The Stargate - Newb Questions

[Mozzza]

So SGU is the first SG series I've ever watched (absolutely love the show) and I have a few questions about the stargate:

1 - When Eli sticks his hand into the event horizon, it doesn't appear on the other side of the gate. This makes sense, but, what would happen if Eli slowly moved into the puddle - would the puddle push his body through to the other side or would he become trapped?
2 - Why doesn't dust blow in and through to the Destiny? - I'm guessing it doesn't have enough force and therefore becomes trapped?
3 - If I am correct about 2, then this would also explain why oxygen doesn't leak from the ship when the stargate is active.
4 - If I am correct about 1 and 2 where objects that do not have enough force do not make it through, what if an object has too much force - such as a bullet from a gun? - What if it's so fast that the gate can't catch it, so to speak - or would it catch it and go through?
5 - We've seen what happens when the puddle swooshes out and there was something/somebody in the way. The upper half of the alien got cut off, however, it didn't make it through to Destiny (I believe this was in se2 ep5 - "Cloverdale"). Why didn't it make it through? - Was the connection not fully established? Also, what would happen if the entire body of the alien was caught in the swoosh? (Don't bother answering that if the answer is that the connection was not fully established.)
6 - Does the Stargate come with any funky colour options?

Cheers!

[blazingfire]

1. Matter gets converted into energy once the entire object is inside the event horizon, otherwise nothing would happen, but a object is half inside the wormhole and the gate shuts down, the half that was inside would be destroyed.

2. The gate can sense what's actively trying to pass through the gate and its surrounding atmosphere and differentiate between the two, not allowing the atmosphere to pass.

4. Can't really understand what you're saying but anything can pass through the stargate no matter whether's it's moving fast or slow (from a bloodied note to a bullet)

5. The 'swoosh' or 'kawoosh' is an unstable vortex of energy, and anything caught in would be vapourised.

6. See the Milky Way and Pegasus Stargates. For that matter you should probably watch SG1 and Atlantis also.

[Quadhelix]

So SGU is the first SG series I've ever watched (absolutely love the show) and I have a few questions about the stargate:

Welcome to the fandom!

1 - When Eli sticks his hand into the event horizon, it doesn't appear on the other side of the gate. This makes sense, but, what would happen if Eli slowly moved into the puddle - would the puddle push his body through to the other side or would he become trapped?

We've seen contradictory evidence on this point: a bouquet was pushed into the Stargate in an early episode of SG-1, but a spaceship that got stuck in the Stargate stayed there when it was unstuck in an early episode of Atlantis.

2 - Why doesn't dust blow in and through to the Destiny? - I'm guessing it doesn't have enough force and therefore becomes trapped?
3 - If I am correct about 2, then this would also explain why oxygen doesn't leak from the ship when the stargate is active.

The characters in the show had guessed that there was some mechanism in the Stargate to

4 - If I am correct about 1 and 2 where objects that do not have enough force do not make it through, what if an object has too much force - such as a bullet from a gun? - What if it's so fast that the gate can't catch it, so to speak - or would it catch it and go through?

To my knowledge, we have not seen an upper limit on the speed of an object attempting to travel through a Stargate. Indeed, in one episode of SG-1, the team acquired superpowers, and was able to travel through the Stargate at "superspeed."

5 - We've seen what happens when the puddle swooshes out and there was something/somebody in the way. The upper half of the alien got cut off, however, it didn't make it through to Destiny (I believe this was in se2 ep5 - "Cloverdale"). Why didn't it make it through? - Was the connection not fully established? Also, what would happen if the entire body of the alien was caught in the swoosh? (Don't bother answering that if the answer is that the connection was not fully established.)

That has been established for quite a while as an "unstable vortex" that completely annihilates anything in its path. It is not, so to speak, part of the puddle as much as it is a byproduct of the formation of the wormhole.

6 - Does the Stargate come with any funky colour options?

Not to my knowledge.

[wolverine_nl]

1 - The gate only transfers material/beings when they are 100% inside the puddle. The puddle does not pull you in (not sure about this, i have seen evidence that contradicts this) -edit
2 - You have answered this one by yourself, but I think it also has something to do with materialmass and density (there is a SG1 episode were you see that the outgoing gate is in an ocean and they can also gate back and the puddle holds the water from entering, the Ancients probably build in a safeguard for waterworlds.
3 - yes
4 - yes, in SG1 you can see staffweaponfire comin through the gate (energyweapons)
5 - The kawoosh incinerates everything in its path.
6 - Every Stargate show has different type of gates. SGU has the oldest type.

[Mozzza]

Wow, thanks for the informative replies, and so fast! I think I like this forum .

I'm quite amazed at how much I have missed from SG-1 and SGA. I guess I should watch them, but I wasn't really satisfied with the acting in SGA (that might just be me, I didn't really give it a fair chance).

