Starsship Windows

[livlonganprospe 0]

In the movie First Contact, when Lily was looking out the window of Enterprise down towards Earth and Lily made a comment that there was no glass, then Picard says it's a force field, well then in some scenes of TNG inside the capt's. quarters, when Picard is standing next to the window, you will see a reflection of him or someone coming in the quarters. Is it a writers mistake or something else? Does the star ships have windows? Edited February 26, 2004 by livlonganprospe

[Jim Phaserman 0]

I think that in the scene you mentioned, they were at a point where the ship would hook up with a starbase. notice, he had to open a panel for the exterior view

[livlonganprospe 0]

No not that one, it's the sene when the Enterprise was in the past and the Borg was invading Earth, Lily wanted to get off the "spaceship" and Picard says hope you can hold your breath, that's when Picard showed her that it was a force field.

[Jim Phaserman 0]

That's what I was refering to. that spot on the hull is where an umbelical might connect. (did you think I was refering to a point in the movie?)

[livlonganprospe 0]

OK! I see what you mean, I guess the force field would be around the platting

[Captain Jean-Luc Picard 1]

In the movie First Contact, when Lily was looking out the window of Enterprise down towards Earth and Lily made a comment that there was no glass, then Picard says it's a force field, well then in some scenes of TNG inside the capt's. quarters, when Picard is standing next to the window, you will see a reflection of him or someone coming in the quarters. Is it a writers mistake or something else? Does the star ships have windows?

In the movie, it was an airlock, not a window. :)

[Capt.Vash 0]

and for the record starship windows are made of transparent aluminum not glass it ould take about 2 feet of glass to withstand the artificial gravity/atmosphere

[Jack_Bauer 1]

Are you sure that the windows are transparent aluminum? Wouldn't make more sense for them to be transparent duranium (if such a thing exists)?

 

Along these lines, I seem to recall the windows breaking like glass in Generations when the saucer crashes. Would it be possibly for a transparent metal to break like glass?

[LordOfTheBorg 1]

actually... this would work just as well;

Least Dense Solid

The solid substance with the lowest density is aerogel, in which tiny spheres of bonded silicon and oxygen atoms are joined into long strands separated by pockets of air. The latest and lightest versions of this substance weigh just 1.9 mg/cm3, and are produced by the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Livermore, California, USA.

The NASA/JPL image (right) perfectly illustrates aerogel's insulating properties Ð wax crayons on top of a lightweight sheet of aerogel are protected from the roaring-blue flame from a blow torch. The crayons aren't even melting!

Click for Spoiler:

 

 

Edited February 28, 2004 by Alterego

[Captain Jean-Luc Picard 1]

The windows are glass. It's why they're so thick and why they "shatterred" when the Enterprise-D saucer section crashed in GENERATIONS.

[Jim Phaserman 0]

I concure with CJLP, Transparent Aluminium wouldn't shatter. it might warp, but not shatter. though I could picture the Klingons or Romulans or any warrior species using Transparent Aluminium for added hull strength.

[WEAREBORG4102 0]

Transparent aluminum!!!! :) :) :) :) It's an airlock

[Jeanway 0]

A COMBINATION OF TRELLIUM D, HIGH DENSITY POLYMERS AND SURPRISE, FIBERGLASS MIGHT WORK????

[Alexander32 0]

definitely glass and it has to be a forcefield in the movie scene. Cool Trek smilie!

[Capt.Vash 0]

maby it was transparent aluminun in TOS beacause I specically remember some one saying that the windows were transparent aluminun

 

PS: I believe transparent aluminum would shatter like glass when exposed to the super cold temps in the vaccuom of space

[He Who Shall Not Be Named 2]

Oh come on now. What would be so exciting about Picard knocking on the window and saying "transparent aluminum"?

 

There is also the possibility they were on an observation deck of some kind and, as such, a force field would be more appropriate there to get a better view.

[Capt.Vash 0]

if you had read the whole thing you would know that what he had shown to lily was an airlock but we were disscussing what the normal windows were made up of

[Xeroc 0]

Unfortuanately, even the ST Technical Manual doesn't say what the windows are made of.

 

I remeber them mentioning transparent aluminum in TOS (for example when scotty was on earth and gave away the formula to gain the supplies to save the whales in ST: IV The Voyage Home) and I think transparent aluminum would probably shatter in the extreme cold of interstellar space.

 

However, it is likely that the windows are made of some other futuristic transparent material, due to the incredible beating they would need to take to maintain structural integrity. (even with the help of the Structural Integrity Field)

[Capt.Vash 0]

so then you will at least agree with me that they are not and could not be built out of glass

[Xeroc 0]

so then you will at least agree with me that they are not and could not be built out of glass

Yes, glass would be far too weak to use in such situations as described above. It would have to be meters thick, and would be easy to puncture with weak weapons.