Talk:Fictional applications of real materials

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[edit] Iridium Used as Currency

I think someone should mention how Iridium was used as "currency" and also a means to measure a civilization's wealth/power in Isaac Asimov's Foundation's Trilogy. absolutecaliber


I can't understand how the recreational use of diethyl ether can be seen as a fictional application of real materials, since the inhalation of this compound induces effects similar to the inhalation of other low molecular weight organic compounds (such as ethyl chloride or the organic solvents present in some glues), which are related to membrane fluidity modulation in neurons.

  • And I can't understand how hiding in a cardboard box is a fictional application of a cardboard box. 68.74.12.24 22:39, 6 June 2006 (UTC)

May I remind you that nobody uses a cardboard box the way depicted on Metal Gear Solid??--Zephir 20:08, 12 June 2006 (UTC)

I think it's silly to suggest that hiding in a box is fictional. Kids do it all the time. The fictional part of it is that snake gets away with it.--Drawde83 00:00, 13 June 2006 (UTC)

it was phrik alloy though it looks much like electrum. Sochwa 19:11, 15 August 2006 (UTC)

That's a good argument. --Zephir 12:41, 27 June 2006 (UTC)

[edit] also in metal gear solid

i believe it is metal gear solid two where snake can normally swim, but cannot fall into a certain body of water against a certain boss, because the water is "heavy water" and the claim is that because of the compund, humans cannot swim in this water but will in fact sink to the bottom right away..... is this true? —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 66.218.37.104 (talk • contribs) .

D2O has a 10% higher density than common water (hence "heavy" water), so you'd actually be a little more buoyant and swim more easily. However there have been cases of people drowning in (lighter than water) cooking oil (head first in a tight container if I recall correctly, though buoyancy may also have played a role). Femto 19:38, 12 July 2006 (UTC)

I do not believe that sniffing ether is a fictional use. Does anyone know anything else about this? 82.5.167.145 16:35, 6 September 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Also in Ace Ventura: Pet Detective

Jim Carrey's character, Ace Ventura, sneaks up on a running football player with a bottle of chloroform, spills it on a handkerchief and puts it over his mouth as he jumps on him from behind. This induces the typical symptoms of a short struggle and collapse.

[edit] Perfluoropropyl furan

Mentioned in the entry for The Abyss. Where did this name come from? The screenplay only mentions a "Oxygenated fluorocarbon emulsion". -- Ch'marr 01:27, 5 October 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Chocolate in Harry Potter

Would the use of chocolate as an antidote to the emotional effects of contact with dementors in the Harry Potter series count as a fictional application of a real material? I know chocolate can actually produce an emotional boost in reality, but it seems to me the speed and effectiveness with which chocolate cures the 'depression' caused by exposure to dementors is significantly exaggerated from chocolate's real effects. Of course it could be seen as the type of depression caused by short term exposure to dementors being much easier to cure than real depression, in which case is it would be the properties of the mood cured by chocolate being fictional, rather than the properties of the chocolate being fictional. I've always thought the effect of dementors was supposed to be portrayed as in most cases indistinguishable from non-magical depression though. Any thoughts? —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 82.10.101.241 (talk • contribs) .

Sounds perfectly reasonable, go ahead. Femto 14:16, 8 October 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Superman & Lead

X-Rays cannot penetrate lead, so surely this is not a fictional application of a real material? --John24601 10:56, 16 October 2006 (UTC)

[edit] expand

Those with time should expand this for the many uses for gemstones, like diamond (SNL, Ducktales, X-men, etc.), emerald (Sonic), pearl, amber, amethyst, geode, obsidian. And there should be other uses for mercury, sulfur, uranium, cobalt, antimony, neon, and boron. -lysdexia 06:24, 19 October 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Should this really be a table?

I'm thinking here, perhaps the article should be moved from a table form, to a more common paragraph form, with the material names as headings? —The preceding unsigned comment was added by Jonathan Drain (talk • contribs) .

