A Steel Pushing and A Iron Pulling on Carbon Nanotubes

[Tea Leaf]

I don't know if this is ever addressed, but can you use allomancy on carbon nanotubes? How about Mercury?

[alder24]

Aren't carbon nanotubes made fully out of carbon? Which isn't metal. So no on that. Mercury is a metal, so you can push/pull it. You need to look on the periodic table and what is metal and what isn't, but not everything is pushable.

Spoiler

Questioner

Do metalloids [on the periodic table] count as metals for the purpose of allomancy?

Brandon Sanderson

Yes.

Questioner

So things like gallium and antimony…

Brandon Sanderson

Yes. Not everything is pushable or pullable, but it counts in allomancy, and there are certain things… there are certain relationships.

Boskone 54 (Feb. 18, 2017)

 

Spoiler

Questioner

What's the chemical definition of a metal in Mistborn? Is it the entire chunk of the periodic table defined as a metal, or...?

Brandon Sanderson

A: It is technically that [...], but many of them are Allomantically inert. But things like cesium still count.

Shadows of Self Chicago signing (Oct. 12, 2015)

 

Edited March 8, 2023 by alder24

[Heilven]

On 3/8/2023 at 10:19 AM, alder24 said:

You need to look on the periodic table and what is metal and what isn't, but not everything is pushable.

Hmm. Interesting. I was under the impression that metals could be pushed/pulled on because they are a conduit to investiture. So shouldn't something that is allomantically inert not be able to be pushed on at all?