Question

how does star trek replicators work

Answer 1

How does the Star Trek replicator work, and what are its limitations?
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2 ANSWERS
David Helton
David Helton, Lover of Books. Writer. Nerd. Mythology and Philosophy Enthusiast. Gamer.
Answered Jun 7, 2015
The replicator is, essentially, the natural evolution of the 3D printers we have now, and they have analogous limitations as well.

How do they work?
In the future that Star Trek presents, humans have more raw energy than they rightly know what to do with. This has allowed the use of two similar technologies: The Replicator and The Transporter. The transporter breaks a human being into energy, transports it, and reforms it based on a stored pattern. The replicator does the exact same thing. It starts with a pattern, uses energy and subatomic particles (which are everywhere in the universe) and turns them into the component molecules of a thing and then forms the thing itself from those molecules.

Answer 2

The Star Trek replicator is a magic box that produces anything you want by breaking the law of conservation of energy…I kid, I kid. Sort of.

In theory replicators operate by taking a reservoir of atoms of the more common elements and using nano-scale transporter beams to take the atoms from the reservoir and arrange them into any desired configuration of compounds.

And I say “in theory” because really it’s a magic box that can make (almost) everything by ignoring conservation laws the way it’s written.