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Mechanical properties of Atium


Arcanist Lupus

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We know what Atium's Allomantic, Feruchemical, and Hemalurgic properties are, but what about its physical properties? Does it conduct well? Does it tarnish? What's its melting point? How strong is it? What's its density?

How do they compare to Lerasium's physical properties?

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We know it reacts easily (I'm not sure if that's the correct word, I'm not very good in chemistry, especially in English). Kelsier says that you cannot keep it for too long after swallowing, because acid in your stomach reacts with it. And it isn't a very strong acid...

Most metals easily reacting with acid are rather light (weight, not colour), as far as I know. But atium is special, so it can be different.

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We know it reacts easily (I'm not sure if that's the correct word, I'm not very good in chemistry, especially in English). Kelsier says that you cannot keep it for too long after swallowing, because acid in your stomach reacts with it. And it isn't a very strong acid...

Most metals easily reacting with acid are rather light (weight, not colour), as far as I know. But atium is special, so it can be different.

Actually, I think stomach acid is pretty strong. Wikipedia says it has a pH of 1.5 - 3.5.

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Your stomach is actually full of hydrochloric acid. However, it seems that Allomancy makes metals harder to digest. It's possible that this means Atium is a softer metal, which makes sense. After all, lead is also a very soft metal, and if Atium is as soft it could be difficult to tell them apart.

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Atium would be of similar density to lead, as lil_literalist noted. It has to be fairly reactive, since it gets digested almost as quickly as regular food, which (if Atium is an element) should be a single replacement reaction, giving us H2, Atium chloride, and/or Atium dichloride. As it is fairly reactive, it also likely tarnishes quickly.

I'm actually going ahead and positing that it's a stable isotope of Astatine with a mass number 192. Why?

1. Because it's something we haven't manufactured (both the 'stable isotope' and 'mass number 192' bits), so it maintains it's air of mystery.

2. Because it would be so mind-bogglingly rare that deific interference is probably the most likely way to find it anyway.

3. The elemental symbol of Astatine is At.

4. While I was making the inferences in the first paragraph, I was rummaging around the periodic table and stumbled onto the fact that despite being a group 18 element, Astatine does form AtCl and AtCl2 (as well as AtI, for what it's worth).

5. 12 * 16 = 192, tying it to the law of 16 (and possibly designating Ruin as the 12th Shard).

6. FOR SCIENCE!

7. ????

8. Profit!

Okay, so maybe I shouldn't post at 3 am anymore, but you have to admit, part of that made sense!

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Cool post, Eric. Any guesses about Larasium? Just please, don't test them on people. ;-)

BTW I remebmer atium reffered in one point as very shiny (when Kelsier gives it to Vin for the first time) and later as rather dark. So it probably tarnishes quickly, as you said.

Edited by Eri
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Excellent idea, Eric. the only problem is... Astantine isn't a metal.

EDIT: Okay, checked what Wikipedia says on the matter. (get it? matter?).

The bulk properties of astatine are not known with any great degree of certainty. Research is limited by its short half-life, which prevents the creation of weighable quantities. A visible piece of astatine would be immediately and completely vaporized due to the heat generated by its intense radioactivity. Astatine is usually classified as either a nonmetal or a metalloid. Siekierski and Burgess, however, indicate that astatine would be a metal if it could form a condensed phase.
So it could be a metal, but it usually isn't. Edited by Sir Read-a-Lot
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Also from wikipedia

A visible piece of astatine would be immediately and completely vaporized due to the heat generated by its intense radioactivity
Also ingesting it given such a high radioactivity would definitely cause some symptoms.
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Siekierski and Burgess, however, indicate that astatine would be a metal if it could form a condensed phase.

So it could be a metal, but it usually isn't.

Also from wikipedia

A visible piece of astatine would be immediately and completely vaporized due to the heat generated by its intense radioactivity

Also ingesting it given such a high radioactivity would definitely cause some symptoms.

These are among the reasons why I specified a stable isotope, which means it would not be radioactive (and Wikipedia says such an isotope is not expected to exist, preserving the 'higher power' aspect of its existence), thus capable of forming a condensed phase.

@Eri: I really don't have much to go on with Larasium. The only specific description I can remember of it is Elend saying it looks like a different color than Atium.

Edited by Eric
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The idea of Ruin's metal being a more stable variant of something does not appeal to me. I prefer to think it might be a less stable variant of something, or simply an entirely fictional element that does not occur naturally and may be essentially impossible to create in a lab.

Agreed. Atium isn't a conventional element at all. It's pure Ruinous matter (which is probably why it tarnishes and deforms so easily.)

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Yeah. Although, I wonder what results would be yielded if someone examined Atium with modern scientific technology... How many electrons, protons, and neutrons does it have? Does it act as an element, and if so what is its atomic number? Are there no molecules, just little models of Ati screaming "destroy, destroy!" instead?

