Why does a phaser sometimes vaporize organic matter and sometimes not on a maximum setting of kill?

Question

It appears that a phaser vaporizes organic matter on maximum setting. Remember that in this episode several lower settings barely phase Yuta but the maximum setting completely vaporizes her with no visible remains in the episode.

In TNG Episode "Vengeance Factor"

RIKER: Stop. (The first shot is a mild stun. Yuta staggers, then reaches for Chorgan again. The next shot is higher. Then Riker puts the phaser up to full power)

RIKER: Yuta, don't do this. (She moves towards Chorgan again, and Riker vaporizes her)

However In TNG episode "Aquiel" we see that even to end up with gooey remains it would take thirty to forty seconds at the maximum setting.

In TNG episode "Aquiel"

RIKER: Doctor Crusher tells me that in order to inflict the kind of molecular damage found in Rocha's remains, it would take a sustained phaser discharge of at least thirty to forty seconds. That doesn't sound like self-defence to me.

Somehow in the TNG episode "Conspiracy" a human that was infected with the alien parasite was only stunned by a phaser set at maximum.

In TNG episode "Conspiracy"

CRUSHER [OC]: You must set your phaser on kill. Stun has little effect.

So my question is when does a phaser kill organic matter and when does it vaporize it? You can add in the "goo" as well from the episode "Conspiracy" if you like. If you could give some information as to why it works differently in different circumstances that would be helpful.

Answer 1

There is a difference in the power settings available in different models of phasers. The STUN settings (of various levels) are supposed to disable the target without causing any serious damage. The KILL settings don't necessarily kill all targets, they just cause varying amounts of damage (I think Beverly Crusher once shot an alien in the chest on a high KILL setting leaving a fist-sized hole in it's chest, but that still didn't kill it immediately). The highest possible phaser levels are DISRUPT settings, which actually disintegrate the target. It's unclear from watching whether the incidents where targets aren't disintegrated are due to a less-powerful model of phaser or if the person firing the weapon simply chose a lower setting for some reason.

Answer 2

Since we don't really know how a phaser works, even in-universe, one can only guess. Possibilities include, but are not limited to:

• molecular/particle cohesion is greater in some beings than others;
• psionic or energy shielding could resist the vaporization effect;
• the induced chemical change of "vaporization" may differ based on chemical composition;
• variations in energy absorption characteristics.

Answer 3

Ok, so a phaser uses the rapid nadion effect, but that's relatively unimportant right now. There are 16 settings on a phaser, according to the Star Trek Next Generation Technical Manual. Settings 1-3 are light to heavy stun, 5-6 are burn, 7 is kill instantly, and 8 is vaporizing organic matter, which is normally called maximum. 9-12 are for vaporizing things like rock, or metal. 13-16 are self destruct settings, and have the power of a very small ICBM. And another thing: to vaporize a target, you must put the same amount, or more, of energy that was used to form said object. So things that were formed with more energy requires more energy to vaporize. And covering the "beaming through the shields" thing, the shields have a frequency, and they cycle through patterns. Anyone who saw Star Trek Generations knows when you have a weapon/whatever at the same frequency as the shields, you can go through. So that will work, and the other reason is that shields have gaps in them every so often, as to scan the surroundings, and you can use said gaps to beam through. So that wraps up everything.

Answer 4

Same reason why you can beam through raised shields one week, and not next week; Inconsistent writing. ( Yes, that improved during TNG's run, but still . . . )