Fictional chemical substance
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A fictional chemical substance is a chemical element, isotope, compound or mineral that exists only in works of fiction (usually fantasy or science fiction). It should be noted that no actual periodic elements end in '-ite', though many minerals have names with this suffix. Some of the materials listed as elements below may indeed be minerals, alloys, or other such combinations, but fictional works are often vague on such distinctions. Grouping is done by what seems most likely.
Table of contents |
Fictional elements
| Name | Source | Uses |
|---|---|---|
| Administratium | Joke | Slows down chemical reactions; a reaction normally complete in less than a second will take several days in its presence. This element is a joke, a spoof on the bureaucracy of scientific establishments and on descriptions of newly discovered elements. |
| AM2 | Sten series by Allen Cole and Christopher Bunch | Anti-matter mineral from parallel universe (only known to Emperor), the unique energy source that provides all power needs of mankind and the Earth Empire. |
| Atmospherium | The Lost Skeleton of Cadavera | An extremely rare element, abundant in outer space, which among many other uses is a power source and capable of raising the dead. If obtained and researched, it would certainly have countless benefits for Science! |
| Balonium | Futurama, others | A fictional element used to describe something as impossible or nonsensical: "Your explanations are pure, weapons-grade balonium!" |
| Balthorium | Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb | A fictional element used in the Russians' doomsday device |
| Basidiumite (also Brumblium) | Eleanor Cameron's Mushroom Planet series | A slightly greenish solid, twice the density of uranium. Infragreen spectrum. Makes up the blue-green planet Basidium. |
| Byzanium | 'Raise the Titanic' | A highly powerful radioactive element transported in a safe aboard the sunken Titanic |
| Calculon | Tintin, "Destination Moon" | Discovered by Professor Cuthbert Calculus. This substance has a silicon base and can resist very high temperatures. It was one of the scientific discoveries that enabled Professor Calculus to plan a manned mission to the Moon. |
| Cavorite | H.G. Wells' The First Men in the Moon; also used in The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen | Cavorite is impervious to gravity and can shield other materials from its effects. It is used to shield a craft from Earth's pull, allowing easy flight. It was named after its discoverer, Mr. Cavor, who used its levitational properties to travel to the Moon. |
| The Colour Out of Space | H. P. Lovecraft's horror tale "The Colour Out of Space" | Toxic and mutagenic element, of indescribable colour and unknown spectrum, from a meteorite that lands in a field. |
| Dalekanium | Doctor Who | A metal used by the Daleks as a component of their armoured casings. Also, in an alternate reality, an unstable explosive powerful enough to penetrate those casings. The two may not be the same substance. |
| Etherium | Castle in the Sky | A bright blue mineral present in small amounts in all rocks in the location Castle in the Sky takes place in. Pure crystals of etherium, which are very difficult to manufacture, are capable of repelling gravity to a degree, causing objects to float. |
| Froonium | Farscape | A substance created by series producer Richard Manning while he still worked on Star Trek to represent any esoteric material. Appeared in Farscape as an in-joke in several episodes. Manning's Fandom nickname is "Froonium Ricky". |
| Handwavium | bad science fiction | Handwavium (as distinct from Unobtainium) is a substance used to violate the laws of physics or otherwise conveniently fill a plot hole without requiring effort on the part of the author. See "handwaving." Unobtainium, by contrast, is a substance that could (but is not known to) theoretically exist, or is impossible to obtain.
See also this site. |
| Illudium Phosdex | Looney Tunes | Also known as the shaving cream atom, it was found only on Planet X, which was unfortunately destroyed when both Duck Dodgers and Marvin the Martian tried to conquer it for Earth and Mars, respectively. |
| Illudium Q-36 | Looney Tunes | Used by Marvin the Martian as a planet-destroying explosive. |
| Imperium X | Sten series by Allen Cole and Christopher Bunch | Highly inert element that does not annihillate when comes in contact with AM2. Is used to contain and store AM2. |
| Japanium | Mazinger Z | Extremely strong material used in the construction of Mazinger Z. Discovered by doctor Tanaka. See also Super Alloy Z |
| Jumbonium | Futurama | Each atom of this element is large enough to be easily visible to the naked eye, with marble-sized nucleons and electrons. |
| Kryptonite | DC Comics | Crystalline material, originally in various colours with separate effects, harmful to Kryptonians and created during the destruction of Superman's home planet Krypton; synthesis is also possible. Green Kryptonite was established as the sole variety, element 126 on the periodic table of elements, in John Byrne's retcon of the DC Comics universe. |
| Lux | Arcot, Wade, and Morey stories by John W. Campbell | Material created from light; indestructible and transparent. Used in the hull of the heroes's spaceships. See also Relux. |
| Mithril | Middle-earth, several video games and role-playing games | A light, silvery metal that is as strong as steel, but very light and easy to work. While mithril has properties similar to those of titanium or aluminium alloy, the fact that it was mined in native form in Moria suggests it has no direct real-world analogue. It is used for making superb chain-mail armour and other means of protection. It can also be worked into other forms (much as iron ore can be used to make various grades of iron and steel) with unusual properties (reflecting only the light of the moon, for instance). An alternate spelling, "Mythril", appears in the video game series Final Fantasy with basically the same properties as mithril. Also, "Mithral" used in D&D books to avoid copyright infringement claims, and "Milrith" in Simon the Sorceror. |
| Naquadah | Stargate SG-1 | A superconducting element used to make the artificial wormholes in Stargate technology, generate energy, and basically explain every other technology of Ancient's origin. An isotope is Naquadria or "Heavy Naquadah." |
