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Lt. Commander
Join Date: Dec 2007
Posts: 120
# 13
02-15-2010, 12:04 PM
Originally Posted by Rysdan View Post
Well... like I said before, I agree it's silly, but ST has never been accused of being scientifically accurate, not to mention it is fiction afterall. No point really to analyze something that's fake to begin with and compare it to known reality, imo. If we were to do that... how about why is there even sound during the space battles? No air in space, thus no sound in space. However, it's a movie... a fictional one at that... and I want my entertainment. lol
Just sayin...
Star Trek is one of the sci-fi universes which actually DOES try to base its tech on real science. Sure they use a lot of theories, and a lot of imagination, but they don't normally do silly or ridiculous things. Like I said, normally.

As far as sound in space, the explanation is very simple: sensors. They can detect energy on all sorts of frequencies- visible light, gamma rays, tachyons, you name it. Why not sound waves? The ship and explosion are made of matter, so there is certainly a sound. The sound won't travel through a vacuum, but if you have sensors in range it only makes sense that they would relay the sound along with the picture.

We have a primitive form of this technology already, with laser microphones. You point the beam at a window and hear what is in the room- this would work even if there was a vacuum between you and the window, because the sound vibrations are being converted into a photonic signal, and translated back at the device emitting the laser.

I still loved the movie though.