). It should be noted that no actual periodic elements end in '-ite', though many
have names with this suffix. Some of the materials listed below may indeed be minerals, alloys, or other such combinations instead of being pure elements, but fictional works are often vague on such distinctions. Grouping is done by what seems most likely.
| Name
| Source
| Uses
|
| Adamantium
| Marvel Comics, Samurai Jack, some fantasy role-playing games
| universe of Marvel Comics. Once cast, it cannot be bent, blunted, or broken. It is used in weapons, notably Wolverine's claws, Captain America's shield, and various robots.
|
| Administratium
| Joke
| A well-known joke in scientific circles, a spoof on the bureaucracy of scientific establishments and on descriptions of newly discovered elements.
|
| Balthorium
| Dr. Strangelove
| An isotope, Balthorium G, has a radioactive halflife of 93 years. It is used in a doomsday machine which will release it into the atmosphere if triggered. Not related to real-life thorium.
|
| Carbonadium
| Marvel Comics
| A malleable form of adamantium.
|
| Cavorite
| H. G. Wells' The First Men in the Moon; also used in The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen
| Cavorite is impervious to gravity, and can shield other material from its effects. It is used to shield a craft from Earth's pull, it allows easy flight.
|
| Dalekanium
| Doctor Who
| A metal used by the Daleks in the manufacture of extremely powerful bombs. Depleted Dalekanium is also used in their armor.
|
| Dilithium
| Star Trek
| A reddish-orange crystal that is unreactive with both matter and antimatter, used in the matter/antimatter reactors of Federation starships, a key system of faster-than-light warp drives. The related element (isotope?) Trilithium has various uses as a weapon.
|
| Illudium Q-36
| Looney Tunes
| Used by Marvin the Martian as a planet-destroying explosive.
|
| Jumbonium
| Futurama
| Each atom of this element is large enough to be easily visible to the naked eye, with marble-sized nucleons and electrons.
|
| Kryptonite
| DC Comics
| Superman's home planet Krypton (planet)>Krypton, exposure to it is highly detrimental to Kryptonians (prolonged exposure can also harm Earth-humans). Can be used as a power source or ornament, but is more frequently used as a weapon against Kryptonians.
|
| Mithril
| Middle-earth
| titanium or aluminium alloy, the fact that it was mined in native form in Moria (Middle-earth)>Moria suggests it has no direct real-world analogue. It is used for making superb chain-mail armour and other means of protection.
|
| Narrativium
|
| An element unique to the Discworld; proto-substance from with all things spring forth.
|
| Octiron
| Discworld
| A dense black metal that is a large part of the Discworld's crust. It is highly magical with a melting point above the range of metal forges. It has few uses. The gates of Unseen University are made out of it, which is rather ruined by the fact that most people go 'round the back. A needle made of octiron will always point to the Hub, the centre of the Discworld's magical field; it will also darn its owner's socks by itself. At one point a wizard made a staff out of octiron, although the fact that he was borderline sane raises questions.
|
| Orichalcum
| Mythology (Atlantis)
| A reddish metal mined in Atlantis, used to make structures and walls. May be based on an actual mineral or gold/copper alloy, possibly Auricupride.
|
| Phostlite
| Tintin, "The Shooting Star"
| Discovered by Professor Decimus Phostle.
|
| Tiberium
| Command and Conquer
| Highly valuable crystal in the Command and Conquer series, Usually green, sometimes blue. Extremely toxic and mutagenic to terrestrial life-forms. Tiberium is used as a resource for mining.
|
| Thyrium
| Matthew Reilly's Temple
| This element came from a meteor and was used in a doomsday bomb.
|
| Unknown Element from The Colour out of Space
| H. P. Lovecraft's horror tale The Colour out of Space
| First identified in a meteorite that lands in a farmer's field, it has a distinctive, unnatural colour not found in nature. An alkaline metal, it is highly toxic and somewhat mutagenic.
|
| Unobtainium
| The Core, many thought experiments
| unobtainable. It is also an informal name for an improbably strong material found in works of science fiction, only used explicitly in The Core. It is typically used to fill a plot hole, allowing characters to do things that may not be physically possible even in principle; although a possibly more correct term is "handwaving>handwavium".