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Yeah, I'd agree there's probably not an actual real world element, but it's been cool to see some of the ideas. I've got very basic chemistry knowledge so this is all pretty interesting me.

Well I'd imagine that atium is super-concentrated Ruin power. It's so concentrated that it actually has a physical presence. But then again, we don't really know much about how and why aspects of the Shards manifest in the physical realm. What mechanism determines these things?

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The idea of Ruin's metal being a more stable variant of something does not appeal to me.

See, I think it really fits: it's a stable form of a destructive element. Ruin can build up to destroy, and Atium a. acts as a wildcard for Hemalurgy, b. allows Allomancers capable of using it to kill others more efficiently, and c. allows feruchemists to be more youthful later for ravaging their body now, thus potentially optimizing the harm they can do at any given point. If it doesn't last as a solid, it can't serve those purposes. The idea of Ruin's metal being something that specifically destabilizes other things even though it is more stable than typical examples really suits the Shard to my view.

Edited by Eric
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See, I think it really fits: it's a stable form of a destructive element. Ruin can build up to destroy, and Atium a. acts as a wildcard for Hemalurgy, b. allows Allomancers capable of using it to kill others more efficiently, and c. allows feruchemists to be more youthful later for ravaging their body now, thus potentially optimizing the harm they can do at any given point. If it doesn't last as a solid, it can't serve those purposes. The idea of Ruin's metal being something that specifically destabilizes other things even though it is more stable than typical examples really suits the Shard to my view.

Allow me to clarify: The idea of Atium being any type of variant of a real element does not appeal to me.

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Yeah. Although, I wonder what results would be yielded if someone examined Atium with modern scientific technology... How many electrons, protons, and neutrons does it have? Does it act as an element, and if so what is its atomic number? Are there no molecules, just little models of Ati screaming "destroy, destroy!" instead?

Making Atium "normal" just doesn't appeal to me. While I do like Eric's theory, the idea that Atium, Lerasium et al. are just normal elements that normally aren't stable does not seem "right". Normal allomantic metals do not have any intrinsic power, rather they are the focus that allows the allomancer to channel power from an outside source. In contrast we know the God Metals are actually concentrated power and are not a focus.

However we also know Atium reacts chemically, which requires charge and electrons, it also has mass.

Thus I propose two new fundamental particles. The ascendant and plunge quarks, these would function like regular up/down quarks except they have a spiritual charge. Since a proton is made of two up quarks and one down quark we can drop these quarks in and have a new particle called a spiriton. The spiriton would act just like a proton forming elements and reacting chemically to form different compounds, however it also carries a charge of the energy of creation.

The number of spiritons in the nucleus would identify the shard. This also allows hybrids such as Sazedium, and potential nuclear reactions that turn Atium into Lerasium.

Edited by Bremen
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The number of spiritons in the nucleus would identify the shard. This also allows hybrids such as Sazedium, and potential nuclear reactions that turn Atium into Lerasium.

For this to work power would have to be fungible.

IE all shards draw from the power of creation and in physical form the intent is stripped out. This would mean the physical form of Ruin is not itself Ruin. This does make some sense as it explains why Ruin would have to find the Atium and reabsorb it. This also implies that Ruin could absorb Lerasium to grow stronger as well, although perhaps Ruin's own intent would prevent this as what Lerasium does is counter to Ruin's intent.

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I don't think the intent is stripped out of the physical form of a Shard. It appears that you are using the Power of Creation theory as the basis for your argument. This is just a theory, and there are many who believe that the Power of Creation is just the Shards. If atium is not of Ruin, then why would he become weaker when atium formed? That clearly shows that all the power the atium gives comes directly from Ruin's available store, whether or not he is actually in turn taking power form the Power of Creation. Does that make sense?

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I don't think the intent is stripped out of the physical form of a Shard. It appears that you are using the Power of Creation theory as the basis for your argument. This is just a theory, and there are many who believe that the Power of Creation is just the Shards. If atium is not of Ruin, then why would he become weaker when atium formed? That clearly shows that all the power the atium gives comes directly from Ruin's available store, whether or not he is actually in turn taking power form the Power of Creation. Does that make sense?

Of course.

Its just more elegant if power is fungible :)

There are theoretical particles called tetraquarks which have four quarks. Using my proposed ascendent and plunge quarks this allows sixteen discrete charge states so that each shard could be individually identified that way. I went with something close to what we already know, standard atoms with protons and electrons.

Going the tetraquark route could be interesting, as you'd have a particle with fractional charge. Although for simplicity you'd probably stipulate that there is only one stable nucleus for each spiritual charge state (and that stable nucleus conveniently has a round electrical charge) so that all Atium atoms are chemically identical. Sazedium would then be a nucleus with a mixture of leras/ati tetraquarks in it.

Edited by Bremen
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