed out? *Sonic the Hedgehog*
[This message has been edited by TerraZ (edited January 04, 2000).] - Sorry for the crappy ASCII TSN, it looks much better in DOS but I made them a little easier to understand. It just shows I much I love you !
(That's a joke just in case you take it the wrong way...)
[This message has been edited by TerraZ (edited January 04, 2000).]
posted
I think that that is completely unintelligible. :-)
Anyway, I don't think that cutaway of the nacelle is right. Everything seems to suggest that the plasma injectors (if there is just the one set) are in the front of the nacelle. It doesn't make any sense, otherwise.
------------------ "...more people buy Harry Potter novels than the works of Alexander Pope, but that's no measure of their quality." -Tom Aylward-Nally, December 29, 1999
! Just kidding...
!
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