Makes sense, especially since the Source column doesn't quite seem to work out as intended, with all those "Various"es. Femto 14:53, 31 October 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Some entries concern fictional materials coincidentally named the same as real materials

The "Carbonite" entry shouldn't be in this article because real carbonite is an explosive. The table entry concerns a totally different, fictional material invented for the Star Wars universe. Similarly, the first use for electrum concerns a fictional liquid. The entry for promethium also should be deleted for the same reason. TheGoblin 23:16, 25 November 2006 (UTC)

I'd strongly prefer to keep it all included. Fictional applications of real materials, fictional applications of fictional materials named like real materials, as well as real applications of real materials in fiction.
Interestingly, someone else above is of the opinion that the diethyl ether entry should be removed because fictional uses of real properties of real materials don't belong here. How "totally different" from the real name does a material have to be before we consider it fiction? How "real" does an application have to be before it isn't a fictional use anymore? The page says "Some are fictional substances that have the same names as real substances." so this point shouldn't be a problem.
If it wasn't for this page, I'd be back at thorium battling trivia about the fictional WoW metal of the same name. The "In popular culture" section there is reserved for all that refers to the tangible subject of the article, and everything "In fiction" belongs here. We need this as a place where all such trivia is allowed and appropriate, otherwise it ends up in the main articles anyway. If you think the content doesn't quite fit this article's name, maybe we can come up with a more appropriate title? Femto 11:28, 26 November 2006 (UTC)


[edit] Lots of bad information is in this article.

I unfortunately don't have time to clean up the article myself, and I don't know how to tag an article for cleanup... My major concern is the entries listing materials used as normal in a fictional setting. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 68.93.74.103 (talk • contribs) .

See above. Femto 15:42, 26 November 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Cheddite

Is cheddite a real material? Has anyone actually irradiated cheddar cheese? If not, it's fictional, even though cheddar cheese is real.

--84.9.78.198 12:13, 27 November 2006 (UTC)

Though unrelated to cheese, there are real "cheddite" explosives. Femto 14:27, 27 November 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Isotopes and Heavy Elements

I zapped "Heculanium", apparently a super-material in Blake's Seven that may or may not be element 124, which in reality doesn't exist (yet). If it goes in it should presumably be under the systematic name which is Unbiquadium, but that's current up for deletion on grounds of non-notability/existence.

More difficult is "Quadium", which is a name for Hydrogen-4 in The Mouse That Roared. Laboratory synthesis of 4H has been confirmed, but way after the novel was written. Wibberley presumably intended it to be a fictional material.

Do we have to list all the references to made-up isotopes in fiction? (just to say that it has a half-life in femtoseconds and does not give you superpowers etc?)

--Slogby 03:25, 2 December 2006 (UTC)

I'm not so sure. Is there any reason to assume Wibberley didn't think it was possible to synthesise? IMHO, most likely, he/she used something which perhaps could exist. In a sense, it probably didn't really matter to Wibberly if it was likely to be sythesised but IMHO, it doesn't necessarily mean it was a fictional material Nil Einne 17:46, 8 December 2006 (UTC)
Ok, I've moved it to Hydrogen-4. Slogby 06:33, 12 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Adamantium

Adamantium is a fictional element which when alloyed with steel produces a material that is harder and more durable than diamond.

Adamantium has been used as a plot device for the unique skeletal weaponry of X-men's Wolverine, as well as the meters thick vault door to the ancient Krell laboratory area in Forbidden planet, which briefly held at bay all of the energy that could be produced by the massive underground power infrastructure of their fatally flawed thought projection machine. 70.106.60.44 03:48, 29 January 2007 (UTC)

[edit] expand

Why did nobody expand as I said? -lysdexia 02:55, 2 February 2007 (UTC)

Ha. This is very funny. --Chris Griswold (☎☓) 07:22, 5 February 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Obsidian

Added because it's uses in weaponry give it physical properties that are in many cases superior to those it has in real life.

[edit] K...

I really don't see this as an "application" of the material, and think Destiny's road ought to be removed. The same probably goes for Protector Thallium, but at least in this case the relationship is actually fictitious; you really would not do well without potassium, even if the symptoms aren't the same as in the book. Indeed, a lot of these seem to be really sketchy: Ti, Sn hats, Ag bullets. --Belg4mit 04:47, 25 March 2007 (UTC)

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