Well, SGU goes on break next week, so I'll start SG1 from the beginning soon .

Thanks a lot for answering my questions

[Jper]

1. A Stargate has a "hyper-spatial buffer". As long as an object is entering the puddle at one side, the info is stored inside the buffer. Only when the object has completely entered and every piece of it is inside the buffer, then the gate will transmit that to the dialed gate and there reform the object. Until an object is completely through, it can still be pulled back out of the event horizon.

Note that a Stargate can only remain open for about 38 minutes. Then if something is stuck in the gate, so partially present in the buffer, the part that is stuck in the gate, in the buffer will be lost.

Check out, SG1 S5E14 48 Hours. And SGA S1E4 38 minutes.

2 & 3. A Stargate is able to discern whether something is "trying" to pass through as opposed to pressure from its ambient environment. Thus, active Stargates in an atmosphere or underwater do not allow gas or water molecules through. Check out, SG1 S4E07 Watergate.

4. Kinetic energy is conserved through a wormhole, so an object will exit a Stargate at the same speed/velocity at which it entered. There's no limit to the kinetic energy that we know of.

5. Any matter which comes into contact with the (unstable) vortex is annihilated on a molecular level.

A wormhole can be prevented from forming if a significant obstruction is present inside the Stargate's ring. Ergo burying the Stargate will seal it.

Something else, if one places a barrier just above the event horizon, this will prevent incoming matter from being reintegrated. The Iris at the SGC and the Gate shield at Atlantis are examples. These barriers also prevent the formation of the unstable vortex.

[Mozzza]

By the way, are all posts on this forum moderated, or is it only because I am new that a mod has to approve even my replies?

[Mozzza]

Thanks as well Jper. These other series sound extremely interesting too.
I didn't realise that a stargate was a re-assembly machine, I thought it was more of a wormhole that moved matter rather than destroy and re-create.

This is great! I've never really watched any sci-fi before, yet I'm very much into physics and technology, I didn't realise there was such a show on TV. I better buy the boxsets, my season 1 of SGU comes in on blu-ray soon .

Anyway, I think all my questions have been answered, and now I'm even more intrigued xD, thanks again to everybody who replied

[Quadhelix]

2 - You have answered this one by yourself, but I think it also has something to do with materialmass and density (there is a SG1 episode were you see that the outgoing gate is in an ocean and they can also gate back and the puddle holds the water from entering, the Ancients probably build in a safeguard for waterworlds..

2 & 3. A Stargate is able to discern whether something is "trying" to pass through as opposed to pressure from its ambient environment. Thus, active Stargates in an atmosphere or underwater do not allow gas or water molecules through. Check out, SG1 S4E07 Watergate.

I'm afraid that I'm going to have to refer both of you to "The Shrine": the team was trapped off-world because lowering the shield would flood the 'Gate-room. Remember that in "Waterworld": A) Carter was speculating and B) the ocean was alive - remember when the sub's window broke?

[Jper]

I'm afraid that I'm going to have to refer both of you to "The Shrine": the team was trapped off-world because lowering the shield would flood the 'Gate-room. Remember that in "Waterworld": A) Carter was speculating and B) the ocean was alive - remember when the sub's window broke?

Indeed, you are correct, so either water does indeed flood through the stargate if the gate's underwater, and then it didn't in "Watergate" (SG1 S4E7) 'cause that wasn't water, but an alien life form...

Or, in "The Shrine" the problem is that there's a build-up of pressure, with a constant rising flood. If the pressure would be constant than that'd be a different case, but here (in The Shrine) there's a significant building up of pressure, keeping the gate open (until the 38 minutes are up).

I'd say the latter is more probable. Thus, I still think that if the gate's underwater, where the pressure is constant, no significant changes in pressure, that the gate won't let the water pass through.

[wolverine_nl]

hmm strange, what about that SG1 episode with the Russian scientist going with a submarine into the gate to end up in an ocean and also going back. Little plothole here

[Jper]

hmm strange, what about that SG1 episode with the Russian scientist going with a submarine into the gate to end up in an ocean and also going back. Little plothole here

That was "Watergate".

[Jper]

By the way, are all posts on this forum moderated, or is it only because I am new that a mod has to approve even my replies?

All new members are on Probie Status.

Probie Status includes, but is not limited to, moderation.
Moderation means your posts have to be approved by moderators.
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[Mozzza]

All new members are on Probie Status.

Probie Status includes, but is not limited to, moderation.
Moderation means your posts have to be approved by moderators.
It takes a certain combination of (exact number unknown) posts, membership duration and/or green/rep count to get off Probie Status.

Ah k, thanks very much . That's a bit of a shame, my posts that were approved above were out of order (though it didn't alter the continuity of the thread, so it's okay).

Hopefully I can get off Probie soon, I really like this forum

[wolverine_nl]

That was "Watergate".

Yes, there was no forcefield holding the water back.