regarding phasers

[Aresius]

Wouldn't say less effective.
From a 'Destroy-Everything' view yes, true, but the Federation is intend on the idea that incapacitating someone is better than killing someone, and a lesser output gives you that chance.

[MajorD]

Divide 9.3e10 joules by 24.6 s and that's 3.78 GW. That's almost a tonne of TNT per second. That's like dropping MOAB's with each shot. However, the way phasers act when they explode speaks of a low maximum output.

I think I originally derived the total energy based on the stated wattage of the Romulan knock off of the phaser Type III, and the amount of time it fired continuously. But, that may have only been the starting. It's been so long I can't remember the process.

[Black Patriot]

Divide 9.3e10 joules by 24.6 s and that's 3.78 GW. That's almost a tonne of TNT per second. That's like dropping MOAB's with each shot. However, the way phasers act when they explode speaks of a low maximum output.

I think I originally derived the total energy based on the stated wattage of the Romulan knock off of the phaser Type III, and the amount of time it fired continuously. But, that may have only been the starting. It's been so long I can't remember the process.

It could be that a phaser overload doesn't use the particle generator but instead causes the power cell to overload, or that the destructive nature of Nadion particles requires a certain concentration to cause significant damage, something that an explosion doesn't tend to do well, compared to a directed shot.

[Warsome]

"Phaser overload is caused by a rebounding of energy from the storage cell to the pre fire chamber and simultaneously back to the strorage cell.  While the total energy within the system remains the same, the flow pressure is elevated during the rebound, to the point where the strorage cell cannot reabsorb the energy fast enough.  Explosive destruction of the phaser will occure when the energy level exceeds the prefire chambers density and structural limits."

Star Trek TNG:TM

[Black Patriot]

"Phaser overload is caused by a rebounding of energy from the storage cell to the pre fire chamber and simultaneously back to the storage cell.  While the total energy within the system remains the same, the flow pressure is elevated during the rebound, to the point where the storage cell cannot reabsorb the energy fast enough.  Explosive destruction of the phaser will occur when the energy level exceeds the prefire chambers density and structural limits."

Star Trek TNG:TM

That still allows my second theory to work, an explosion isn't an effective means of achieving a useful concentration of Nadion particles, therefore the actual destructive force of a phaser overload is lower than the potential damage that normal firing would allow.

[MajorD]

It could be that a phaser overload doesn't use the particle generator but instead causes the power cell to overload, or that the destructive nature of Nadion particles requires a certain concentration to cause significant damage, something that an explosion doesn't tend to do well, compared to a directed shot.

If it were the power cell exploding, it should release all of its energy. But the explosions are too small for that to be the case. A stick of TNT has roughly 3 MJ of energy, if the phase puts out 1 MJ per second, and releases 1 MJ as an explosion it should cause a decent explosion as well. In fact, that fits what I vaguely remember of the effects of phaser explosions, or maybe the stated effects. I can't remember which.

Keep in mind, the effectiveness of an explosion is in the energy being released extremely rapidly, upping the power (wattage) tremendously for a relatively small amount of power (joules). The prefire chamber is probably the key, but it wouldn't make things weak just because it's releasing energy explosively.

Actually, if we take the time the overload sound takes, and assume they're using only a kill setting, then that would give us an idea of what the energy level is. Maybe 8 seconds? That would be a couple sticks of dynamite and would actually fit better.

That ends requiring an explanation for how the phaser handles more powerful settings. I think that can be handled simply by having it that the different energy states of the beam take more power, becoming less efficient to make as you go up in setting. However, the actually amount of energy being outputted isn't much different despite changing effectiveness due to magic phaser abilities.

"Phaser overload is caused by a rebounding of energy from the storage cell to the pre fire chamber and simultaneously back to the strorage cell.  While the total energy within the system remains the same, the flow pressure is elevated during the rebound, to the point where the strorage cell cannot reabsorb the energy fast enough.  Explosive destruction of the phaser will occure when the energy level exceeds the prefire chambers density and structural limits."

Star Trek TNG:TM

I don't trust the TM's to give good explanations. If we can come up with one that happens to fit, then great, but if it doesn't fit it it's no problem. Besides, that explanation is overly complex. It would be sufficient to say the prefire chamber is overloaded and nothing more, rather than the pointless back and forth.

[Warsome]

Please read my post from before again, its not the power cells, its the prefire chamber that loses structural integrity and releases the energy.  If it were the power cells, I would hate to see the damage they could do.  The TM states that there is enough energy in a power cell to vaporize 3 cubic meters of tritanuim if all the energy was released at once.  I understand this to mean if the energy was converted into phased energy though.

[Black Patriot]

If it were the power cell exploding, it should release all of its energy. But the explosions are too small for that to be the case. A stick of TNT has roughly 3 MJ of energy, if the phase puts out 1 MJ per second, and releases 1 MJ as an explosion it should cause a decent explosion as well. In fact, that fits what I vaguely remember of the effects of phaser explosions, or maybe the stated effects. I can't remember which.

Keep in mind, the effectiveness of an explosion is in the energy being released extremely rapidly, upping the power (wattage) tremendously for a relatively small amount of power (joules). The prefire chamber is probably the key, but it wouldn't make things weak just because it's releasing energy explosively.

Actually, if we take the time the overload sound takes, and assume they're using only a kill setting, then that would give us an idea of what the energy level is. Maybe 8 seconds? That would be a couple sticks of dynamite and would actually fit better.

That ends requiring an explanation for how the phaser handles more powerful settings. I think that can be handled simply by having it that the different energy states of the beam take more power, becoming less efficient to make as you go up in setting. However, the actually amount of energy being outputted isn't much different despite changing effectiveness due to magic phaser abilities.

That's only assuming that the power cell is capable of that level of output, which we have no information about (in fact we have no idea how the power cell works). I'm suggesting a theory that the actual destructive effects of a phaser overload are from the nadion particles that are released during the explosion (when the pre-fire chamber loses containment). If we assume that a certain concentration of high energy nadion particles are needed for a destructive interaction with matter, and if we also allow for the fact that an explosion is a very poor method of delivering high particle concentrations (which it is), then we can explain the disparity between the destructive capabilities of a phaser that's being discharged normally (fired at something) compared to the significantly weaker explosions we have seen from their overload. Under this theory it would be better if the phasers could be set on a destructive discharge setting, using the same basic process as the overload but at the last moment discharging out of the emitter, creating a large beam of highly destructive nadions but destroying the phaser in the process. Now there's nothing in canon about such a setting, but I can't recall anything against it either.

Please read my post from before again, its not the power cells, its the prefire chamber that loses structural integrity and releases the energy.  If it were the power cells, I would hate to see the damage they could do.  The TM states that there is enough energy in a power cell to vaporize 3 cubic meters of tritanuim if all the energy was released at once.  I understand this to mean if the energy was converted into phased energy though.

This rather supports my theory, phased energy would most likely refer to nadion particles.