The Phaser is the directed energy weapon of choice for Starfleet and the Federation of
Planets. The term is an acronym for Phased Energy Rectification and a form of particle
weapon. But why this form of technology? In its history, the Star Trek universe has displayed
a wide variety of energy weapons ranging from laser technology to plasma weapons and even
unknown energies that are off the charts. Most other powers of the Trek universe end
up pursuing Disruptors as their primary weapon for both ship and personal combat and very
few species choose to pursue phaser research over disruptors. Hi all, Ric here and today
we’re looking into the history, pros and cons of the Federation’s energy beams of
choice. So, Phasers work by generating nadion particles
and directing the excited particle stream as an energy beam or pulse. Pew pew. The energy
source was apparently plasma that was then focused through a phase emitter. The stream
of nadions that were produced are what’s seen when the phaser is discharged, so effectively
a phaser beam is a stream of these particles hammering into its target, transferring the
energy to the target, giving it the definition of a particle weapon.
Disruptors are the most common form of particle weapon and follow a similar principle and
although they seem to operate on a wider range of particle-bases they all share a similar
effect. That is that a disruptor, well…disrupts. The stream of directed energy that a disruptor
produces damages and disrupts the structure of the target at a molecular level. Disruptors
also have a wider range of energy sources and can utilise particles other than nadions,
such as thoron, tetryon and polarons. Polaron being the purple flavour of choice for the
Dominion. In the year 2151, a fledgling Starfleet was
in the midst of replacing its plasma weapons with phased weaponry. Some of the earliest
examples of this included the handheld phase pistol and the ship mounted phase canon. As
Phase Pistols could run off of Plasma power packs, this evolution of the tech was probably
brought about by the creation of the phase emitter. This marks the point of divergence
from most species as many, like the Romulan Star Empire, continued refining the use of
plasma to produce more damaging effects. Now, speculation here, not without basis. I suspect
that the phase emitter introduces a modulation or effect into the particle stream that makes
certain particle types, such as Nadions have differing properties from a regular particle
stream, marking the key identifier of a phase weapon from a disruptor.
Plasma is effectively ionized gas and the plasma we see discharged as weaponry in Star
Trek basically burns and vaporizes on contact, making its use as a weapon obvious. Though
it still has its uses, even by the Borg, many other species continue to look for better
ways of blowing each other up and usually settle on another form of disruptor or antimatter.
Starfleet, meanwhile, despite dabbling with laser tech in the mid-23rd century, continued
to pursue phaser technology. Although yes, they did also develop their own antimatter
warheads in the form of photon torpedoes, but that’s a separate topic.
It should be noted that some other species that used phasers, like the Ferengi may have
simply used the term for its technically accurate description of the phasing state of the energy
produced by their plasma weapons. As of the 23rd century, phasers were standard
on all ships and as personal arms, having replaced nearly all other options for Starfleet
vessels and crew. But it is with this commitment to phaser tech that we begin to see the benefits
that they bring. Their utilisation. Phasers are particle weapons, yes, but the federation’s
exclusive adherence to nadion-based phased energy has led them to create a multi-purpose
tool that is much more diverse in the field than a disruptor. This perfectly mimics the
Starfleet and Federation ethos. Whereas a Disruptor can only disrupt, damage and destroy,
a phaser is a tool as well as a weapon. From handheld to shipside, phasers have been
shown to do a lot and have a staggering number of settings, whereas a disruptor’s utilisation
extends from vaporise to wound. This suggests that there is something inherent to phaser
technology that allows for a wider range of uses from a single source.
Starting from its lower power settings, a phaser can transfer heat to an object to warm
it, making it an ideal survival situation tool as it can trap heat in objects, such
as rocks, making for a short term source of warmth. Suppress nerves
Higher settings can transfer enough energy of a specific frequency to temporarily shut
down a nervous system, putting the target into a stunned state. Technically, stunning
a target is painless, but I imagine that it’s not a pleasant sensation either, judging by
many a reaction to being stunned. Lingering effects from a stun are minor and pass in
time and this is where they trump Disruptors. A disruptor can stun, but it does so by disrupting
the nervous system, meaning that permanent damage is more likely.
The stun effect of a phaser on the other hand, can be modified to be momentary paralysis
of an extremity or to render a target unconscious by leaving a residual energy within the body
to keep nerve impulses supressed. Higher stun settings could still kill a person if they
hit somewhere vital such as the brain, or the target received multiple successive hits.
