Ettmetal uses

[natc]

We talk about medallions a lot because having powers artificially without murdering people is great, but I see less discussion on what you would do with this glowing alkali metal-ly stuff.

I mean, we don't know how it works, but how about some ideas on possibilities right?

What sort of device or contraption do you think ought to be made with this strange metal?

If nothing else I'd want bunkers to have strategic leeching areas all over in the distant future.

[Master Elodin]

Mistborn cage match with Nicrosil ettmetal bars.

[Melaan]

Don't forget bombs since it explodes when wet. Which begs the question, where can this stuff be mined? because if it can't get wet, you'd have to be careful with it.

[Pathfinder]

We talk about medallions a lot because having powers artificially without murdering people is great, but I see less discussion on what you would do with this glowing alkali metal-ly stuff.

I mean, we don't know how it works, but how about some ideas on possibilities right?

What sort of device or contraption do you think ought to be made with this strange metal?

If nothing else I'd want bunkers to have strategic leeching areas all over in the distant future.

High speed maglift trains without the required maglift part. Imagine traveling from Elendel all the way to South Scadrial in a few hours. Regeneration machines. Instead of using a defliberator, just touch the machine, and the person is completely healed. Skyscrapers far into the sky, without worry about foundations strong enough to keep it up due to reducing its weight from a machine. Hmmmm, give me time and I am sure I will think of more. (that is assuming I interpreted your question correctly)

[natc]

Yeah, you did, it's that sort of thing.

[ZenBossanova]

Just a comment on the name, ettmetal. 
When Mendeleev was first constructing his periodic table, and he knew he had spots for unknown elements, he called them ekasilicon, ekaaluminium and ekaboron. Eka and et just seemed very similar, and are both prefixes for unknown materials. Also, eka is 1 in sanskrit, which is why Mendeleev used it. 

[Landis963 he/him]

Don't forget bombs since it explodes when wet. Which begs the question, where can this stuff be mined? because if it can't get wet, you'd have to be careful with it.

 

Most alkali metals are "mined" having already reacted with the minerals around them, in many cases forming crystals of the compounds.  Lithium, for instance, has at least 21 different crystals it can form with various minerals.  The problem, however, is how the investiture stays connected to the ettmetal during two different processes that change its chemical makeup and thus its nature - first the natural reactions between the ettmetal and surrounding rock, and then the purification process necessary to extricate it from its crystal state.

 

Unless the investiture necessary to qualify it for godmetal status somehow insulates it from reacting with anything but Investiture, in which case (assuming it's liquid) it would form aquifers or underground pools in caves (probably not too dissimilar to Shardpools, now I think of it) which one would have to carefully search for using oil-lubricated drills and such, and pump it to the surface much like how we drill for oil.  

[kenod]

MB:SH spoilers:

Metals on Scandrial are invested. Combine this with the fact that iron also isn't mined in a pure form, but as iron oxides (so compounds), you can conclude that either they keep their investure while in a compound, or get invested as soon as it is extracted.

[Landis963 he/him]

MB:SH spoilers:

Metals on Scandrial are invested. Combine this with the fact that iron also isn't mined in a pure form, but as iron oxides (so compounds), you can conclude that either they keep their investure while in a compound, or get invested as soon as it is extracted.

 

Metals on Scadrial are gateways to power, which shines through in the Cognitive Realm, but they are not invested in and of themselves.  (If they were, metals mined on any other world would fail to power Allomancy, and we know by WoB that this is not the case)  Godmetals, on the other hand, have only been seen in  pure forms, and are invested in-and-of themselves.  (This is the reason why one can't make the godmetals in a hadron collider or whatever)

[kenod]

Metals on Scadrial are gateways to power, which shines through in the Cognitive Realm, but they are not invested in and of themselves.  (If they were, metals mined on any other world would fail to power Allomancy, and we know by WoB that this is not the case)  Godmetals, on the other hand, have only been seen in  pure forms, and are invested in-and-of themselves.  (This is the reason why one can't make the godmetals in a hadron collider or whatever)

Ok, thanks.

[Nyali she/her]

So, here's a question - what metal is "ettmetal?" Is it sodium, potassium, rubidium, or cesium? Sodium and potassium don't seem reactive enough in water, and cesium is liquid at room temperature. That implies that it's rubidium, a soft silver-white metal. I assume you can't be an ettmetal misting because swallowing it will cause you to explode, and an ettmetal metamind or spike seems like a really, really bad idea.

 

 

What exactly does ettmetal do? I wasn't super clear on it. Was it what allowed the "Primer" to work? Or was it used as more conventional fuel for airship engines to make the turbines and such move?

[happyman he/him]

So, here's a question - what metal is "ettmetal?" Is it sodium, potassium, rubidium, or cesium? Sodium and potassium don't seem reactive enough in water, and cesium is liquid at room temperature. That implies that it's rubidium, a soft silver-white metal. I assume you can't be an ettmetal misting because swallowing it will cause you to explode, and an ettmetal metamind or spike seems like a really, really bad idea.

 

 

What exactly does ettmetal do? I wasn't super clear on it. Was it what allowed the "Primer" to work? Or was it used as more conventional fuel for airship engines to make the turbines and such move?

 

According to Allik, there is a little bit of Ettmetal in the primer.  He also implies strongly that the Ettmetal is doing the Allomancy itself (once primed using an Allomancer), and that the Ettmetal will run out if it goes to long, at which point the equipment stops working.

It looks to me like Ettmetal has, among other attributes, the ability to enhance or extend Allomancy once it has been exposed to it.

[Nyali she/her]

According to Allik, there is a little bit of Ettmetal in the primer.  He also implies strongly that the Ettmetal is doing the Allomancy itself (once primed using an Allomancer), and that the Ettmetal will run out if it goes to long, at which point the equipment stops working.

It looks to me like Ettmetal has, among other attributes, the ability to enhance or extend Allomancy once it has been exposed to it.

 

Okay, so the reason why the ship needs ettmetal "fuel" isn't because it needs it to keep running, but because it needs it to keep mimicking Iron Feruchemy, forcing the ship itself to store iron, keeping the ship light enough to float? And possibly a bit of Steel Allomancy mixed in there for some lift?

[natc]

Well the propulsion systems are steel powered, as the primer cube was primed with Wax's allomancy at the time. As for Iron, it is possible that the ship we see, being a smaller craft, might not require weight reduction.

The bigger ship does apparently have this function though, according to the Set, and probably requires an iron feruchemist to start. Easy to come by as iron feruchemy medallions are plentiful on board. A different sort of primer may be needed for feruchemy though, since the primer we see provided no reaction to Wax's feruchemy despite Wax being known to habitually store weight during all of his waking hours.

I can only assume that there is generally supposed to be a coinshot medallion on board these things somewhere to start the "engines".

[Nyali she/her]

Yeah, my impression was that the lifeboat didn't have a weight/coinshot medallion on board because the ship only had a few of them, but they must have one weight/warmth medallion per crew member, so there are a ton of those. The ones they snagged from the safe would therefore be mostly warmth. Having a translation mixed in, but not a coinshot, makes sense to since those were probably both pretty rare on board, and the Set would care more about the coinshot ones if they had any idea what they did when they left for the second site.