Lord Revan wrote:JM you like to talk about Occam's razor but tell me this which one this the more simple theory, disruptors are AM based but somehow act unlike we'd expect from an AM reactions or that disruptors are based on the same basic princibles as phasers but with minor differences to actual phasers. one adds an unknown technobabble explanation so that 1 peice of evidence triumphs over all other, the other uses an explanation that while still technobabble is with known characteristics which we can make predictions on how it should behave and more importantly does consider all evidence equally.
Then there's the thing that why would SF call them disruptors and not anti-proton beams, I mean it could cause a fatal mistake when a crew has to remember mid battle was it klingon or romulan disruptor that were the AM weapons. It just makes no sense from a tactical PoV and while UFP isn't all that militaristic, they're not THAT stupid.
Isn't it obvious? Occam's razor, lets see...
Data states anti-proton are detected, Riker chimes in immediately stating Romulan disruptors, and Data agrees. So we have two possibilities:
1. Romulan Disruptors are a/m weapons composed of anti-protons and if used would indeed have residual a/m floating around in space AND having caused a massive explosion upon contact with a un-shielded have the characteristics of a m/am explosion.
OR
2. Romulan disruptors are some strange exotic weapon never explained in any canon episodes that somehow through some further never explained process leave behind a/m based off of no canon evidence and is, in short, a weapon process invented by some fans on a vs website.
Now if we truly are having a conversation, and we honestly are trying to draw conclusions that have the greatest amount of canon support, then the simple choice in my opinion is #1.
You ask me why call something a disruptor if other disruptors clearly work off of different processes? Why would Lucas call Turbo lasers such if they aren't lasers? Obvious answer for both... SW and ST writers aren't scientists, they name things to make it sound cool with very little consideration of lore or continuity for the sake of ratings. Lets not forget, this is a tv show not reality...