| Narrativium | The Science of Discworld and The Science of Discworld II: The Globe | An element unique to the Discworld; proto-substance from which all things spring forth. It is the fundamental element of Story, and is how things know what they're meant to be. |
| Octiron | Discworld | A dense black metal that is a large part of the Discworld's crust. It is highly magical with a melting point above the range of metal forges. The gates of Unseen University are made out of it. A needle made of octiron will always point to the Hub, the centre of the Discworld's magical field; it will also darn its owner's socks by itself. The University tower bell ("Old Tom") is made of it, and rings audible silences. Coin's staff in Sourcery was made out of it. In its natural state it releases considerable quantities of magical radiation, but if it becomes negatively polarized, it can be used to absorb such radiation. Octiron under pressure generates significant amounts of heat, which accounts for most of the volcanic geological processes on Discworld (At least, that's what UU thinks on the matter). |
| Octogen | Discworld | A gas of otherwise unknown nature, it continously releases a considerable amount of magical radiation. |
| Omega | Star Trek: Voyager | An unstable and vastly dangerous molecule capable of destructive explosions that also disrupt subspace, making warp travel impossible. |
| Orichalcum | Mythology (Atlantis) | A reddish metal mined in Atlantis, used to make structures and walls. May be based on an actual mineral or gold/copper alloy, possibly Auricupride. |
| Oxyale | Final Fantasy I | A strange liquid that produces oxygen. Used to breathe underwater. |
| Phostlite | Tintin, "The Shooting Star" | Discovered by Professor Decimus Phostle. Exposure to this element causes living things to grow rapidly to enormous size. |
| Plutonite | Oakley | Oakley uses this name for the polycarbonate lenses in their sunglasses. |
| Promethium | Excalibur | A magical metal known only to the pocket dimension Limbo. Limbo contains only one deposit of this metal, its "heart," and would collapse without it. Coveted by Doctor Doom as an infinite energy source for his kingdom of Latveria. Not to be confused with the real element Promethium. |
| Protonite | Piers Anthony's The Apprentice Adept series | A mineral found only on the planet Proton, it was used throughout the galaxy as a powerful energy source. On Proton's magical alternate world, Phaze, it was Phazite, the source of magic energy. |
| Quantium-40 | Babylon 5 | An element essential to the functioning of jumpgates. According to the Unofficial Babylon 5 Technical Manual, the rare and expensive substance is formed when ordinary matter is subjected to the stresses of a star going nova, pushing some of its electron pair-bonds into hyperspace. Any element can become a quantium; the most commonly-found form is derived from an isotope of potassium with an atomic weight of 40, hence Quantium-40. The name was coined by a member of GEnie's Science Fiction RoundTable, David Strauss, in response to a request from the show's creator. |
| Relux | Arcot, Wade, and Morey stories by John W. Campbell | Material created from light; indestructable and totally reflective. Used in the hull of the heroes's spaceships, among other things. See also Lux. |
| Sinisite | Sinistar videogame series | A high-energy material occuring naturally in crystalline form, it is found in white (1983 original game) or blue and green (1999's Sinistar: Unleashed) variants, usually mined from asteroids. It is used in the building of pieces of technology, or purified to form the high-explosive weapons known as Sinibombs. |
| Stupidium | Various | Used in several circumstances, many times to make fun of scientific jargon, especially of the use of names of elements with the suffix "-ium". |
| Supermanium | DC Comics | "The strongest metal known to science!...forged by him (Superman) from the heart of a mighty star!" Apparently doesn't exist post-Crisis on Infinite Earths. |
| Thyrium | Matthew Reilly's Temple | This element came from a meteor and was used in a doomsday bomb. |
| Turbonium | Volkswagen Commercial | The focal point of the first commercial for the turbo-charged version of the New Beetle. In theory, it was the element from which the turbo version of the car was forged. |
| Unobtainium | The Core, many thought experiments | Unobtainium is really any material that is unobtainable (for example, titanium was called "unobtainium" during the '60s within American aerospace due to the Soviets' cornering the market); although it can be that it possesses properties that are unlikely or impossible for any real material to possess and is hence completely unobtainable. It is also an informal name for an improbably strong material found in works of science fiction, only used explicitly in The Core. It is typically used to fill a plot hole, allowing characters to do things that may not be physically possible even in principle; thus a possibly more correct term is "handwavium." |
| Upsidaisium | The Rocky and Bullwinkle Show | Upsidaisium is a metal that is lighter than air and can be obtained by mining in upsidaisium-rich areas. |
| Uridium | Uridium computer game, 1986 | Name for the game's top level, a metallic element the developer thought existed. |
| Vibranium | Marvel Comics | An extraterrestrial metal that exists in two forms. Wakandan vibranium absorbs vibrational energy (e.g. sound). The more energy it stores the tougher it becomes, due to the energy reinforcing its molecular bonds. If the bonds are broken, all the energy is released, causing an explosion. It is found only in the African nation of Wakanda, ruled by the Black Panther. The other form, Antarctic vibranium, emits a vibration that separates the bonds of other metals, liquifying them. |
| Vik-ro | Carson of Venus by Edgar Rice Burroughs | One of the two components of Lor (see below), which when combined with Yor-san results in total annihilation of the Lor, releasing tremendous energy. |
| X | E. E. Smith's Skylark of Space series | Mysterious platinum-group metal which, when plated upon another metal such as copper, allowed that other metal to be converted entirely from mass into energy in the presence of the radiation of DuQuesne's "whatsitron". |