|
| Name
| Source
| Uses
|
| Cermet
| Final Fantasy XI
| Super-hard material used to build structures, armor and weapons.
|
| Gold
| Various RPGs
| Used to make weapons and armor, often superior in strength to bronze or silver.
|
| Iron
| Discworld, The Boggart, et cetera.
| | In many fantasy novels, iron is deadly to elf>elves and/or fairies.
| Silver
| German folklore, et cetera.
| werewolves, which are immune or resistant to normal weapons.
|
| Ununpentium (a.k.a. Elerium-115)
| Urban myths, UFO conspiracy theory culture, Dark Reign, The Core
| This material, as-yet unsynthesized in laboratories but given a slot on the periodic table, has all sorts of lore around it, as a Google search reveals
|
| Name
| Source
| Uses
|
| Biphase carbide
| Ogre game
| Steve Jackson as fighting vehicle armor in the Ogre (game)>Ogre game
|
| Carbonite
| Star Wars
| Han Solo is frozen in a block of this and successfully revived later.
|
| Cheddite
| Star Smashers of the Galaxy Rangers
| Made by irradiating Cheddar cheese, it enabled faster-than-light travel.
|
| Chemical X
| The Powerpuff Girls
| A mysterious chemical created by Professor Utonium. When he accidentally mixed it with sugar, spice, and everything nice, it created The Powerpuff Girls.
|
| Darksteel
|
| A type of metal that is, for all intents and purposes, indestructible. Used in various robots, machines, artifacts, and equipment.
|
| Flowstone
|
| nanorobots.
|
| Ice Nine
| Cat's Cradle
| Fahrenheit, and turns all water it comes into contact with into Ice Nine. Not related to the real-world Ice > ice-IX.
|
| GND
| Gundam Wing
| Genetic on Universal Neutrally Different Alloy. a.k.a. Gundanium (not to be confused with Gundarium, a.k.a. Lunar Titanium of Universal Century Gundam. Created in high temperature plasma only formed in zero gravity, with molecular scale refinements only possible in gravitionally stable Lagrange Points. Electrically neutral and almost entirely resistant to change, it's used in the manufacture of special beam weapons and armor. Expensive cost to manufacture makes prohibts general military use.
|
| Latinum
| Star Trek
| A liquid which cannot be replicated or synthesized. Used as currency.
|
| Lunar Titanium
| Universal Century Gundam
| mobile suit. Virtually impenetrable from 120mm tank cannon ammunition, is erosion and weather proof, and has some degree of resistance from energy weapons. Manufactured in zero gravity, and, despite it's name, is not made on the moon, but originally from the Earth Federation's asteroid base, Luna 2.
|
| Naquadah
| Stargate SG-1
| the Goa'uld power source
|
| Naquadria
| Stargate SG-1
| A more powerful variant of Naquadah found on Langara
|
| Plasteel
| The Dune books
| Hard yet moldable; used frequently as armor.
|
| Plasphalt
| The Muller-Fokker Effect
| Paving material.
|
| Polydichloric Euthimal (PDE)
| Terminator 2
| Used here as a high explosive.
|
| Scrith
| The Ringworld novels
| Conceived by Larry Niven for the base structure of the Ringworld
|
| Thiotimoline
| Isaac Asimov
| Conceived and described in a spoof scientific paper entitled The Endochronic Properties of Resublimated Thiotimoline in 1948. Thiotimoline has the property of dissolving in water slightly before the actual contact with water.
|
| Transparisteel
| Star Wars Expanded Universe (Star Wars)>Expanded Universe.
| A completely transparent metal at least as strong as steel. Used primarily for ship windows.
|
| Transparent Aluminum
| Star Trek
| Building material. Not really fictional anymore, transparent aluminum or alumina is the purifid Al2O3 transparent oxide of aluminum. It was developed by the Fraunhauffer Institute of Ceramics in Germany, but the page that first detailed it and showed its properties has since been removed; the discovery remains valid, in much less detail.
