Properties of a supernatural element?

[cbrons]

If you had to a create a super element to be added to the periodic table, what would it be? I'm talking about it's properties.. give me some good techno babble.

 

[Algr]

Blabo-digigorf kiloborgus nutricoblarg fartronics net metafart oort transbarf anti-hemorrhoid.

 

[Danger]

Well, to start with, it would be heavy. All of the light spots have been claimed.

 

[Algr]

If we are in technobabble, then maybe it has a positron, or some other exotic particle in the nucleus! Then it could be super light but still be magic.

 

[Danger]

If we are in technobabble, then maybe it has a positron, or some other exotic particle in the nucleus!

That might be normal, in that I've seen a neutron described as a proton and a positron stuck together.

 

[cbrons]

What about a metal with properties that make it a better application for things like rocket fuel and nuclear reactors. Let's say its properties relevant to this use are far above whatever material is currently being used. What would those specific properties be?

 

[Algr]

Plus + plus = neutral?

 

[phinds]

... fartronics net metafart ...

Actually, I think for an element as heavy as what he's talking about, this would be "fartronics net supermetafart"

 

[Czcibor]

What about assume that the island of stability actually occurs:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Island_of_stability

(science at this moment - it's still unknown)

If yes, then it's a heavy transuranic element, which has got more or less predicted chemical properties.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unbinilium

Just make up story that's quite effective fissile nuclear fuel.

[EDIT] This stuff don't exist in nature, but has to be produced first in accelerators/reactors. It would not be a way producing energy, but theoretically could be a way of storing energy for space ships[/EDIT]

Is that what you wanted?

 

[QuantumPion]

How about an atom made with muons instead of electrons? Such an element could potentially have unusual properties, extreme densities, material strength, etc if you somehow get around them being unstable. There's also the possibility of atoms made up of exotic baryons (sigma, delta, lamba, omega, xi) instead of protons and neutrons.

 

[Algr]

That might be normal, in that I've seen a neutron described as a proton and a positron stuck together.

That would have to be a proton and an electron stuck together, otherwise the net charge would be double, not zero. If an atom had anti-neutrons in it instead of regular neutrons, what effect would that have? Would it make any difference?

 

[Danger]

That would have to be a proton and an electron stuck together

That's what I meant to type. I was already thinking my next thought, and it somehow sneaked out through my fingers. Thanks for pointing that out.

 

[cbrons]

What about assume that the island of stability actually occurs:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Island_of_stability

(science at this moment - it's still unknown)

If yes, then it's a heavy transuranic element, which has got more or less predicted chemical properties.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unbinilium

Just make up story that's quite effective fissile nuclear fuel.

[EDIT] This stuff don't exist in nature, but has to be produced first in accelerators/reactors. It would not be a way producing energy, but theoretically could be a way of storing energy for space ships[/EDIT]

Is that what you wanted?

Yes this sort of thing, thank you

 

[cbrons]

How about an atom made with muons instead of electrons? Such an element could potentially have unusual properties, extreme densities, material strength, etc if you somehow get around them being unstable. There's also the possibility of atoms made up of exotic baryons (sigma, delta, lamba, omega, xi) instead of protons and neutrons.

Yes this is also good. But why must an atom made of muons be inherently unstable? I'm trying to minimize how much hand-waving I have here, but the fact is, some will probably be required. The specific structural features of the material are an undeveloped part of my plot. It's something that the human governments fight wars over, something that the aliens once had.

I was actually planning on making the material an integral part of the thoracic exoskeleton of this extinct alien race, and that the way extant civilizations accessed it was through destruction of the extinct alien burial sites and harvesting it from the corpses.

 

[Czcibor]

I was actually planning on making the material an integral part of the thoracic exoskeleton of this extinct alien race, and that the way extant civilizations accessed it was through destruction of the extinct alien burial sites and harvesting it from the corpses.

This element is supposed to be radioactive, so you need a minor handwaiving to make it half life long enough.

First I thought that would be a weak, terribly reactive, radioactive metal. Not good for armor.
Later:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Depleted_uranium#Armor_plate
So who knows...

 

[Khashishi]

There's tons of exotic particles, like strange matter, charmed matter, nuclei made of both matter and antimatter. The problem is that they are all very unstable. Maybe you could purport that some combination (as a neutral atom) is magically stable. Or maybe they are held under such extreme time-dilation that the instability doesn't matter.

 

[Khatti]

Blabo-digigorf kiloborgus nutricoblarg fartronics net metafart oort transbarf anti-hemorrhoid.

Maybe not that much technobabble. Actually a question that interests me (this is the Science Fiction Forum) is what you want to use your super-element for? Something stronger than carbon would be a nice thing to find under the Christmas Tree. Also a new fuel source that replaces the known, heavy elements would be useful.

 

[Khatti]

I was actually planning on making the material an integral part of the thoracic exoskeleton of this extinct alien race, and that the way extant civilizations accessed it was through destruction of the extinct alien burial sites and harvesting it from the corpses.

Hmmmm. So, in a way, you're doing an extraterrestrial version of spider silk. Spider silk is supposed to be stronger than high-grade steel of the same dimension. I think something like that is more likely to be a compound than an element. For a scientificy sounding name you might want to wiki spider silk and see if biologists have given term for substances like spider silk. I don't have anymore ideas for a technical name for this stuff, but I do have a slang term I could see the miners or harvesters would have for this stuff: Beetle-ass

 

[Danger]

Now you all have me really wondering about something from my childhood. Back in my early-teen years, my best friends were Portuguese brothers. Their mother made these biscuits once. I don't know what the hell they were composed of, but Joe threw one onto the kitchen floor, after breaking a tooth on it, and it dented the linoleum. That was 45 years ago, and the bloody thing is probably still lurking around scaring animals. Maybe she had a cyclotron in her oven.

edit: Corrected a time-frame reference.

 

[Khatti]

Their mother made these biscuits once. I don't know what the hell they were composed of, but Joe threw one onto the kitchen floor, after breaking a tooth on it, and it dented the linoleum.

Hmmmm. I wonder how the biscuit would stand up under reentry?

 

[Danger]

Hmmmm. I wonder how the biscuit would stand up under reentry?

We'll probably never know, because no rocket that I'm aware of could get it up there in the first place.