| Yor-san | Carson of Venus by Edgar Rice Burroughs | One of the two components of Lor (see below) which when combined with Vik-ro results in total annihilation of the Lor, releasing tremendous energy. |
| Yuanon | Crest of the Stars Books | A massive subatomic particle that emits a constant stream of energy (on the order of 500MW). It is the "closed" form of a planespace Sord (the open form being the 1000km wide, whitehole-like gateway into planespace). |
Fictional isotopes of real elements
| Name | Isotope of | Source | Uses |
|---|---|---|---|
| Quadium | Hydrogen | The Mouse that Roared | Common hydrogen has one proton, one electron, and no neutrons. Deuterium and tritium have, respectively, one and two neutrons per atom, and are used for hydrogen bombs. Quadium, following logic, must have three neutrons, and is, in the story, capable of blasting an entire continent off the face of the Earth. |
| Plutonium-186 | Plutonium | The Gods Themselves | An isotope of plutonium which is too unstable to exist in our universe but which exists naturally in parallel universes whose strong nuclear forces are more intense. |
| Curium-82 | Curium | Brødrene Dal og Spektralsteinene | Although this isotope could never actually appear anywhere, as all Curium has at least 96 protons, it is used in the Norwegian film 'Brødrene Dal og Spektralsteinene' as a McGuffin. Professor Slatters claims that with it he can find a cure/vaccine for the common cold, and he and the Dal brothers go on an expedition to search for a meteorite with a sufficient amount of it. They do find one, although it is there alloyed with 'Umulium' (loosely translated from Norwegian: 'Impossibilium'), making the Curium-82 unobtainable. |
Fictional (sub)atomic particles
| Name | Source | Uses |
|---|---|---|
| Flavour | Discworld | Particles that combine to make up resons. Similarly to real-world quarks, they come in at least five different types: Up, down, sideways, sex appeal and peppermint. |
| Kingon, Queon | Discworld | Particles that travel faster than light and transmit 'monarchy', since when a monarch dies, the successor is instantly the new monarch. These particles are occasionally intercepted by an anti-particle, or republicon. The theory that this method could be used for really fast information transmissal (by carefully torturing a lesser king) was never fully developed, because at that point, the bar closed. |
| Reson | Discworld | Roughly translated as thingy, these particles combine to make up thaums |
| Thaum | Discworld | Long thought to be the smallest possible magical particle, the thaum has recently been proven to be made up of resons. The thaum is also a measuring unit for the density of a magical field, and it is the normal way to quantify the power involved in a magic spell. This unit (defined as the power needed to create three standard billiard balls or one small white pigeon) is currently (among young wizards, at least) being replaced by the Prime unit (defined by the power needed to move one pound of lead one foot), according to the Discworld Companion. Possibly this is to avoid confusion between the particle and the unit, which seems logical considering that it is only since the construction of the High Energy Magic building of Unseen University that anyone has taken an interest in the particle. |
Fictional applications of real materials
| Name | Source | Uses |
|---|---|---|
| Cermet | Final Fantasy XI | Super-hard material used to build structures, armor and weapons. |
| Dolomite | Futurama | Exaggerated properties thereof in one episode, in reference to the movie Dolemite. |
| Electrum | Transformers | Liquid that, when used as a coating, reflects energy and renders the coated impervious to all sorts of weaponry. Applied by taking a swim in a naturally occurring electrum pond. Wears off after a while. |
| Fullerene | Schlock Mercenary | Molecular carbon nanotubes which in Schlock Mercenary can be woven into personal armor and strengthened with energy ("powered fullerene") for a high degree of protection against projectiles. |
| Gold | Various RPGs | Used to make weapons and armor, often superior in strength to bronze or silver, despite gold's high malleability. Magic is often involved. |
| Iron | Discworld, The Boggart, et cetera. | Is completely and totally immune to magic, in much the same way as lead is resistant to radiation. In Celtic mythology and in many fantasy novels and games based wholly or partially on that mythology, iron is deadly or detrimental to elves and/or fairies. (See Fairy.) |
| Neutronium | Star Trek, et cetera. | An extremely dense material made entirely of neutrons, it is theorized to be the main constituent of neutron stars, held together by its own gravity. It is actually expected to decompose messily at any reasonable pressure, but this doesn't prevent authors from building space ships out of it and attributing to it various desirable qualities as armor, structural material, etc. |
| Ruthenium | Shadowrun (Shadowtech sourcebook) | Changes color when subjected to small voltaic charge; used in the production of optical displays and "chameleon cloaking technology" |
| Silver | German folklore, et cetera. | Is proof against werewolves and/or vampires which are immune or resistant to normal weapons. Used in form of blade or bullet to combat such creatures, which led to the idiom silver bullet. |
| Thorium | World of Warcraft MMORPG | Used by blacksmiths to create powerful weapons and armour. |
| Tin foil | Various conspiracy theorists, Signs | Supposedly, one can protect oneself against government or alien mind-control rays by wearing a tinfoil hat. |
| Ununpentium (a.k.a. Elerium-115) | Urban myths, UFO conspiracy theory culture, Dark Reign, The Core, X-COM series | This material, possibly synthesized in late 2004 and awaiting confirmation in additional labs, has a slot on the periodic table, and all sorts of lore around it, as a Google search reveals. |
Fictional compounds and alloys
| Name | Source | Uses |
|---|---|---|
| Adamant/Adamantine/Adamantite | European Mythology, Middle-earth, etc | The term derives from the same Greek word as Diamond. Adamant is usually described as a stone or metal of impenetrable hardness. |
