• 🇰 🌀 🇱 🇦 🇳 🇦 🇰 ℹ️@yiffit.net
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    17
    arrow-down
    1
    ·
    edit-2
    11 months ago

    Do we have fuses that can safely dissipate like 350Megajoules? I don’t remember which specific episode it was, but I remember on DS9 they were going to overload the warpcore to stop something and someone said the only system on the station capable of absorbing that much raw electrical energy was the shield system, since that’s literally what it is; a giant fuse.

    • Neato@kbin.social
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      21
      ·
      11 months ago

      Fuses don’t dissipate electricity. They pass electricity and then blow when exceeded. Blowing is either flipping off (like your breaker) or breaking (like replaceable fuses). The point of a fuse is to be the weakest link so if a surge occurs it doesn’t damage equipment or wiring.

      In the case you described, they were looking for a load (where energy is used or dissipated to do work) to absorb that much energy at once. There might be a fuse that could withstand that kind of load; there was wiring that could afterall. But if the shield system could absorb the full power of an overloaded warp core, it might not have needed one if there was no downside to overcharging it.

    • marcos@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      6
      ·
      edit-2
      11 months ago

      Hum… I have a 75MJ varistor on each phase of the main wiring of my house. Those are not fuses (because fuses don’t have a total energy specification) but I can certainly get a few more for the Enterprise it they want.

        • marcos@lemmy.world
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          2
          ·
          11 months ago

          Yes, I’m sure. I used to have 5MJ ones, but one burned down once. So I got the large ones. AFAIK, they are the largest that will fit 1 unity in a DIM panel. It’s supposed to change phases more than once if it receives that kind of abuse, but keep safely conducting electricity all the way.

          It’s a common component around lightning protection. You’d want something better to actually deal with the lightning if your network is unprotected (there are plenty of options), but mine is protected.