Overload in the Asgard Hyperdrive???

[McSwift]

In SGA Season 4 - The Last Man,

The Phoenix was in a battle with the Wraith. Essentially massive damage was dealt on the Phoenix, and in the battle scene, it seems like there was a large fire on the right side of the ship.

After the large explosions, "the Asgard Hyperdrive went critical".

What would that mean?

Sam told the pilot to reroute the power, but "systems did not respond".

How would that effect anything, rerouting the power?

[Crazy Tom]

Phlat Hwl?

[McSwift]

excuse me?

[RM_2000_A]

Phlat Hwl?

I'd translate his statement for you. It might be or is a plot hole.

[Splitsecond]

I would assume that the attack damaged the hyperdrive's safety procedures, integrity or energy regulation and was now approaching a point where the energy build up in the core, due to the damage or the core charging up, was going to cause some sort of reaction or explosion, by diverting the power it would take longer or stop the overload.

[peragrin]

WEAPONS OFFICER: We've got an overload. It's the hyperdrive!

CARTER: Reroute the power!

WEAPONS OFFICER: No response. System is going critical.

JONAS
Unless you're deliberately trying to create an overload.
DONOVAN
I don't understand.
JONAS
The hyperdrive generators create an enormous amount of energy, and if it's not channeled into creating a hyperspace window, it can cause some serious problems.

Carter was trying to flee because it was a trap. They were boxed in. The Hyperdrive was most likely being charged to leave in a hurry as they had already lost primary weapons and were resorting to Missiles. One of the hives did enough damage to cause a power surge in the hyperdrive, but the safety systems engaged to prevent it from opening an unstable window. As seen in Episode 6x01, 6x02 and 6x20 Memento.

Under Fire they didn't have time to repair the drive, and they didn't have beam weapons to fire to help lose the charge. If your going to go big badda boom anyways you might as well make it bigger.

[RM_2000_A]

Or it might be that the Hyperdrive is damaged, and overloading and Carter tried to transfer the power going to the Hyperdrive into the shields or something to prevent the overload.

[Halzman]

Think of the hyperdrive overloading in terms of what happened in 'Trinity'. When Sheppard and McKay went back to the planet to resume work on Project Arcturus the weapon/system overloaded. The weapons itself is like a release valve in the case of an overload. However, when the weapon cannot discharge enough of the energy and it continues to build up, it overloads completely.

In 'The Last Man' the hyperdrive was damaged. By rerouting the power you would be taking away the potential for an overload to happen.

Look at it like a car engine too. The engine utilizes small amounts of gas for internal combustion. If however, the part that regulates how much gas flows into the combustion chamber gets damaged, the chamber would get flooded and create an explosion far greater then what the engine was meant to handle. In this case you would have to reroute the gas away from the engine.

[peragrin]

Bad Car Analogy.

ooh car analogies are bad. they never work quite right. If you dump too much gas into the mix it simply floods the engine to the point of stopping it.

The rest of your post is correct though.
The best comparison is like this.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WeWq6rWzChw

The damaged hyperdrive(battery) builds up a charge with no way to dissipate it, So it explodes releasing it's energy quickly.

Now if that Dell had some kick arse Lasers to dissipate the energy stored quickly it might not have burned.

[Halzman]

ooh car analogies are bad. they never work quite right. If you dump too much gas into the mix it simply floods the engine to the point of stopping it.

The rest of your post is correct though.
The best comparison is like this.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WeWq6rWzChw

The damaged hyperdrive(battery) builds up a charge with no way to dissipate it, So it explodes releasing it's energy quickly.

Now if that Dell had some kick arse Lasers to dissipate the energy stored quickly it might not have burned.

True, but if the sparkplug is still activate, it will ignite and blow up the car.

A car engine is basically a cannon (like McKay built in 'Trio') A chamber has a certain amount of gas in it, which is then ignited, and the force from the explosion can be used to move something. In 'Trio' the case was to propel a grappling hook. In an engine, that force is used to turn an axle. However, if you use too much gas, or dont have a sufficient opening relative to the amount of gas, as McKay said it, you have yourself a pipe bomb.

And I wouldnt say that battery is a good example... nothing actually exploded. Because of the reaction, it generated alot of heat which built up quickly. That in turn melted the cell's enclosure, which then punctured the hand rest of the laptop. If the cell enclosure was strong enough and the same amount of steam built up, then I'd give it to ya, cause then you essentially have a grenade (the pressure built up from the steam would put stress on the enclosure until it burst/exploded). With the laptop, there is no risk of explosion, just fire. That fire may indirectly cause an explosion, but thats a whole 'nother situation.

[peragrin]

ER no. Gas requires a certain air mixtures in order to burn at all. If you put too much in nothing happens, it actually stalls out. Mythbusters lit a gas tank that was leaking gas. They couldn't make it blow up. Gas explosions are generally a hollywood myth. Theroretically it is possible to pass a lit match and put it out in a tank of gas. You ned cold air and high pressure though to limit gas vapor.

While your right about the battery,we don't know the internal of a hyperdrive enough to know the differences.

[RM_2000_A]

Halzman is correct, but all the car analogies woudn't work. Try using an analogy with electric cars, sice we are talking about electricity, not gasoline-powered hyperdrives.