From: utzoo!watmath!watarts!bernie Newsgroups: net.startrek Title: Re: Physics gaffes Article-I.D.: watarts.1681 Posted: Tue Feb 15 11:48:22 1983 Received: Wed Feb 16 00:04:12 1983 Reply-To: bernie@watarts (Bernie Roehl) References: brunix.1346 On the subject of phaser settings, the following would seem to be consistent : There are really just two settings, "stun" and "heat"; however, there are varying *intensities* of each. The "stun" setting can either give someone a brief jolt but leave them conscious (see one of the earliest episodes, "Man Trap" for an example of a low-power stun setting) or render them unconscious altogether when used at higher power. A still higher level of "stun" can kill without external damage. The "heat" setting can be used in a narrow beam for welding, or with a wider beam to heat rocks and things (there are two or three episodes in which hand phasers are used to heat rocks to provide radiant heat on cold planets). It can also (on a very high setting) be used to completely and instantaneously vaporize objects (and, of course, people). The main ship's phasers are no different; you may recall an episode in which Kirk had everyone in a radius of one city block knocked out by the ship's phasers. Interesting uses of hand phasers include the high-power stun (a.k.a. "kill" ) setting used to kill Anton Karidian but leave him intact for his daughter to weep over him, and the "disintegrate" setting used to dig graves in two or three episodes. not afraid to admit that I watched Star Trek a *lot*, --Bernie Roehl ...decvax!utzoo!watmath!watarts!bernie