Is graphite affected by allomancy?

[Fry]

Sitting in class the other day, I found myself thinking about Sanderson's works while holding a pencil. I thought it would make a cool projectile for a coinshot until I realized that the position of the ferrule at the back of the pencil wouldn't keep the tip elevated when pushed.

My question is: even though graphite is nonmetallic, do its magnetic properties allow it to be affected by a steelpush?

This may be a RAFO thing for the later eras, but I thought I'd ask.

[StanLemon]

Steelpushing isn't a matter of magnetism. So no.

Edit: To clarify, Iron and Steel Pull and Push on all metal (except aluminum) and don't do so via magnetism. A non metal like graphite wouldn't be affected unless you were powerful enough to affect the trace metals. Though you probably could still use the pencil as a weapon by Pushing on the ferrule. Standard Pushes do so at the center of mass and a skilled Coinshot can event choose what part of the metal they Push on as Wax and Kelsier show. Most Steelpushes launch small bits of metal at high velocity so unless you are trying for a longer distance, the pencil would likely hit the target before gravity pulled the rest of the pencil down

Edited November 19, 2019 by StanLemon

[Karger]

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Boskone 54 (Feb. 18, 2017)
#1 Feb. 18, 2017 Share Copy

 

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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.

 

[Kingsdaughter613]

Hydrogen? It is an Alkali Metal. And can theoretically become Metallic Hydrogen...

[Weltall]

41 minutes ago, Kingsdaughter613 said:

Hydrogen? It is an Alkali Metal. And can theoretically become Metallic Hydrogen...

My guess is that it would have to be in metallic form to be something you could push/pull on, in the same way that silicon is a metalloid but allomancers can't push/pull glass (maybe stained glass if you're powerful enough to push off the trace metals) and the reason that mistborn and Inquisitors use obsidian weapons is because they can't be detected or affected by allomancy even though they're made largely of silicon.

[Kingsdaughter613]

On 1/3/2020 at 5:10 PM, Weltall said:

My guess is that it would have to be in metallic form to be something you could push/pull on, in the same way that silicon is a metalloid but allomancers can't push/pull glass (maybe stained glass if you're powerful enough to push off the trace metals) and the reason that mistborn and Inquisitors use obsidian weapons is because they can't be detected or affected by allomancy even though they're made largely of silicon.

I’m wondering if a fullborn, compounding allomancy, could push or pull on metallic ions, atoms, and molecular compounds...

[Quantus]

There has to be a limit somewhere, and I strongly suspect it's going to be tied up in Perception (ie Cognitive hoodoo) of what is actually metal or not. Thanks to the periodic table we have a massively expanded idea of what materials can be called metals, but if we follow that to it's natural conclusion and we're basically saying that Allowmancy can affect any mineral, which while possible I think you'd need the buying of the collective Subconscious of Scardrials population.  Otherwise all ceramics, gems, and all stone would all qualify because all will have significant metallic elements.  For that matter, by the same virtue holding Investiture in Alumunim-based Gems shouldnt be possible.  

And while I know we've been told a mistborn can push on individual parts and pieces, to say they can change how a material focus behaves by selectively targeting one element of its chemical make-up implies that they could do the same to get the effect of pure elements from the alloys.  Which I adamnantly dont think they can do, or all the Alloy Specificity concepts fall apart.

[Fry]

3 hours ago, Quantus said:

There has to be a limit somewhere, and I strongly suspect it's going to be tied up in Perception (ie Cognitive hoodoo) of what is actually metal or not. Thanks to the periodic table we have a massively expanded idea of what materials can be called metals, but if we follow that to it's natural conclusion and we're basically saying that Allowmancy can affect any mineral, which while possible I think you'd need the buying of the collective Subconscious of Scardrials population.  Otherwise all ceramics, gems, and all stone would all qualify because all will have significant metallic elements.  For that matter, by the same virtue holding Investiture in Alumunim-based Gems shouldnt be possible.  

And while I know we've been told a mistborn can push on individual parts and pieces, to say they can change how a material focus behaves by selectively targeting one element of its chemical make-up implies that they could do the same to get the effect of pure elements from the alloys.  Which I adamnantly dont think they can do, or all the Alloy Specificity concepts fall apart.

Does that imply that allomancy directly affects the spirit of objects (like surge-binding)? That doesn't seem to jive with the application of Scadrial investiture as we've seen it in the books.

Would a Shard have an understanding of the periodic table as we do today? Perhaps Preservation's comprehension of metals is different than ours, and any investiture granted by him would operate under different rules.

[Quantus]

4 minutes ago, Fry said:

Does that imply that allomancy directly affects the spirit of objects (like surge-binding)? That doesn't seem to jive with the application of Scadrial investiture as we've seen it in the books.

IM not sure what you mean?

4 minutes ago, Fry said:

Would a Shard have an understanding of the periodic table as we do today? Perhaps Preservation's comprehension of metals is different than ours, and any investiture granted by him would operate under different rules.

It should probably be far better than what we have managed to understand IRL.  Shards get blasted by the pure unadulterated Truth of the Spiritual Realm and can directly perceive (and alter) the building blocks of the universe.  The relevant Two we are talking about got together and whistled up the entire populated planet from scratch.  

[Weltall]

To add to @Quantus's point, we have WoB that Ascension grants you an understanding of the laws that govern the Cosmere. I'm pretty sure that a solid understanding of chemistry is going to be in there somewhere:

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Questioner

How does Harmony know about radio?

Brandon Sanderson

There are actually two answers to this. First, Harmony was given a grand understanding of the laws of the universe during his Ascension. Second, Preservation had some limited precognitive abilities. Either one of those can lead you to the answer.

Shadows of Self San Francisco signing (Oct. 9, 2015)