At a quarter power, a standard federation side arm would kill most humanoids by ramping
up this stun effect to deadly levels. Phasers could go to much higher settings and
prolonged fire from a phaser beam exacerbated these effects. After all, it is emitting a
stream of highly energised particles and therefore did produce both heat from friction and concussive
force. Phasers could quite easily shatter objects and on maximum settings, vaporise
whatever the beam struck, sometimes explosively. At this level, a phaser and a disruptor basically
have the same effect. The fact that phaser technology allowed for
such a low to high-yield usage meant that a much wider degree of effects could be utilised
by ingenious Starfleet technicians. Phasers were commonly used as cutting implements in
absence of the correct gear and the beam could be altered to such a fine level as to create
a semi-effective welding torch. Again, most disruptors we see, only seem to only destroy.
Hand Phasers could also be used to drill through solid rock and even had a setting called the
disruptor setting that mimicked the effects of a disruptor. Another advantage of a phaser
was that it could be easily altered to cycle through differing phase frequencies, allowing
it to stay ahead of Borg adaptation for a time and even hit objects out of phase with
reality. Like anti-vaxers. No, I mean like certain interphasic cloaks.
The energy a phaser emitted could also be set to a wide beam dispersion, but such a
tactic likely was far reduced from the effective power output of a single beam. The most we
ever see from a wide beam shot is a moderate stun effect. Again, most disruptors seem to
lack this ability to alter settings on the fly without specialised designs.
The handheld phasers had many settings and intuitive adaptations to make them as much
of a tool in the field as a tricorder, I can’t think of a more Federation approach to a weapon.
Another race to develop the phaser was the Bajorans, a species with a relatively peaceful
history. Well, pre-occupation, so this reinforces the notion of phasers being a more civilized
and humanitarian choice. As humanitarian as a sci-fi death ray can be, I guess. We do
see them in use by the Cardassian Union too, though this is only present on their ships
as they tend to favour disruptors as personal arms. They also employ a unique merger of
the two technologies to create a spiral-wave disruptor.
On starships, federation phasers were basically the same, except far more powerful, running
off their own power grid and later being tied into the warp core of a ship to draw on far
greater energy reserves. Starfleet vessels also featured phaser strips, bands of emitters
that allowed for greater firing arcs than the more static disruptors. The use of theses
strips is likely due to the adaptability of phaser as we don’t see the same feature
on most vessels outside of Starfleet, that use disruptors.
These ship mounted phasers also possess the ability to stun. In theory. Though I imagine
that it would be like trying to hammer in a nail with a… jackhammer. You’d have
to be veeeerrry careful and precise, preferably using a computer to do the maths for you.
Imagine being the captain who messed up that riot-suppression.
The Pulse Phase Cannon was a completely offensive-based variety of the phaser, devoid of any function
other than to hammer through enemy ships and as such featured prominently on the Defiant
class vessels as well as latter models. Despite all this however, phasers did have
their drawbacks. They were incapable of breaking through several materials, such as Neutronium
and Toranium and could prove ineffective at operating in certain radiations or against
certain energy frequencies. These weaknesses are shared by Disruptors too, but phasers
seem to encounter them at a higher rate. All this paints a picture of phaser tech R and
D being a more involved process that has a lot of potential pitfalls and I’d wager
most species stick with disruptors as the easier option. To many it may seem like more
steps to reach the same outcome. A versatile organisation such as Starfleet,
however requires an equally versatile tool at its disposal. Starfleet has done much with
Phaser technology, making it on par with most other energy weapons in the Trek universe
but with the added benefit of flexibility. We don’t really see any other organization
use phasers with the same practicality as Starfleet either. Disruptors may pack a bigger
punch and leave debilitating, disruptive aftereffects, but they lack in utility. Besides If Starfleet
really wants to blow something up, it has its antimatter torpedoes.
All in all, Starfleet put a lot of time an effort into Phaser technology, starting slow
and underpowered, their persistence seems to have produced a much more adaptive tool
than a disruptor. An adaptability and multi-purpose nature that allows for more humane effects
such as stun and a device that can be reprogrammed on the fly with the push of a few buttons.
Something that we seldom see from other weapons tech, and something that speaks of the Federation’s
values, even in warfare. I might go into the specifics of some of Starfleet’s
arsenal in another video if you guys wanted to see that, but this was mostly to establish
that phasers are different in both form and function from disruptors. So let me know in
the comments and I’ll see what I can dig up, plus any other Trek Tech that you’d
like to see discussed? Let me know below and until the next video, thanks for watching.
Goodbye!