Just took a quick look, and despite star trek being notorious for things moving and working at "the speed of plot", phasers are described much more often than not as EM weapons that move at the speed of light. This starting with Gene Roddenberry himself (the original pilot even called them lasers, and he had the name changed just so people wouldn't ***** about the one screen depiction not matching exactly with how lasers are known to behave... sound familiar? ). Several tech manuals and wiki's confirm that they are EM, though occasionally, even in the show there is mention of them being particle based. Go figure. One tech manual attempts to explain that by claiming that the power source and energy radiation are exotic particle based, but the beam itself that is released is EM.
Interestingly, according to deep space nine, recent upgrades and advances in technology have allowed phasers to be fired in the subspace realm, traveling at warp+ speeds. That might give the herky-jerky Andromeda something to think about.
Interestingly, according to deep space nine, recent upgrades and advances in technology have allowed phasers to be fired in the subspace realm, traveling at warp+ speeds. That might give the herky-jerky Andromeda something to think about.
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