Tech & Real Science

A deck by Xochitl Sato · 9 cards

Concepts the show borrowed and inspired.

Alcubierre drive

The Alcubierre drive is a speculative warp drive idea according to which a spacecraft could achieve apparent faster-than-light travel by contracting space in front of it and expanding space behind it, under the assumption that a configurable energy-density field lower than that of a vacuum could be created. Proposed by theoretical physicist Miguel Alcubierre in 1994, the Alcubierre drive is based on a solution of Einstein's field equations. Since those solutions are metric tensors, the Alcubierre drive is also referred to as Alcubierre metric.

Tricorder

A tricorder is a fictional handheld sensor that exists in the Star Trek universe. The tricorder is a multifunctional hand-held device that can perform environmental scans, data recording, and data analysis; hence the word "tricorder" to refer to the three functions of sensing, recording, and computing. In Star Trek stories the devices are issued by the fictional Starfleet organization.

Holodeck

The Holodeck is a fictional device from the television franchise Star Trek which uses "holograms" to create a realistic 3D simulation of a real or imaginary setting in which participants can freely interact with the environment as well as objects and characters, and sometimes a predefined narrative.

Communicator (Star Trek)

The communicator is a fictional device used for voice communication in the fictional universe of Star Trek. As seen in at least two instances, the Original Series episodes "Tomorrow Is Yesterday" and "Day of the Dove," it can serve as an emergency signaling device/beacon, similar to a transponder, and can function as an automatic direction finder. The communicator allows direct contact between individuals or via a ship's communication system.

Faster-than-light

Faster-than-light travel and communication are the conjectural propagation of matter or information faster than the speed of light in vacuum. The special theory of relativity implies that only particles with zero rest mass may travel at the speed of light, and that nothing may travel faster.

Universal translator

A universal translator is a device common to many science fiction works, especially on television. First described in Murray Leinster's 1945 novella "First Contact", the translator's purpose is to offer an instant translation of any language.

Transporter (Star Trek)

A transporter is a fictional teleportation machine used in the Star Trek universe. Transporters allow for teleportation by converting a person or object into an energy pattern, then sending ("beaming") it to a target location or else returning it to the transporter, where it is reconverted into matter ("rematerialization"). The command often used to request activation of the transporter is "Energize."

Wormhole

A wormhole is a hypothetical structure that connects disparate points in spacetime. It can be visualized as a tunnel with two ends at separate points in spacetime. Wormholes are based on a special solution of the Einstein field equations, and are consistent with the general theory of relativity.

Warp drive

A warp drive or a drive enabling space warp is a fictional superluminal spacecraft propulsion system in many science fiction works, most notably Star Trek, and a subject of ongoing real-life physics research. The general concept of "warp drive" was introduced by John W. Campbell in his 1957 novel Islands of Space and was popularized by the Star Trek series. Its closest real-life equivalent is the Alcubierre drive, a theoretical solution of the field equations of general relativity.