Mechanical properties of Atium

[Quantum Toast he/him]

Well, I always thought that if Atium's a kind of energy that's just acting like solid matter, it could have the properties of a metal without actually working anything like real matter.

Eh, maybe I just don't like the idea of Atium being made of something other than Atium?

[Commander Spoonface he/him]

Well, iron is still iron, even if it is made of atoms, like everything else.

There is nothing in the behavior of Atium to suggest it is not simply an element, albeit one that is not present on the periodic table as known to humans.

[Aeshdan he/him]

All matter is

a kind of energy that's just acting like solid matter

, so that doesn't prove anything either way.

[Arcanist Lupus he/him]

Well, iron is still iron, even if it is made of atoms, like everything else.

There is nothing in the behavior of Atium to suggest it is not simply an element, albeit one that is not present on the periodic table as known to humans.

The problem with this is that if this is the case, then it is either one of the known elements, (although maybe not known on Sel), or it has an atomic number of over 118. And the most noticeable physical property of elements in that row of the periodic table have they aren't very stable stable at all.

Actually, though, this could explain a lot - Atium is held together using Ruin's energy, which allows it to be stable even when by all rights it should be exploding. Incidentally, this would mean that if Ruin's energy was ever removed from Atium (which is what Ruin was presumably trying to do), it would cause the world's most terrifying nuclear explosion, and probably demolish the planet. Which is one more reason Ruin wanted his Atium back.

I still support the "Atium isn't matter" theory (if anybody's read the short story Microcosmic God, I think it's kind of like the impenetrable shield at the end, and if you haven't read the story, you should. It's great.) but I must admit that Atium could work as an element.

[Commander Spoonface he/him]

I think it makes sense for Atium to be a normally ridiculously unstable element (one not even on our periodic table) held together by Ruin's energy.

If releasing Ruin's energy is even stronger than releasing the Strong Nuclear Force, is it possible to make an Atium bomb? Does Atium have a critical mass when it is strongly condensed?

[valkynphyre]

I think it makes sense for Atium to be a normally ridiculously unstable element (one not even on our periodic table) held together by Ruin's energy.

If releasing Ruin's energy is even stronger than releasing the Strong Nuclear Force, is it possible to make an Atium bomb? Does Atium have a critical mass when it is strongly condensed?

This must be tested. I'm assembling a task force. I need Doctor Who, Einstein, and Geordi Laforge. Who else wants in? We shall set up in the New Mexican desert in the year 1072 A.D. see you there if you're a Cosmere physicist.

Edited May 9, 2012 by valkynphyre

[Eric]

Crap, I just know I'm going to have left a gold coin there which will eventually lead to Coronado making an chull of himself. Anyway, I will have been there. I'll have hitched a ride with the Master. You know he's going to have wanted in, especially if his boyfriend will have showed up.

...Is that the right tense for planned time travel to my current past?

Anyway, this discussion reminds me of something from Margaret Weis:

It had long been theorized that if the quarks of an atom could be pulled apart and the color bond which held them together stretched to its limit, the space between them could be rotated in such a way that, upon release, the quarks rushing back together would collide, totally annihilating matter, producing pure energy. ... Annihilation would spread, instantaneously. Theoretically the explosion would stop . . . eventually . . . far out in space where matter was reduced to a single atom drifting in a vast void. But not before entire solar systems had died a flaming death. And there were certain scientists ... who had speculated that the horrific forces unleashed might tear a hole in the universe, destroying everything in the galaxy and beyond instantly, utterly. A rent in creation's fragile fabric.

I like this idea for an Atium bomb. It suits Ruin well.

[Commander Spoonface he/him]

I've heard rumors that the "modern" Mistborn involves a special Allomantic/Feruchemical special operations team. What better target for them to take down than some terrorist/political entity with the capability to destroy, if not the entire universe, at least a sizeable chunk of it?

I think that a universe destroying bomb is a bit too powerful to be used as an effective plot device, though. I imagine it more on the "high yield nuclear weapons" scale. Imagine how strategically valuable the Pits of Hathsin become when Atium weapons are discovered.

[prehistoricman]

Atium Bomb....A-Bomb

I gotta say that if you're right Brandon just went up a level in Evil Geniousness!

[valkynphyre]

Crap, I just know I'm going to have left a gold coin there which will eventually lead to Coronado making an chull of himself. Anyway, I will have been there. I'll have hitched a ride with the Master. You know he's going to have wanted in, especially if his boyfriend will have showed up.

...Is that the right tense for planned time travel to my current past?

Let's see... I just know I'm goingla leaven a gold coin there which wolli eventually lead to Coronado willing have made ...

I'm going to have to reread Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy in before I travel to the past. Grammar! that's the reason there are no time travelers! The Grammar is too confusing.

[Commander Spoonface he/him]

The reason there are no time travelers is that, in the distant future, someone discovered it, but it got so confusing the world agreed to just kill all time travelers so that things would be simple again.

[bronzecompounder he/him]

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!

oh my goodness, this is the best post i have ever read. ever. headcanon accepted.

must... resist.. urge to propose.... ; 3;