Transparent Aluminum is made with approximately 50% (?) efficiency by heating sub-micron sized particals to about 1200C so that they oxidize. They do not oxidize very well, unfortunately; only about 50% of the aluminum becomes alumina, resulting in a whitish transparency visible at Rense.com (picture shown is scaled down from the original on Fraunhauffer site).
|
| Trinium
| Stargate SG-1
| A very strong material.
|
| Ziff
| Book of Mormon
| An unknown metal mentioned in the Book of Mormon.
|
| Name
| Source
| Uses & effects
|
| Blinkmoth Serum
|
| Blinkmoth serum is created by killing and harvesting blinkmoths. It grants the user extreme intelligence, self-awareness, and understanding. It is extremely addictive.
|
| Comatonin
| Futurama (animated series)>Futurama
| tranquilizer
|
| Drencrom
| A Clockwork Orange
| Ingredient in milk-plus, sold in the Korova Milkbar. Produces alertness and ultra-violent tendencies.
|
| Ephemerol
| Scanners
| Tranquilizer, used as a morning sickness remedy. Produces mutations during development.
|
| Felicium
| Star Trek
| Narcotic
|
| Focusin
| The Simpsons
| a Ritalin-like drug
|
| Formula 51
| Formula 51
| Narcotic
|
| Happy Plant
| Dinosaurs
| Euphoria
|
| Haza
| Supernova (movie)>Supernova
|
|
| Gleemonex
| Brain Candy
| Anti-depressant
|
| Ketracel white
| Star Trek
| addictive stimulant
|
| Lot 6
| Firestarter
| Hallucinogen; telekenetic power enabler
|
| Mañanacillin
| American Flagg
| Combination antibotic and contraceptive, heavily classified studies show long term use leads to sterility.
|
| Melange
| Dune series
| Also called Spice. Mind altering; eyes turn blue as a side-effect.
|
| Neuroin
| Minority Report
| Effects similar to heroin, administered intraveneously.
|
| Panadote
| The Dying Sun
| Painkiller
|
| Polydichloric Euthimal (PDE)
| Outland (movie)>Outland
| Used here as an amphetamine compound.
|
| Serum 114
| A Clockwork Orange
|
|
| Silver Serpent Venom
| Ultima
| Dramatic increase in strength, poisonous.
|
| Slab
| Discworld
| 'Recreational' (for trolls). Technically not a fictional drug, so much as one that has no intoxicating effect on humans as Discworld trolls are silicon based lifeforms. Slab is described as being a mixture of chloric ammonium and radium.
|
| Slappers
| Batman Beyond
| A steroid
|
| Soma
| Brave New World
| antidepressant
|
| Somnambutol
| American Flagg
| Hallucinogenic barbituate, used for both recreational use, in small doses, and riot control, where it is commonly used in Snowball 99 capsule bullets.
|
| Spank
| Grand Theft Auto III
| Narcotic
|
| Spark
| G.I. Joe
| Erratic behavior. Lethal in excessive doses.
|
| Spice
| Star Wars
| Mind-altering
|
| Stimutacs
| Sealab 2021
| "Herbal dietary supplement", produced from all natural ingredients (99% kelp, 1% fugu tetrodotoxin other). Highly hallucinogenic, euphoric stimulant.
|
| Substance D
| A Scanner Darkly
| Dampens the links between the left and right hemispheres of the brain, causing vivid hallucinations. Also called "Death," it is lethally addictive.
|
| Synthemesc
| A Clockwork Orange
| Ingredient in milk-plus, sold in the Korova Milkbar. Produces alertness and ultra-violent tendencies.
|
| Trinity
|
|
|
| Vellocet
| A Clockwork Orange
| Ingredient in milk-plus, sold in the Korova Milkbar. Produces alertness and ultra-violent tendencies.
|
| Venus Drug
| Star Trek
| Aphrodisiac
|
| Venom
| Batman
| Highly addictive super-steroid. Increases physical performance and stamina.
|
| Yakov's Elixir
| The Inspector General
| Snake oil
|