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Reverse Polarity: Difference between revisions
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(Import from TV Tropes TVT:Main.ReversePolarity 2012-07-01, editor history TVTH:Main.ReversePolarity, CC-BY-SA 3.0 Unported license) |
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'''Harley Quinn:''' I don't know... [[Take That|but it always works on]] ''[[Star Trek|Star Quest]]''.|''[[Gotham Girls]]'', "Cold Hands, Cold Heart"}}
When a major obstacle in a [[Science Fiction]] show is resolved purely through the judicious application of [[Techno Babble]], the characters have successfully Reversed the Polarity. It seems that every futuristic gadget or space ship subsystem performs some miraculous function if only you route the power through it ''backwards''. [[Beam Me Up, Scotty|Urban legend has it]] the expression originated on ''[[Doctor Who (TV)|Doctor Who]]''. In reality, the phrase "Reverse the Polarity" [[Older Than They Think|can be traced back at least as far back as]] a [[Carl Barks]] comic in March 1961. However, it was popularized by ''[[Doctor Who (TV)|Doctor Who]],'' as Jon Pertwee asked the writers for a simple piece of [[Techno Babble]] he could reliably deliver. The version most associated with the Third Doctor is "reverse the polarity of the neutron flow", although he [[Beam Me Up, Scotty|only said it once]] during his time as the Doctor.
A type of [[Applied Phlebotinum]], Reversing the Polarity is the be-all end-all technical solution for any problem. Usually only thought of at the very end of the show ("Captain... we could reverse the polarity of the positron toilet and send a stream of charged crap particles ''toward'' the Romulans, rather than ''away''..."). It always works. Always.
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Compare to [[Tim Taylor Technology]].
{{examples
== Anime & Manga ==
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* ''[[Star Trek the Next Generation]]''
** Geordi could make the Enterprise do anything by "routing (some piece of [[Techno Babble]]) through the main deflector array".
** [[
* In the ''[[Star Trek Voyager]]'' episode "Drone", Janeway and Seven of Nine thought they could fry a Borg tractor beam by reversing the polarity of Voyager's phaser banks; it looked on-screen like it was about to work, and instead their own phaser array was knocked out.
** Memory Alpha records a total of at least five instances in which this order was given on the show. In three instances, it was helpful; in two, it was not.
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{{quote| '''Arthur Rollo:''' Yes, yes. I know what it's supposed to do. But, uh, how about the other one? The Minus-X?<br />
'''Lillian Stemmler:''' No problem. To get the Minus-X drug, I only have to reverse the chemical processes inherent in the Plus-X. }}
** In "The Moonglow Affair", Solo and Kuryakin are poisoned with deadly radiation from a THRUSH ray gun. To cure them, [[Poorly
* Reversing the polarity of the [[Lexx]]'s main drive causes an EMP of sufficient power to fry any circuits on or near the ship.
* ''[[Power Rangers RPM]]'': "Ranger Blue" -- Flynn can't morph due to a bug in his morpher that has led to an energy buildup. While Dr. K is unable to work out a solution, Flynn realizes that he can discharge the energy by simply morphing with his activator chip in ''backwards''.
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** ''[[Batman]]'' episode "How Many Herring In A Wheelbarrow?". To stop the Joker's Solar Mirror from melting Gotham City, Batman must reverse the polarity of the Master Electrodes powering it by hitting them simultaneously with Batarangs. Seriously.
** ''[[Hawkman]]'' episode "The Twenty Third Dimension". Hawkman's "quazer" is converted into a Dimension Ray by reversing its polarity.
** ''[[The Atom]]'' episode "The House of Doom''. The Atom reverses the polarity of a miniature nuclear battery to turn it into a [[Self
* In an episode of the original ''[[Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 1987 (Animation)|Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles]]'' cartoon, "Enter The Fly", one of Shredder's evil schemes failed because Baxter Stockman "forgot to reverse the polarity of the neutron flow".
** This is also how Donatello Deus Ex Machina's just about every other episode once all of the hilarity and wacky hijinks have been taken care of.
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* A certain model of text message pager made by Motorola and [http://content.arch.com/userguides/guides/UnicationP900UserGuide.pdf Unication] can be cleared from certain faults by removing and re-inserting the single AA battery in reverse to the normal installation for about 15 seconds, then removing it and installing it normally again.
* [[Antimatter]] is normal matter with [[Reverse Polarity]]. The charges of protons and electrons are switched.
** Every particle also spins into the opposite direction as their normal counterpart. Combining both gets you a real-life [[Yin
* Technical support sometimes ask people to reverse the wire. Of course, this is just a subtle way of making sure the customer has the danged thing actually plugged in.
* Most mains-powered electronic devices with ungrounded (2 prong) cords have the neutral side of the cord connected to the case through a small capacitor. This provides a high-pass filtered path to ground on the case. The idea is to allow high frequency (typically RF) noise to be shunted to ground to prevent interference. Back in the days of non-polarized two-prong plugs, there was actually a benefit to reversing the plug to minimize noise. While the line is AC, it is not balanced. One side is grounded. If two audio devices are connected together, it is best if both cases are bonded to the same side of the mains wiring, ideally the grounded side. Otherwise a small AC current is induced in the shield of the interconnecting cables, which in turn induces a hum in the signal wire.
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