Graviton

From Memory Alpha, the free Star Trek reference.

The graviton is an elementary particle that transmits the force of gravity. It is used for a variety of purposes involving attractive/repellent forces, such as tractor beams, the gravity plating on starships or antigravs. The opposite of a graviton is an antigraviton.

The graviton was postulated by Earth physicists in the 20th century as an outgrowth of quantum gravity theory. To the extent that gravitons are used in the production of artificial gravity, both Vulcan ships and Earth ships were using gravitons for practical purposes by the end of the 20th century.

By the 24th century, Starfleet starships had the ability to produce gravitons as a field and/or a beam from a starship. (TNG: "The Best of Both Worlds"; VOY: "Caretaker")

[edit] Applications

• Antigraviton emitter
• Graviton beam
• Graviton emitter
• Graviton field
• Graviton generator
• Graviton pulse
• Graviton shockwave
• Graviton stabilizer
• Graviton surge
• Graviton telescope
• Heavy graviton beam

[edit] Natural occurrences

• Gravity
• Graviton ellipse
• Graviton wave
• Graviton matrix

[edit] Appearances

• TNG: "The Best of Both Worlds" - A "heavy graviton beam" was considered and rejected as a weapon against the Borg.
• TNG: "Silicon Avatar" - A graviton pulse was used to communicate with and destroy the Crystalline Entity.
• TNG: "Hero Worship" - Graviton waves destroyed the SS Vico.
• TNG: "The Nth Degree" - An "enhanced" Lt. Reginald Barclay used a graviton field to alter subspace to take the ship into Cytherian space.
• TNG: "Schisms" - A coherent graviton pulse is used to close a tetryonic rift,
• VOY: "Caretaker" - A graviton field was generated by USS Voyager to get out of the Caretaker's beam (unsuccessful).
• VOY: "False Profits" - A Ferengi shuttle sends out a graviton pulse that destabilizes a wormhole.
• TNG: "Attached" - An antigravion beam was used by the Prytt to deflect a transporter beam to a new set of co-ordinates.
• Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home - The computer prompts Spock to "adjust the sine wave in the gravity envelope so that antineutrons may pass but antigravitons cannot"
• ENT: "Breaking the Ice" - Captain Jonathan Archer mentioned that he helped set up the graviton telescope while on a prior mission with the Vulcans on the Yahrala to study a dark matter nebula.
• VOY: "Future's End" - The spatial rift that opens up in front of Voyager has a graviton matrix.

Gravitons were apparently harnessed in the 20th century since the Vulcan ship in ENT: "Carbon Creek", the SS Botany Bay in TOS: "Space Seed", and the 20th century cryogenic satellite ship in TNG: "The Neutral Zone" clearly show artificial gravity usage.