Chemical Education Today
Report: My Favorite Element
Chemical Elements in Fantasy and Science Fiction by Juliane Ober and Thomas Krebs
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Mithril was inspired by several substances. The metal titanium, at left, is one of them.
Next meet the element dilithium that has its home in the science fiction universe of Star Trek—from the oldest to the newest shows and movies. Dilithium fuels the warp engine (2) of spaceships, thus making possible space travel that is faster than the speed of light. Dilithium is a very hard, crystalline mineral that looks like quartz crystals—simply because quartz was what was used as a prop in the TV series. Dilithium is mined on several planets in the Star Trek universe, and its crystalline structure is described in Star Trek: The Next Generation Technical Manual (3) as 2〈5〉6 dilithium 2〈:〉1 diallosilicate 1:9:1 heptoferranide. The mineral’s properties are described in Star Trek as: It is the only known element that can be rendered non-reactive to antimatter when exposed to a high frequency electromagnetic field. It can control the flow of antimatter in the reaction chamber, and thus regulate the matter–antimatter reaction rate. Makes sense, doesn’t it? Lastly, we will look at the element vibranium, which exists in the universe of Marvel Comic Books. Vibranium is a metal with just two isotopes; each isotope can be found in only one place on Earth—one is the small country of Wakanda in Africa, where a meteorite composed of vibranium crashed 10,000 years
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We invite you into a world where extraordinary chemical elements with unique powers exist. In the world of literature and movies, with genres such as fantasy where fictitious elements are described in a very mystical way; or in science fiction, where authors can saturate an element with make-believe science. The use of fictional elements is not new—an early example can be found in Critias, a dialogue by Plato about Atlantis, where Orichalcum, a gold-colored metal, was used in the construction of the Temple to Poseidon and Cleito. Because it would be an endless task to describe all of the fictitious elements, we decided to introduce you to three of the main ones. Let’s start with an element that everybody who loves fantasy must have heard about: mithril. The element is first mentioned in Tolkien’s The Hobbit (1) in the form of a shirt made of chain mail. The name mithril has its origins in Tolkien’s elven language and means gray glitter. It is described as follows: “It could be beaten like copper, and polished like glass; and the Dwarves could make of it a metal, light and yet harder than tempered steel. Its beauty was like to that of common silver, but the beauty of mithril did not tarnish or grow dim.” It is forged into armor, weapons, or jewelry, but in Tolkien’s world of Middle Earth you will only find ancient objects made out of mithril as no new mithril source has been found so far.
Dilithium has the appearance of rose-quartz, at right, but very different properties.
ago. This Wakanda isotope absorbs the vibrations and kinetic energy directed at it; the energy is stored in the material up to a certain point—then it explodes and releases the energy. As more energy is stored in it, the element is harder to destroy. The Wakanda isotope also sends out radiation that mutates living matter. The other isotope of vibranium, often called anti-metal, can be found in an artificially created jungle in the Antarctic. It seems to have properties opposite to the Wakanda isotope, because it emits vibrations instead of absorbing them. These waves cause metals to liquefy in its surroundings, because they break down molecular bonds. The Shield of Captain America is the most famous object made of vibranium. Vibranium has been used by many superheroes to create armor that will stop bullets and other moving objects. It is also used to move without sound, to walk on vertical surfaces, to land safely from great heights, and to generate vibrations to break down objects. To explore these worlds further, there is a good extended list of fictional materials in Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ Fictional_elements. There are also many science fiction fans who have developed periodic tables that include fictional/fictitious elements; an example is at http://fictionalmaterials.com/. (Both sites accessed Jun 2009.) Literature Cited and Notes 1. Tolkien, J. R. R. The Hobbit; Allen & Unwin, Ltd.: London, 1937. Tolkien, an English writer and Oxford professor, was the author of much fantasy literature. 2. A warp engine is a non-Newtonian propulsion system used in spaceships. 3. Sternbach, R.; Okuda, M. Star Trek: The Next Generation Technical Manual; Pocket Books: New York, 1991.
Supporting JCE Online Material
http://www.jce.divched.org/Journal/Issues/2009/Oct/abs1141.html Abstract and keywords Full text (PDF) with links to cited URLs
Juliane Ober and Thomas Krebs are in the Department of Chemistry, University of Wisconsin–Madison, Madison, WI 53706;
[email protected];
[email protected].
© Division of Chemical Education • www.JCE.DivCHED.org • Vol. 86 No. 10 October 2009 • Journal of Chemical Education
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