We’ve seen it many, many times: the ship gets into a firefight, takes a few hits, shakes around, and consoles explode (possibly taking an unfortunate ensign with them). Eventually the battle is resolved with our heroes largely intact if somewhat shaken up. If it was a particularly nasty battle, there will be signs of damage: scorches on the walls, deformed equipment, busted lights, and rocks scattered about.
All of that seems reasonable… except the rocks, which look pretty out of place in a spiffy 24th century starship. So why are they there?
I’ve been making that observation for at least 30 years about how Starfleet components are silicate based.
One of thoughts I’ve had over the years is that what we as see as rocks is actually the afterproduct of an internal fire suppression foam.
There’s a lot of high voltage coursing throughout consoles, what with electroplasma conduits and all, and in a battle situation with shields trying to absorb energy from impacts the danger of overload is very real. When that happens, fire suppression systems spray the inside with a rapidly hardening foam to prevent catastrophic explosions. But when the systems get inevitably overwhelmed and the console blows, the expended and hardened foam shatters, expelled like rocky debris so make room for the next level of suppression to take over. Without the foam, the explosion would have been much worse.