| Adamantium | Marvel Comics, Samurai Jack, some fantasy role-playing games | The strongest metal known in the universe of Marvel Comics. Once cast, this alloy cannot be bent, blunted, or broken. It is used in weapons, notably Wolverine's claws and various robots. Captain America's shield is sometimes said to be Adamantium, but is actually an unknown alloy of Vibranium and iron. Adamantium was discovered by accident by Dr. Myron MacLain in an attempt to recreate the shield's metal. |
| Agatean Thunder Clay | The Last Hero, Discworld | A powerful explosive, triggered by reacting with acid. It is powerful enough to severely disrupt the Discworld's magical field if the explosion were to take place at Cori Celesti, the field's hub. |
| Animal Spirits | The Ogre Downstairs by Diana Wynne Jones | Chemical, in a strange chemistry set, that gives life to inanimate objects such as a pipe, construction set toys, toffee bars, pencils, dustballs, and dolls. Allusion to Descartes' postulated fluid that communicated between mind and body. |
| Anti-Ice | Stephen Baxter | A form of antimatter, stable due to its superconductive properties, that releases vast quantities of energy when heated. |
| Archerite | Star Trek: Enterprise | A meta-fictional substance. A compound "invented" by Shran. Whilst pursuing the Xindi he claimed he was searching for the rare compound "Archerite". |
| Arenak | E. E. Smith's Skylark of Space series | A transparent metal 500 times stronger and harder than the strongest and hardest steel, used primarily for spaceship armor. It is created by molding a plastic-like clay called the "matrix" into the desired shape, then coating the matrix in a weak saline solution and running an electric current across it. Pigments may be incorporated into the matrix to make opaque colored arenak. |
| Azimium | The Caves of Karst by Lee Hoffman | Ionic complex behaving as an ultra-reactive halogen; hydroazimic acid is used to dissolve limestone in the submerged mines of the planet Karst. |
| Biphase carbide | Ogre game | Conceived by Steve Jackson as fighting vehicle armor in the Ogre game |
| Blackrock | Ultima series | A mystical mineral that can bend space and time, and is known to resist magic. It is able to open portals to other dimensions and summon creatures through them, and it is crucial to producing the Black Moongate, by which the Guardian attempted to enter Britannia. It was also how the Avatar managed to escape the Guardian's trap on the world of Pagan (and became the Titan of Ether) and how he contained the Armageddon spell by which he ascends and the Guardian is destroyed. Blackrock is used in Ultima IX to make strong armor and a Blackrock sword, though its suitability for this purpose has never previously been established. |
| Black Smoke | The War of the Worlds | Toxic gas used by Martian invaders. Spectrographic analysis shows an unusual triplet of blue lines. |
| Blastolene | Fictional product ('highly concentrated distillation of pure cozmic essence') purportedly produced by the fictitious Blastolene Corporation, fictional sponsors of two actually existing V12 tank-engined behemoth automobiles, including Jay Leno's Blastolene Special. | |
| Carbonadium | Marvel Comics | A malleable form of adamantium, in the Marvel Universe. |
| Carbonite | Star Wars | Han Solo is frozen in a block of this and successfully revived later. Not to be confused with the real explosive material carbonite |
| Cheddite | Star Smashers of the Galaxy Rangers | Made by irradiating Cheddar cheese, it enabled faster-than-light travel. Not to be confused with the real class of explosive materials cheddites |
| Chemical X | The Powerpuff Girls | A mysterious chemical created by Professor Utonium. When he accidentally mixed it with sugar, spice, and everything nice, it created The Powerpuff Girls. Its effect on humans is variable: it can either grant super powers or cause monstrous mutations. |
| Cinnabryl | Mystara Dungeons & Dragons setting | A glowing red magical metal that temporarily halts the Red Curse created by vermeil (see below). Depleted cinnabryl is called red steel, and is used for weaponry and armour. Not to be confused with the real mercury ore cinnabar. |
| Corbomite | Star Trek episode The Corbomite Maneuver | A meta-fictional substance – a non-existent powerful self-destruct weapon – "invented" by Captain Kirk as a bluff when threatened with destruction by a vastly superior alien vessel. |
| Corrostop | Transformers universes | An anti-corrosive protective liquid created by the Autobots from rare materials. Has the property of reversing certain kinds of corrosion, while simply halting others. |
| Cortosis | Star Wars | One of the few materials that lightsabers cannot cut. |
| Cosmium | Invasion from the Infinite by John W. Campbell, jr. | A "metal" composed of solidified light, much like Lux or Relux, but much stronger due to being made of cosmic ray photons instead of ordinary light photons. Its specific gravity is 5007.89, its tensile strength about 200,000 times that of steel. |
| Cosmonite | Space Battleship Yamato | A "space alloy" used for energy transfer conduits. Necessary to reinforce the Yamato to withstand the side effects of firing the Wave Motion Gun. Can be found on Titan. |
| Cuendillar | Wheel of Time by Robert Jordan | A white metal substance that is indestructible except through the influence of the Dark One. Whenever it is dealt a blow, it grows proportionally harder. The same applies if the One Power is used against it. The seals to the prison of the Dark One were made from this material. Some beleive that it can be made weaker by drawing power out of it. |
| Cybertronium | Transformers | A crystaline substance only found on Cybertron. Cybertronium decay causes Cybertronians built on Cybertron to malfunction. Earth-built Cybertronians are immune. |
| Dagal | E. E. Smith's Skylark of Space series | conceived by E. E. Smith for ship armor in the Skylark of Space series. Dagal is stronger than Arenak but weaker than Inoson |
| Dargonite | Marvel Comics | Possibly the same as uru. |
| Dark matter | Futurama | The fuel of the Futurama starship, a substance so heavy that one pound of it weighs ten pounds. Leela's pet Nibbler excretes dark matter. |
| Darksteel | Magic: The Gathering storylines | A type of metal that is, for all intents and purposes, indestructible. Used in various robots, machines, artifacts, and equipment. |
