Starfleet Jedi

There are many instances in SW where ships are seen smoking and flaming in a vacuum. Obviously, there is no atmosphere in space, no air, therefore there can be no smoke or flame. However, we still see this phenomenon several times over.

I was wondering if this flame and smoke could be present, because of atmosphere that has leaked out of the damaged ship. It is obvious that a direct hit to a ship could trigger an explosion inside the ship, but could this still be present as the air leaks into the vacuum?

Airlocke_Jedi_Knight wrote:There are many instances in SW where ships are seen smoking and flaming in a vacuum. Obviously, there is no atmosphere in space, no air, therefore there can be no smoke or flame. However, we still see this phenomenon several times over.

I was wondering if this flame and smoke could be present, because of atmosphere that has leaked out of the damaged ship. It is obvious that a direct hit to a ship could trigger an explosion inside the ship, but could this still be present as the air leaks into the vacuum?

I think that as you posted is the result of escaped atmosphere fanning the flames. In Stargate the same phenomenon can be observed.

In the reimagined Battlestar Galactica miniseries, the nuke damage to the port flight pod had visible smoke and flames pouring out of it until the section was sealed off and vented.
-Mike

There is a scene from Babylon 5 (can't recall when exactly) where two characters are observing a fighter battle from an observation room on the station. One asks the other why they see red and green (I think) flashes. The answer is that the human pilots of the star furies breath oxygen which burns red when ignited by enemy fire. The alien forces must breathe an atmosphere which burns green. I always liked that scene.

I've always thought the flames came from escaping air. It's possible they are allowed to burn longer than science dictates for dramatic effect.

Thank you, that is what I thought, but, as I am a novice in these areas, wasn't sure.

Airlocke_Jedi_Knight wrote:There are many instances in SW where ships are seen smoking and flaming in a vacuum. Obviously, there is no atmosphere in space, no air, therefore there can be no smoke or flame. However, we still see this phenomenon several times over.

I was wondering if this flame and smoke could be present, because of atmosphere that has leaked out of the damaged ship. It is obvious that a direct hit to a ship could trigger an explosion inside the ship, but could this still be present as the air leaks into the vacuum?

The only likely explanation for this would be the burning of volatile gasses including O2, which were leaking.

Tyralak wrote:

Airlocke_Jedi_Knight wrote:There are many instances in SW where ships are seen smoking and flaming in a vacuum. Obviously, there is no atmosphere in space, no air, therefore there can be no smoke or flame. However, we still see this phenomenon several times over.

I was wondering if this flame and smoke could be present, because of atmosphere that has leaked out of the damaged ship. It is obvious that a direct hit to a ship could trigger an explosion inside the ship, but could this still be present as the air leaks into the vacuum?

The only likely explanation for this would be the burning of volatile gasses including O2, which were leaking.

(WHOOT! My Geo Sciences degree is gonna be useful on a sci-fi debate forum! :-D )

Not quite. There are several alloys and minerals that can burn on their own in a vacuum, many of which have quite useful structural properties (the reason they are used). For the most part they are atomic structures that contain a high precentage of reactive elements, Cholrine, Florine, Hydrogen, Sodium, Oxygen, etc.. And a low precentage of non-reactive elements; Silicon, Argon, Carbon, etc.. There are several types of reactions that they undergo, though the only one I remember off the top of my head is a thermite reaction (The most common being FeO(x)+Al(x)=Fe(x)+AlO(x))

For those that want to point out that a thermite reaction has oxygen in it, go right ahead. The Oxygen is never gaseous and it serves as an example of how a chemical reaction can occure in a null atmosphere.

CrippledVulture wrote:There is a scene from Babylon 5 (can't recall when exactly) where two characters are observing a fighter battle from an observation room on the station. One asks the other why they see red and green (I think) flashes. The answer is that the human pilots of the star furies breath oxygen which burns red when ignited by enemy fire. The alien forces must breathe an atmosphere which burns green. I always liked that scene.

I've always thought the flames came from escaping air. It's possible they are allowed to burn longer than science dictates for dramatic effect.

Are you sure it was B5 and not Space: Above and Beyond? There some people were asking about the red and green flashes and someone replied something to the effect that the red flashes were from human ships while the green flashes were from the Chigs. I think someone mentioned that there were a lot more red flashes than green.