Star Trek Phasers

What people said

Cites Valorum · 2014-04 · Science Fiction & Fantasy Stack Exchange · on “How fast does a phaser beam travel?”

The " Voyager Technical Manual [LINK] " (written by longtime Star Trek production staffers Michael Okuda and Rick Sternbach as an 'aide-memoire' for potential scriptwriters) specifically states that phaser beams travel at the speed of light . This is backed up by another quote from the earlier " TNG Technical Manual [LINK] " which clearly states that the beam travels at " c [LINK] " Given that full impulse is supposedly well short of the speed of light, the short answer to your question is " no, you cannot escape a phaser beam by travelling at sublight speeds ". Travelling at warp speed would be considerably more effective against a foe travelling below lightspeed since you would simply outr

Cites Tom Goodfellow · 2016-06 · Science Fiction & Fantasy Stack Exchange · on “In-universe rules for extent of handheld phaser disintegration”

Being shot by a phaser set to disintegrate/vaporize is rather a tidy death: since when hit in the clothed chest, the shirt, pants, shoes, and entire lifeform within all disappear. But the disintegration doesn't propagate through the shoes into the deck - perhaps that's too big? What if the victim was sitting in a chair with his feet off the ground - would the chair disappear too? If they're shaking hands is the shakee going to go too? How about penetrative sexual intercourse - does the penetrator "wear" the penetrated? The countless bacteria in the gut certainly vanish (much to the relief of Starfleet janitors) Presumably along with all the other safety instructions and directives to wash ha

Cites RichS · 2017-01 · Science Fiction & Fantasy Stack Exchange · on “In Star Trek, why does the phaser disappear when people commit suicide by phaser?”

I thought of this question while reading another question here [LINK] . In both examples of suicide-by-phaser that I know about, the phaser gets vaporized too! Think of the homeless man in The City on the Edge of Forever [LINK] after he steals McCoy's phaser. And there's the example in the in video clip below where Captain Terrell kills himself in Wrath of Khan. It's from 55 seconds to 60 seconds. Why doesn't the phaser just drop to the floor after these suicides? The phaser is vaporized too! Which means the beam must turn back on itself or something. The answer to this question probably involves treknobabble nonsense, but I would like to know if there is an in-universe explanation. Edit: Ca