| Dens. Drac. | The Ogre Downstairs by Diana Wynne Jones | The chemical appears in a strange chemistry set. It causes Greek Hell's Angels-type bikers to sprout from the ground like mushrooms when it is thrown on the ground. See also Dragon's teeth. |
| Dilithium | Star Trek | A reddish-orange crystal capable of moderating matter-antimatter annihilations, used in the reactors of many species' starships and a key system of faster-than-light warp drives. Described by the forced-matrix formula 2<5>6 dilithium 2<:>1 diallosilicate 1:9:1 heptoferranide. |
| Duranium | Star Trek | construction materials in the Star Trek universe |
| Dureum | E. E. Smith's Lensman series | |
| Duodecaplylatomate | Galactic Patrol by E. E. Smith | This atomic explosive attains a temperature of about forty million degrees absolute in less than one microsecond. Commonly called "Duodec". |
| Endurium | Starflight published by Electronic Arts | The item is used as a fuel for the starships in the game Starflight. Later in the game it turns out that the Endurium are actually lifeforms that have a very long lifespan. And they are the culprits for all the stars in the galaxy to flare. |
| Energon | Transformers | Possibly a form of compressed, solid energy. Can be found growing as purple, glowing crystals, or processed into "Energon Cubes" from mundane energy sources such as oil and electricity. Used as fuel/food by Cybertronians. Energon Crystals and Cubes are highly explosive. Exposure to concentrated energon(such as a large amount of crystals), can be hazardous to Maximals and Predacons. Overconsumption of particularly rich energon causes Cybertronians to act as if they were drunk. |
| Ferrocrete | Warhammer 40,000, Star Wars Expanded Universe | A type of concrete containing, amongst other minerals, Iron. It is unusually tough and resistant to artillery fire and is mostly used for Imperial fortifications, although some starship hulls are composed of ferrocrete. |
| Flowstone | Magic: The Gathering storylines | A type of stone which can be commanded or molded into an endless number of shapes, or animated. It is composed of millions of microscopic nanorobots. |
| Flubber | Disney films The Absent-Minded Professor, Son of Flubber & Flubber | A rubberlike substance that rebounds from impacts with greater force than the original strike. This unlikely property leads to interesting applications such as leap-enhancing shoe soles and a flying car. |
| Gekiganium | Martian Successor Nadesico | In the Martian Successor Nadesico anime series, the main characters often watch another (fictional) anime series caclled Gekigangar III. This series-within-a-series features robots built out of a supposedly indestructible alloy referred to as Gekiganium. |
| GND | Gundam Wing | Genetic on Universal Neutrally Different Alloy. a.k.a. Gundanium (not to be confused with Gundarium, a.k.a. Lunar Titanium of Universal Century Gundam. Created in high temperature plasma only formed in zero gravity, with molecular scale refinements only possible in gravitionally stable Lagrange Points. Electrically neutral and almost entirely resistant to change, it is used in the manufacture of special beam weapons and armor. Expensive cost to manufacture makes prohibts general military use. |
| Gravitational Atoms | Stephen Baxter's Ring | Atoms formed by microscopic black holes in much the same way that ordinary atoms are formed from protons, neutrons and electrons. Only exists in an alternate universe where the gravitational constant is many billions of times stronger than it is in our universe. |
| Hagane | Vagrant Story | An alloy made by combining iron and bronze. Used to make both weapons and armour. (Hagane is Japanese for "steel.") |
| Herculite | USOS Seaview | conceived by Theodore Sturgeon for the windows of USOS Seaview |
| Hudderite | Paul Preuss's novel The Core | A compound able to scratch diamond and solid under extreme temperatures and pressures. Used as drill components to drill into unprecedented depths and horizontal distances. Composed of carbon, beryllium and silicon. |
| Ice-9 | Cat's Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut | A alternative crystalline arrangement of water molecules not naturally occurring on earth for lack of a seed crystal. Has a melting point of 114 degrees Fahrenheit, and turns all water it comes into contact with into ice-nine. Not related to the real-world ice-IX. |
| Illyrion | Nova by Samuel R. Delany | Mixture or alloy of superheavy elements – mined in trace amounts, found in large ingots in stellar novas – the vastly-prized energy source in Delany's space opera novel. |
| Imipolex G | Gravity's Rainbow | A plastic invented by German chemist Laszlo Jamf and used in post-WWII rocketry. Cross-links among its chemical chains can be controllably formed and re-broken, making it the world's first erectile polymer. |
| Inoson | E. E. Smith's Skylark of Space series | conceived by E. E. Smith for ship armor in the Skylark of Space series. It has the theoretical ultimate in strength possible for any material possessing molecular structure, being 2000 times stronger and harder than the strongest and hardest steel. Inoson is transparent, and of purple color. |
| Irid. Colour | The Ogre Downstairs by Diana Wynne Jones | The chemical appears in a strange chemistry set. When splashed in the eye, it causes one to fade from one colour to another. Skin, hair, nails, and eyes are all affected by the colour changes. |
| Kachine Ore | Dragon Ball Z universe | A heavy, black substance with infinite rigidity. Not hard to materialize. Named for the sound it makes when tapped. Seen in the episode, "Out From the Broken Sword." |
| Latinum | Star Trek | A liquid which cannot be replicated or synthesized. Used as a dominant form of currency by the Ferengi. As it is difficult to properly measure liquid for currency transactions, premeasured amounts of latinum are inserted into hollow cores of gold bullion of various sizes, leading to the standard units: 2000 slips = 20 strips = 1 bar. With the latinum removed, the gold is considered worthless. For an exposition on the future of money and how latinum might come to be, see "Proposal for an Ideal Nano-Specie: Gold-Pressed Latinum" by Robert Freitas [1] [2]. |
| Lor | Carson of Venus by Edgar Rice Burroughs | A tremendously energy-dense airship propellant.
