Hull Stress/Space Life

[Bryan Moore]

We have discussed over the length of the forum the idea that older ships couldn't be used for patrol because of the stress of space flight. Do we know this is true anywhere? These are space-age (duh) materials with all sorts of energy support. I'm just curious people's take on the actual limits of these materials. All speculative, of course, but you'd think Starfleet would have materials with 100+ year space life.

[thelordharry]

I'm no scientist but I've always got the impression that by TOS/TNG time, the periodic table is a little larger than it is today. With this comes newer, as yet unthought of materials that I guess maybe much more resilient and suited to FTL space travel. Do you think that if you put a deflector dish on the front of a space shuttle and fitted it with warp engines, it would last the distance? Divert all power to structural integrity!!!

[Teaos]

I doubt the preiodic table will be much bigger, and if it is it wont matter since all new elements a super unstable. Of course there is the fables island of stability which could help.

Mostly I think they are just known element combined in special ways.

And just becasue they are advanced doesnt mean they are strong.

They could just be really resistant to phaser fire but not especially strong.

They could be super flexable but not very stable over wide temperatures.

There are many things they could do while not being "super" alloys.

[Mikey]

No matter what the RBM of a particular material, it would suffer damaging stress. The necessity of inertial dampers is an indication.

[colmquinn]

Well we're up to element 118 now I believe and reports of newer though very short lived detections of new elements are happening though nothing beyond 118 is confirmed. From what I remember of school (10 or so yrs ago) we were on 110 or 112 at that time so if you follow the maths of 6 new elements in ten years that'll give us a shed load more stuff to play with. Though what use an element of lifespans of less than a second are in the construction of a ship hull is any bodies guess.
Hell maybe if we if we apply the DITL "quantum" to them we'll all have houses made from emptycupofteaeum in no time.

[Mikey]

Wait... if it's empty, it's not really a cup of tea anymore, is it?

[stitch626]

nothing beyond 118 is confirmed

Actually, thats not true. One has been found, and it is surprisingly stable.
I'll try to find the thread. It is somewhere in the Politics and Current Events section.

[thelordharry]

I've got a new one in my desk draw here?

[Mikey]

One has been found, and it is surprisingly stable.

How surprising? "Surprisingly stable" for an element that heacy could mean a 30-second half-life - incredible, but hardly useful for our purposes here.

I've got a new one in my desk draw here?

[Sionnach Glic]

I think he meant that as a humerous statement rather than a question.

[KuvahMagh]

Didn't we have a one liner in an ep that indicated more than the current number of elements on the Periodic Table?

[Captain Seafort]

They're up to number 246, according to "Emanations".

[KuvahMagh]

Thats it, so it is entirely possible that some of those could help out though I agree a lot of it would be the SIF and such.

[Mikey]

I think he meant that as a humerous statement rather than a question.

OK, then:

[Graham Kennedy]

Emanations also makes clear that the new element they discover in that episode is unique in that it is a "stable trans-Uranic". So it's unlikely there are wacky new elements used in Starship hulls.