MARVEL's fictional Adamantium in real life?

  • Context: Undergrad 
  • Thread starter Thread starter Garrus Vakari
  • Start date Start date
  • Tags Tags
    Life
Click For Summary

Discussion Overview

The discussion revolves around the concept of Adamantium, a fictional material from MARVEL, and its comparison to real-life materials such as Neutronium and carbon nanotubes. Participants explore the properties of these materials, particularly focusing on the idea of indestructibility and the implications of bringing such materials to Earth.

Discussion Character

  • Exploratory
  • Debate/contested
  • Conceptual clarification

Main Points Raised

  • One participant questions whether Neutronium is truly indestructible and seeks clarification on its properties and implications if brought to Earth.
  • Another participant suggests that bringing Neutronium to Earth would result in a massive explosion, indicating that while neutron stars are incredibly resilient, they are not immune to destruction under certain conditions.
  • A participant mentions that neutron stars are held together by immense gravity and that attempting to extract Neutronium would cause the neutrons to disperse.
  • Some participants argue that no material can be truly indestructible, citing carbon nanotubes as a strong alternative but not invulnerable.
  • One participant expresses skepticism about the existence of any real-life material that could match the fictional capabilities of Adamantium as depicted in comics.

Areas of Agreement / Disagreement

Participants express differing views on the concept of indestructibility, with some asserting that materials like Neutronium and carbon nanotubes have exceptional properties while others maintain that true indestructibility is unattainable. The discussion remains unresolved regarding the implications of Neutronium's properties and the feasibility of its existence outside of a neutron star.

Contextual Notes

Participants acknowledge the limitations of their claims, particularly regarding the definitions of indestructibility and the physical behavior of materials under extreme conditions. The discussion does not resolve the complexities surrounding the extraction and behavior of Neutronium.

Garrus Vakari
Messages
1
Reaction score
0
I have this book with me called "THE NIGHT SKY" and on page 115 they mention Neutronium/Neutron Star material as being indestructible yet weighing A LOT to the point it will sink through the earth, so my question is, is it truly indestructible and if so why?
 
Physics news on Phys.org
Garrus Vakari said:
I have this book with me called "THE NIGHT SKY" and on page 115 they mention Neutronium/Neutron Star material as being indestructible yet weighing A LOT to the point it will sink through the earth, so my question is, is it truly indestructible and if so why?

Yes and no. It you were to bring a lump of this matter to Earth there would be the biggest explosion ever.

A neutron star is as close to an eternal object as you may hope to find, though. Nothing much can affect it other than accreting so much mass that it collapses into a black hole, or possibly the very rare event of collision with a black hole.
 
Check out the thread on "Neutronium armor". Sorry, can't post links yet.
 
@ImaLooser
How exactly would you know that bringing this matter to Earth would cause any kind of explosion? Obviously not the star itself but more less the physical matter of the indestructible matter.
 
Neutron stars are only held together by their own immense gravity. If you tried to "scoop some up" the neutrons would immediately fly apart.

No material can be indestructible, although carbon nanotubes could theoretically be as much as 10-100x stronger than steel. Having a carbon-nanotube-reinforced skeletal structure and body cavaity would certainly make you quite resilient - but not indestructible by any means.
 
True Adamantium in the comics can survive impacts that can destroy stars, I doubt there is any real-life mateirial that can do this.
 

Similar threads

  • · Replies 5 ·
Replies
5
Views
3K
  • · Replies 6 ·
Replies
6
Views
3K
  • · Replies 21 ·
Replies
21
Views
6K
  • · Replies 20 ·
Replies
20
Views
4K
  • · Replies 4 ·
Replies
4
Views
2K
  • · Replies 2 ·
Replies
2
Views
4K
  • · Replies 4 ·
Replies
4
Views
3K
  • · Replies 6 ·
Replies
6
Views
6K
  • · Replies 87 ·
3
Replies
87
Views
10K
  • · Replies 19 ·
Replies
19
Views
3K