"Fuel for the life of the ship was aboard; and it took up very little space, for it could all be held in the palm of one hand." Lor "contains an element called yor-san (see above), as yet unknown to Earth men, and another element, vik-ro (see above), the action of which upon yor-san results in absolute annihilation of the lor," thus yielding tremendous energy as compared to a mere chemical reaction. |
| Lunar Titanium | Universal Century Gundam | a.k.a. Gundarium, because of its use in the famed RX-78 Gundam mobile suit. Virtually impenetrable from 120mm tank cannon ammunition, is erosion and weather proof, and has some degree of resistance from energy weapons. Manufactured in zero gravity, and, despite its name, is not made on the moon, but originally from the Earth Federation's asteroid base, Luna 2. |
| Kemocite | Star Trek: Enterprise | A multi-phasic isotope that has many applications, depending on the level of refinement. Kemocite was one of the key components in the Xindi weapon and was produced by a Xindi-Sloth plant led by Gralik. |
| Lux and Relux | Islands in Space by John W. Campbell, jr. | "Metals" composed of solidified light photons, created by condensing light so greatly that the photons are held together by their gravitational fields. Both have a specific gravity of 103.5 and are much stronger than steel, though not as strong as Cosmium. Lux is transparent and a perfect conductor of electricity and heat; Relux resembles a mirror, and is a perfect insulator of electricity and heat. |
| Magestone | Mage Knight | Crystalline substance coveted by the Atlantean Empire for technomagical experiments. Causes mutations with prolonged exposure; mutants are known as Mage Spawn. |
| Magicite | Final Fantasy VI | The remains of dead magical beings called Espers. Can be used to transfer the Esper's magic to normal humans or to machines which are then called Magitek. When worn, a person can summon the Esper the Magicite came from. |
| Mako | Final Fantasy VII | Energy refined from Lifestream in Mako reactors. Strong mutagenic properties; often showered on military to make them stronger and faster, although long-term exposure can cause Mako poisoning or monsterous mutations. A clear sign of Mako enhancement is a blue glow in the eyes. |
| Materia | Final Fantasy VII | Small spheres of crystalized Lifestream (the life-blood of the Planet, composed of the spirits of all living things) which, when worn on bangles or put in slots on weapons, allows users to cast magic spells or summon creatures to fight for them when equiped. Often forms naturally in springs or even on the ground. However, Huge Materia, giant crystals that are thought to have explosive properties, are a byproduct of reactors that transform Lifestream into Mako. |
| Misc. Pulv. | The Ogre Downstairs by Diana Wynne Jones | The chemical appears in a strange chemistry set. When two people eat grains of the foul-smelling (and tasting) chemical, they swap bodies. The only way to switch back is to eat another grain. |
| Molecular Acid | The Alien series | The blood of a xenomorph acts like an extremely potent acid, melting through almost any substance in seconds. Captain Dallas remarked that he had "never seen anything like that except molecular acid." |
| Moonstone/Moon Crystal | Skies of Arcadia | Crystalline substance used as an all-purpose plot device in Skies of Arcadia; moonstones dropped by each different moon have different elemental properties (yellow stones are electrical; red stones are fiery, etc.) and can be used to fuel magic and technology. Moon Crystals are very large moonstones as powerful as thousands of smaller Moonstones and can be used to control the Gigas mecha of the ancient world. |
| N-26 | Spacehounds of IPC by E. E. Smith | This exceedingly high explosive is crystalline pentavalent nitrogen, i.e., it is a large molecule composed of twenty-six nitrogen atoms. It is only stable at temperatures far below zero. |
| Naquadah | Stargate SG-1 | A heavy metal used by the Goa'uld as a power source. |
| Naquadria | Stargate SG-1 | A highly unstable variant of naquadah with greater explosive properties. It can also be used for the powering of hyperspace engines. Naquadria is formed from naquada in an artificial chain reaction. The only known planet containing naquadria is Langara where large deposits were created millennia ago by an unknown Goa'uld scientist. Unprotected exposure can lead to brain damage, delusions and/or schizophrenia. |
| Nara | Myst Novels | Super hard material made by compressing rock with very high pressure and heat. Used to coat tunnels and mine shafts to prevent their collapse. |
| Noct. Vest. | The Ogre Downstairs by Diana Wynne Jones | The chemical appears in a strange chemistry set. When heated and then cooled it causes things to become invisible. |
| Noburpolene | Three Stooges episode Sing a Song of Six Pants | "The only gasoline with added bicarbonate of sodium" |
| Nth Metal or Ninth Metal | DC Comics | the alien anti-gravity substance that allows Hawkman to fly. |
| Nucleon | Transformers | An alternative fuel source to Energon that can make a Transformer 'faster, stronger and more alive'. While it does indeed make them faster and stronger it also removes their ability to transform and slowly kills them as long as it remains in their system. It can also be used to revive dead Transformers. |
| Octocellulose | Moving Pictures, Discworld | The transparent, highly unstable, and inflammable substance used by the alchemists of Ankh-Morpork as a base to paint pictures on, thereby creating Moving Pictures |
| Omnium | The Third Policeman | The energy which expresses, by various wavelengths, everything in the universe – light, sound, and solid objects. Characters in The Third Policeman can harness omnium from one source and contort it into another (e.g., capturing sounds and using them to light a room). In its concentrated form, omnium can be used to manifest anything. |
