star trek - What happens to people when they are hit by a phaser beam?

In Star Trek TOS, whenever a human is struck by a phaser beam set to kill, they glow and disappear. They never leave any residue or indication they were ever there. When they are hit by a phaser set to stun, the people drop with no sign of being burned. What happens to people when they are hit by a phaser beam? Why aren't they burned on stun, and where do they go when they are killed?

Answer

Phasers have an entire spectrum of settings. They fire a fictional particle called a nadion. At its lowest setting it disrupts a life form's nervous system, either knocking it unconscious or cause it to become dazed. At its highest, it is enough to vaporize the targeted object. In between there are settings for killing, cutting, wide-dispersal beams etc.

The stun setting is capable of causing trauma/burns or even killing the target if fired at extremely close range, if fired at a vital organ or if exposed to a stun beam for too long.

The vaporization setting has rarely seen action in TNG and later series, which were somewhat more 'civilized' compared to the original series.

Comments

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