Force field
From Memory Alpha, the free Star Trek reference.
A force field is an energy barrier with many applications and varying degrees of strength. Although force fields had been in use for many years, the Earth Starfleet did not begin research on such a device until 2147. (ENT: "Vox Sola") By the 24th century, Federation Starfleet force fields were commonplace and were rated by intensity, ranging in strength from level 1-10. A level 10 force field is the strongest and would be used, for example, during a scientific experiment of which the outcome is unknown, or known to be explosive in nature. Applications range from creating holograms to sealing a hull breach to personal force fields designed to keep potential assailants at bay. (TNG: "Realm of Fear", "The Most Toys"; DS9: "Starship Down")
The effects of a force field on its surroundings vary greatly. Contact with a force field may cause anything from a slight tingle to death. Most force fields are non-lethal, although some civilizations such as the Dominion prefer the lethal variety. If a force field is active, an object or transporter beam generally cannot pass through it, although this is not always the case. The Borg are known to not be hindered by most force fields; they can adapt and simply walk through the field. However, a Borg drone can be cut off from the Borg Collective if it is surrounded by a Starfleet level 10 force field. (DS9: "The Jem'Hadar"; TNG: "I, Borg")
Force fields can be activated from various locations. On Starfleet starships there are emitter points at almost every junction along every corridor. The computer can be programmed to run a series of force field activations and de-activations within the ship, effectively creating a protected corridor which can follow a person. Commander Data used this technique with great control when he commandeered the USS Enterprise-D on stardate 44085.7. He also demonstrated another technique involving instructing the computer to implement a scan-series of force field activations, activated by his movements along a short distance of corridor, thus forcing the security team to back away from him. (TNG: "Brothers")
- Presumably, it is possible to be cut in half by a force field, because Lt. Worf warned the rest of the team to stay back as the field approached.
If necessary, a transporter platform can be completely enclosed within a force field, to, for example, contain an alien subject, or prisoner during transport. (TNG: "Realm of Fear")
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[edit] Containment field
A containment field is essentially a force field used to prevent the escape of matter or antimatter.
Containment fields are usually raised when cargo bay or shuttlebay doors are opened to keep them pressurized, although the containment field is partially disengaged when a shuttlecraft passes through it. Unfortunately, eighteen engineers from the crew of the USS Yamato were killed when the containment fields in a shuttlebay failed after the ship was infected with an Iconian software transmission. (TNG: "Contagion") A containment field can be manually activated and deactivated should the need arise. (TNG: "Disaster") Containment fields would be used by Starfleet personnel to isolate an area for investigation, such as using a field to isolate a transporter room pad to beam aboard a sample of an object. (VOY: "Death Wish")
Containment fields can also be used to reinforce antimatter containment, although they cannot prevent an impending warp core breach. Lt. Cmdr. Data raised a level 3 containment field around the warp core of the Enterprise-D in 2369 when the ship was facing destruction by a core breach. (TNG: "Timescape") By 2379, it was a standard procedure on the USS Enterprise-E for the warp core to be reinforced by a high-level force field before engaging in battle. (Star Trek Nemesis)
In an alternate timeline Miles O'Brien tried to create a sort of a containment field in sickbay to retain Benjamin Sisko on the station. He was unable and Sisko went into the temporal displacement again. (DS9: "The Visitor")
[edit] Inertial dampers, structural integrity and emergency force fields
The structural integrity of a starbase, starship, or shuttlecraft can be enhanced by force fields. This way the hull can absorb more mechanical stresses.
The inertial damping system consists of a network of variable-symmetry force fields that continually adapt and compensate for the inertial effects of interstellar travel. They are almost entirely controlled by the ship's computer, which allows for instantaneous fine tuning of these fields' geometries, and to even anticipate resultant forces from the engines. (Star Trek: The Next Generation Technical Manual) In 2366, in an attempt to escape a Menthar booby-trap, the Enterprise-D had to jump to full impulse for a split-second. Commander Riker warned the crew that the inertial dampers might not react quickly enough to compensate for the acceleration. (TNG: "Booby Trap") Also, if an inertial-damping system generator went off line or malfunctioned, a back-up generator was to immediately activate to prevent injuries to the crew or damage to the ship. (TNG: "Cost of Living")
In the event of an outer hull breach, emergency force fields are automatically deployed to protect the damaged part from the influences of space; at the same time they prevent decompression of the entire deck by keeping the atmosphere in. During critical situations, such as ship-to-ship battles, if the main defensive force field is ruptured and a section of the ship is destroyed, it takes longer for the computer to re-establish the structural integrity field than usual because of the large energy demands already placed on the vessel. In this short space of time, sections of a vessel can indeed be exposed to the vacuum of space. Captain Kirk was lost to the vacuum of space in this way, in 2293, when the USS Enterprise-B was struck by the nexus energy ribbon. (Star Trek Generations) A lieutenant aboard the Enterprise-E was blown out into space in 2379 before an emergency force field could be activated when the bridge front wall and viewscreen were destroyed by the Reman warbird Scimitar. (Star Trek Nemesis)
On stardate 49263.5, the USS Defiant, under the command of Captain Benjamin Sisko, descended into the atmosphere of a Class-J gas giant with 10,000 kilometer per hour wind speeds. The emergency force field that was erected to save the ship from decompression due to a hull breach was not able to withstand the pressure for more than a few minutes. (DS9: "Starship Down")
[edit] Defensive shielding
Starbases, starships, shuttlecraft, and even advanced weaponry (VOY: "Dreadnought", "Warhead") are often equipped with external force field emitters, which, when activated, produce a 'bubble' around the generating object, known as defensive shields. These shields are variable, and can even be extended to encompass a nearby vessel or object. (TNG: "The Defector") Defensive force fields can be penetrated in two ways. The most conventional method involves firing energy weapons at the shielded object, which weakens the field. The other method is achieved by matching the frequency of the shield to the weapon used. (Star Trek Generations) Chroniton torpedoes cannot be stopped by normal shielding but require modifications to enable temporal shielding. (VOY: "Year of Hell")
[edit] Examples of other Federation force field applications
On holodecks, force fields are used to give objects substance so people can manipulate them like in real life. These forcefields have no substance outside the holodeck. They can be configured to either allow passage of 'real' matter, or appear solid.