| Orichalcum | Shadowrun; Fate of Atlantis | An alloy of copper, gold, silver, and mercury, a "metallurgical nightmare" that can only be created through magic. It is orange-red in color, and extremely useful in the creation of magical foci. Similar to the orichalcum of myth. Used to power the machinery in Atlantis in the Indiana Jones adventure game. |
| Parv. Pulv. | The Ogre Downstairs by Diana Wynne Jones | The chemical appears in a strange chemistry set. It causes one to shrink. |
| Petr. Philos. | The Ogre Downstairs by Diana Wynne Jones | The chemical appears in a strange chemistry set. It turns out to be Philosopher's stone, which causes base metal to turn to gold. |
| Plasteel | The Dune books; also appears in Shadowrun | Hard yet moldable; used frequently as armor. |
| Plasphalt | The Muller-Fokker Effect | Paving material. |
| Polydichloric Euthimal (PDE) | Terminator 2 | Used here as a high explosive. |
| Powder of Life | First appears in the The Marvelous Land of Oz. | A substance once sprinkled on an inanimate object and magic words uttered brings the object to life. |
| Porkanium Alloy | The Muppet Show | The material the SS Swine Trek is made of in Pigs In Space. Parody of Titanium. |
| Promethium | Warhammer 40,000 | A Napalm-like substance used for flamers in the Imperium. If properly blessed, can prove to be especially dangerous to Daemons (like the opposite of Holy water). Do not confuse with the real element promethium. |
| PyrE | The Stars, My Destination by Alfred Bester | PyrE is a Misch Metal, a pyrophoric alloy, a metal which emits sparks when scraped or struck. PyrE emits energy, which is why E was added to the prefix Pyr. It is a solid solution of transplutonian isotopes, releasing thermonuclear energy on the order of solar Phoenix reaction. PyrE can only be detonated by psychokinesis. Visually it resembles compressed iodine crystals. |
| Puppeteer Hull Material | The Known Space stories spawned by Larry Niven | A material produced commercially by the Pierson's Puppeteers for the hulls of General Products spacecraft. A huge artificial macromolecule whose atomic bonds are artificially strengthened, it is impervious to all forms of impact and to any radiation, save that in the visible spectrum (defined as visible to any of the species who are General Products customers). It is not impervious to gravity, and is slowly degraded by antimatter. Its integrity is guaranteed by the manufacturer. |
| Quicksilver | The Invisible Man TV series | Liquid that bends visible light around its surface; a thin coat of it, however, can shift UV into the visible spectrum. Also acts as a drug when in the bloodstream (see below). Not related to the chemical element mercury except by its similarity in appearance when visible. The word "quicksilver" has several other meanings, including being an obsolete name for ordinary mercury: see quicksilver. |
| Rearden Metal | Ayn Rand's Atlas Shrugged | A greenish alloy stronger and lighter than steel. Synthesized by fictional industrialist Henry Rearden. Created by Rand as a literary symbol evocative of money, industry, success, and life. |
| Scrith | The Ringworld novels | A grey metallic substance of incredible strength, suitable for construction on a cosmic scale. Conceived by Larry Niven for the base structure of the Ringworld. |
| Slow glass | Bob Shaw's The Light of Other Days | A form of glass through which light takes a long time to travel, as much as days or years depending on how it is crafted. |
| Smilex | Batman | Poison created by The Joker, kills within minutes, leaves victims with a rictus grin on their faces. In the original script it was called "Smilenol", until the arrival of the cease and desist letter from the lawyers representing the makers of Tylenol (who were no doubt still sensitive over the cyanide laced capsule incident). |
| SNOW-9 | Hideo Kojima's SNATCHER | Genetically engineered pollen that disrupts radio transmissions, once thought eradicated but found again in areas where SNATCHERs are or have been |
| TDX | Cities in Flight by James Blish | TDX or "Two Dimensional Explosive" has the property of exploding only in a flat plane at right angles to the local gravity field. It is useful for cutting trees. It is a piperazohexynitrate composed of gravitationally polarized carbon atoms. Such atoms cannot move in any direction except normal to the gravity gradient. TDX also appears in the Traveller role playing game. |
| Tegnoid | The "Dirty Pair" novels by Haruka Takachiho | The "Bloody Card" is constructed of Tegnoid sheet metal. A very deadly ranged weapon usually wielded by Yuri. It is a thrown, semi-guided, playing card-sized weapon that seems to cut through almost anything. |
| Thiotimoline | Isaac Asimov | Conceived and described in a spoof scientific paper entitled The Endochronic Properties of Resublimated Thiotimoline in 1948. Thiotimoline has the property of dissolving in water slightly before the actual contact with water. |
| Tiberium | Command and Conquer | Highly valuable crystal in the Command and Conquer series, Usually green, sometimes blue. Extremely toxic and mutagenic to terrestrial life-forms. Tiberium is used as a resource for mining. |
| Tomasite | Tom Swift, Jr. novels | Material invented by Tom Swift, Jr., possessing various highly important properties depending upon plot requirements. In normal usage, Tomasite is a plastic like material that is formed from a resin and a catalyst. It is transparent to the EM spectrum but is highly efficient thermal and radiation barrier. It can be painted on, injection molded, made into a foam by bubbling nitrogen through it, cast into molds, or formed into laminates with other materials. |
| Transparisteel | Star Wars Expanded Universe. | A completely transparent metal at least as strong as steel. Used primarily for ship windows. |
| Transparent aluminum | Star Trek | Same physical properties as aluminum, but is completely transparent. Not to be confused with "transparent alumina," another name for synthetic sapphire. |
| Trellium-D | Star Trek | used for insulation against gravitic distortions by the Xindi, Starfleet, and others. Causes brain damage in Vulcans. |
| Trilithium | Star Trek | Two forms: compound extinguishes nuclear reactions, such as fusion in a star; and resin is a powerful and toxic explosive. |
