1.) In general Star Trek isn't really about physics, its about sociology or (in the better episodes) political science.
2.) Star Trek gets physics so wildly wrong that its not as grating as a show/movie that tries really hard for realism and still fails utterly. If there's an uncanny valley of scifi physics, Star Trek is definitely standing miles from the opposite side.
The only consistent exception to this is Voyager which does start to get on my nerves as a particle astrophysicist. I mean c'mon guys thats too many made up particles. Settle down.
I've never watched Star Trek, though curiously I know another show set in space about politics, the anime Legend of the Galactic Heroes; it runs about 100 episodes with a few feature films too. If you're interested in politics, specifically in this case the play between a democracy and rule by one person.
It's also rather quaint, the imperial military is styled in a 19th century German style complete with uniforms, and the republic is styled in a modern futuristic style, not without berets though.
It's great fun, but I don't suggest it be discounted because it's an anime, which is a response I have received before.
Dude, it's hydrogen, you need to have different concerns there.
At least they did acknowledge that firing a weapon in a deuterium-rich atmosphere might not be wise, depending on concentration.
Eh, just push the non-chewy bits to the edge of the plate and enjoy the rest of the culinary confection.
Presumably, if you inhale enough dideuterium monoxide vapor, you may experience a similar effect. It would not be acutely toxic, though--more like an occupational exposure level of hazard. Deuterium gas is likely as harmless as light hydrogen gas.
If a retcon is necessary to preserve one's enjoyment of the show, Riker may have already been aware of the hazard level for humans, but was asking for a more informed opinion from the chief engineer, who has presumably read and memorized all the MSDS sheets, for the benefit of any nonhuman organisms on board. Vulcans and Romulans, for instance, experience an anaesthetic effect from TLTDH, similar to the effect of NO2 on humans. It would not be out of character for Star Trek to invent a bizarre species-specific toxicity if the plot demanded one.
How much D2 can you breathe in before you suffocate anyway?
Of whatever amount you do breathe, how little is absorbed?
Of the tiny amount that is in fact absorbed, how much ends up exchanging D atoms with your body?
I don't know the answers to these questions, but my bet is the airborne process is orders of magnitude less efficient than drinking D2O.
Their main concerns should be:
1. Suffocation from lack of O2
2. Risk of explosion if the D2 percentage is in the danger zone
3. If that think was leaking out of a reactor, maybe there were some byproducts leaking out with it? Like, I dunno, tritium? That would be really, really nasty to breathe in.
Sneakers, Hackers, Swordfish, etc. :)
And that's not counting knowing where the school password post-it note is kept, and getting yourself sent to the principal on a regular basis so you can keep looking it up.
Or just letting your computer run for an entire day to determine which phone numbers in a given set of area codes have modems on the other end.
Wargames does take a few shortcuts for storytelling, and it is a bit silly in the best possible way, but the actual hacking is genuinely good, and not boring.
I remember watching the first few episodes and Elliot is doing one of his monologues about the technology he uses and his hacking activities and I was like hold on! That all mostly made sense! What's going on here? :)
Swordfish is more of a "caper" movie with a cheap tacked-on hacking bit. Bad guy wants money, uses hacker and LOTS OF CRIME to get it.
But in Swordfish it's completely ancillary to the movie that it's computer hacking that's going on. The goal is money, not any part of any "hacker ethos" or anything.
It's definitely the worst of the three.
Remotely hacking the sprinkler system in Hackers was so unrealistic when it came out but today it's scary how real that could be.
Meh. I've a degree in Physics and I still enjoy Star Trek.
I agree with the rest.