In sickbay, a force field can be used to separate a patient from the rest of the crew when a contagious disease is diagnosed or when a patient needs a specific environment to stay alive. (TNG: "Brothers"; VOY: "Demon", "Threshold")
The Emergency Medical Hologram and other variants (Emergency Command Hologram and the slave Mark I) use force fields to mimic solidity and to allow the manipulation of tools, manual computer access, and for social interaction.
Force fields are used to contain prisoners inside the holding cells of various races, including Humans, Klingons and Cardassians. Cardassian technology was able to create a tubular force field from the ceiling to the floor in order to encompass an intruder; however, during first contact with the Dominion, Jem'Hadar such as Talak'talan could walk right through them. The Federation had adapted similar technology by 2366, and it was in use on the bridge of the Enterprise-D as well. (DS9: "The Jem'Hadar"; TNG: "Allegiance")
Most Federation penal colonies have force fields to prevent escape. Examples include Elba II asylum and the Tantalus colony. (TOS: "Whom Gods Destroy", "Dagger of the Mind")
By 2373, a holo-projection system had been installed on the bridge of the USS Defiant, linked up to the communications system. In this way, a person could 'appear' and speak to others. However, this form of holoprojection had no cohesion, and so people could not interact directly with the hologram. (DS9: "For the Uniform") Holoprojectors of this type were also seen in the Prefect's Office adjacent to Ops aboard space station Deep Space 9. (DS9: "Doctor Bashir, I Presume")
During the late 2260s and early 2270s, a device known as a life support belt was used on board Starfleet vessels. This was a type of personal force field that supplied the wearer with the appropriate atmosphere and protected them from the vacuum of space. (TAS: "Beyond the Farthest Star", "The Slaver Weapon") This type of technology has only been seen in one other application. In 2369, Captain Jean-Luc Picard, Commander Data, Deanna Troi, and Geordi La Forge used subspace isolation fields, projected from modified emergency transporter armbands, that enveloped each of them in their own pocket of subspace. This isolated them from the effects of the temporal fragment that affected the Enterprise-D. This is an example of a 'skin-tight' force field, rather than the conventional bubble geometry. (TNG: "Timescape")
[edit] Examples of non-Starfleet force field applications
In 2154, the Enterprise NX-01 encountered an Illyrian ship in the vicinity of the Azati Prime system in the Delphic Expanse. This small ship had a force field surrounding its warp coil, which prevented Commander Trip Tucker from removing it easily. (ENT: "Damage")
In 2267, Apollo, from Pollux IV used advanced force field technologies to create a gigantic hand to hold the Enterprise in space. This force field could be penetrated by M-rays at carefully calculated frequencies. (TOS: "Who Mourns for Adonais?")
In 2346, the Khitomer colony had a force field to help protect itself from attacks. The Khitomer Massacre could have been averted if the Klingon traitor Ja'rod had not given the Romulans the codes to the force field surrounding the colony. (TNG: "Sins of the Father")
In 2364, the entity known as Q used an immensely powerful force field to block the Enterprise's passage. (TNG: "Hide and Q")
Also in 2364, The Enterprise-D re-discovered the planet Aldea. The Aldeans hid their planet behind a very powerful planet-wide cloak and a defensive shield. (TNG: "When The Bough Breaks")
In the same year the crew of the Enterprise-D encountered the Echo Papa 607 weapon, on Minos. One of the weapon's special features is the ability to encase a target in a bubble force field. (TNG: "The Arsenal of Freedom")
In 2367, Captain Picard, Ensign Wesley Crusher, and a civilian shuttle captain, Dirgo, discovered a fountain of water surrounded by a force field on Lambda Paz. (TNG: "Final Mission")
Dr. Tolian Soran used a high-power force field (rated in gigawatts) to protect himself and his star-destroying weapon from Captain Picard in 2371. (Star Trek Generations)
Members of the Borg utilized personal defensive force fields. An advanced form of this Borg force field was sufficient for survival in space without a spacesuit. (VOY: "Drone")
Contact with Dominion force fields is always lethal and they are even harder to see than those of the Federation, which are visible to the careful eye. Captain Sisko and Quark were held in a Dominion force field when they were kidnapped while on a camping trip with Jake and Nog. A similar force field was used to hold Chief O'Brien and Doctor Bashir hostage when they were taken prisoner by a rogue group of Jem'Hadar. (DS9: "The Jem'Hadar", "Hippocratic Oath")
In 2371, the crew of the USS Voyager encountered the Vidiians, who made extensive use of force fields to conceal their underground bases from intruders. These force fields could be configured to produce the illusion of solid rock, which could fool tricorders and the naked eye. (VOY: "Phage", "Faces")
When the Cardassian Silaran Prin held Kira Nerys prisoner for a brief time, he enclosed her in a personal force field of sorts that prevented her from moving. (DS9: "The Darkness and the Light")
By 2373, the Breen had developed a hand-held weapon, the CRM 114, which could penetrate force fields of up to 4.6 gigajoules. (DS9: "Business as Usual")
[edit] Other References
- TOS:
- TAS:
- TNG:
- DS9:
- VOY:
- "Initiations"
- "Year of Hell"
- "Drone"
- "Equinox, Part II"
- "Pathfinder"