| Trillite | see Yakka | |
| Trinium | Stargate SG-1 | Very brittle in raw form but can be refined into a substance 100 times stronger & lighter than steel. Stargate Command has attempted to acquire reserves of it several times. |
| Trioxyn gas | Return of the Living Dead series | Gas that brings the dead back to life as zombies |
| Tritanium | Star Trek | Construction materials in the Star Trek universe |
| Uru | Marvel Comics | An Asgardian material. Thor's hammer is made of this. |
| Vermeil | Mystara Dungeons & Dragons setting | a magical red dust covering the Savage Coast area of Mystara. It causes a sickness similar to radiation poisioning, called the Red Curse. |
| Vespene Gas | Starcraft | A valuable natural gas, can releases large amounts of energy in a decomposition reaction. This makes it especially useful as a fuel for spacecraft and other vehicles that need to operate in oxygen-less environments |
| Vibranium | Marvel Universe | a sound-absorbing metal |
| Voidstone | Dungeons and Dragons | a material from the Negative Energy Plane |
| Vol. Pulv. | The Ogre Downstairs by Diana Wynne Jones | The chemical appears in a strange chemistry set. It is used as a flying powder either straight or mixed with water. |
| Yakka | Marvel Comics | a sound-sensitive metal (sometimes called a mineral). Also known as "Trillite." |
| Ziff | Book of Mormon | An unknown metal mentioned in the Book of Mormon (Mosiah 11:3). In Hebrew, this term means brightness, i.e. metallic brightness. It is possibly a mistranslation of zinc. Others have speculated that this refers to Orichalcum, providing a link with Atlantis. |
Fictional medicines and drugs
See List of fictional medicines and drugs
See also
To be added
- Dust (from His Dark Materials)
- Daturon (toxic agent, unhealthy variant of the all-encompassing "ether" of space in Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's story "The Poison Belt" [3] — which features Professor Challenger and the other discoverers of Doyle's "Lost World" [4] --; poisons all life to deathlike stupor when the Earth passes through a belt of this substance; daturon possesses some traits of a gas that's heavier than air — concentrates first in lower regions like valleys or plains, inhalation of oxygen-superenriched air works as antidote — and some traits of radiation — can pass through hermetically sealed-off rooms and containers)
- Imponderal (from Lewis Carroll's "Sylvie and Bruno")
- allotropic iron (used for power generation? in E E Doc Smith's Lensman series)
- Basidumite (from Eleanor Cameron's "Mushroom Planet" series)
- Wellstone (artifical element with alterable properties, from Wil McCarthy's (?) Collapsium, et. al.) Technically, wellstone is a quantum dot substrate that can emulate the properties of other elements, including the copyrighted atom Bunkerlite, impervium, and various other superreflectors and superabsorbers.
- Rethban – Rethban Ore is named after the man who first found it, Bart Rethban. When smelted it's not as strong as iron, but its ore has a dark, flat color that some scribes use in their dyes. A quest item in World of Warcraft.
- Second definition of Orichalcum: One of the Five Magic Materials. Sun-gold, which, mixed with steel, creates a powerful alloy that can withstand everything, and is used by the Solar Exalted in their weapons and Artefacts (From the Roleplaying game "Exalted")
- Moonsilver: Five Magic Materials. Also known as Lunargent. A silvery substance which is mutable by the Exalt currently attuned to it. Allows armour to move with greater freedom, and weapons to bend and strike at weak spots. (From the Roleplaying game "Exalted)
- Soulsteel: Five Magic Materials. A black metal alloyed with souls. Forged into weapons and Artefacts by the denizens of the Underworld. The souls used to create this alloy can be seen in the surface of items made from it. (From the Roleplaying game "Exalted")
- Starmetal: Five Magic Materials. Meteoric Iron, crafted from the essence of dead gods and thrown from Heaven unto the earth. This material is used in artefacts that must foresee the future, and armour made from it will grow thicker where it predicts a strike will land (From the Roleplaying game "Exalted")
- Jade: The weakest of the Five Magic Materials. Comes in five different colours, representing the five elements Air (blue), Earth (white), Fire (red), Water (black) and Wood (green).
- Elerium-115: Fuel in the X-COM series of computer games
- T-Virus: From the Resident Evil/Biohazard series
- Phazon: A blue or occasionally orange mutagenic and (in high quantities) toxic ore. From Metroid Prime.
- Synthium: A ultra strong, lightweight super-metal used to construct the Jovian exploration ship "Mercury" in "Marooned" by John W. Campbell, Jr. Synthium construction kept the ships from being crushed while floating in the dense atmosphere of Jupiter.
- Radium X: The extra-terrestrial radioactive element which was brought to Earth by a meteor in the science-fiction film "The Invisible Ray"
- Durium: A sapphire blue super-alloy made of ultra elements with a nucleus of neutrons and negatrons (and orbital protons instead of electrons) from the "Mightiest Machine"/"Incredible Planet" series by John W. Campbell, Jr. Resistium was the "hydrogen" of the ultra elements.
- Marvellium: a gray compound used the building of life-like super robots in the Fawcett Comics (pre-DC) version of Shazam! comics.
- Suspendium: an alloy that is impervious to time and creates an automatic time capsule, from the pre-Crisis era of DC Comics' Shazam! series.
- Claudia: a crystaline bluish-white material that emits a soft radiance of the same color. It comes from the anime Last Exile, powers all levitation technology in the series, and serves as a form of currency.
External links
- Elements from DC Comics Legion of Super-heroes
- Periodic Table of Comic Books – lists comic book uses of real elements
- Periodic table from the BBC comedy series Look Around You.
Categories: Lists of fictional things | Fictional materials | Chemical substances