Bloomberg Businessweek USA - 02.09.2019

Ad Adamantium

Marvel Comics

Practically indestructible, it’s best

known as the steel alloy bonded

to Wolverine’s skeleton and

claws. According to marvel.com,

“Wolverine’s mutant healing factor

allowed him to survive the process

and induced a

molecular change

in the metal,

transforming it

into a wholly new

metal, named

Adamantium Beta.”

Bo Bolognium

The Simpsons

In “Lisa Gets an ‘A’ ” (1998),

bolognium appears on a

promotional copy of the periodic

table provided to Springfield

Elementary by Oscar Mayer. (Mrs.

Krabappel: “Now who can tell me

the atomic weight of bolognium?”

Martin Prince: “Ooh, delicious?”

Krabappel: “Correct. I would also

accept ‘snacktacular.’”)

Bm Bombastium

Walt Disney

In a 1957 comic, Uncle Scrooge

forks over a chunk of his fortune

for a piece “the size of a large

turnip,” according to one synopsis.

Nobody knows what it does—

only that it must remain frozen.

“Terrified that his acquisition will

melt before he can make a profit,”

the review continues, “Scrooge

drags Donald Duck and his nephews

on a voyage to the South Pole to

safeguard his investment.”

Ct Cobalt Thorium G

Dr. Strangelove

Cobalt and thorium are real

elements, but combining them into

one is a Hollywood creation, with

the “G” possibly distinguishing its

radioactive isotope. In the movie,

the Russian ambassador says, “If

you take, say, 50 H-bombs in the

100-megaton

range and

jacket them

with cobalt

thorium G,

when they

are exploded,

they will

produce a

doomsday

shroud.”

Di Dilithium

Star Trek

Although it exists in reality as two

bonded lithium atoms, every

Trekkie knows dilithium is a rare

crystalline substance that helps

power warp-drive propulsion.

84

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You know vibranium from Black Panther, of course. But that’s not the only

element invented for pure entertainment value. We mined the depths

of the internet for this superlegit, 100% scientific analysis of the most

creative, not-at-all natural wonders. And if you want to argue

that some of these are compounds or alloys or whatever, put down

the jerktonium and go weave some mithril.

The Periodic Table of Totally

Awesome Elements

WOLVERINE, DR. STRANGELOVE, STAR TREK AND WONDER WOMAN: EVERETT IMAGES (4). PRICE DATA THROUGHOUT: U.S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY, BLOOMBERG, U.S. DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE, UNITED NATIONS, ADVANCED SPECIALTY GASES,AIRGAS, RACE PLACE, JACOBSEN SALT, LOS ALAMOS SCIENCE, UNITED NUCLEAR SCIENTIFIC EQUIPMENT & SUPPLIES, U.S. ENERGY INFORMATION ADMINISTRATION, “COSTS AND MANPOWER FOR THE BERKELEY 88-INCH CYLOTRON,” BY (^)
RICHARD BURLEIGH; MOST RECENT PRICE AVAILABLE AS OF 8/21/19
Mi Mithril
The Lord of the
Rings
The lightweight,
silvery metal is
malleable enough
to be made into
jewelry or orc-
resistant armor.
Un Unobtanium
Avatar
The metallic, silver-gray mineral,
found on the moon Pandora, is a
superconductor worth as much
as $40 million per kilogram,
according to Avatar Wiki. But it
predates the movie as a jokey
term for a theoretical substance—
with perfect properties forsome
use—that either doesn’t exist or
is impossible to mine for political
or technological reasons.
Up Upsidaisium
Rocky and His
Friends
The antigravity metal is native to
a floating mine (bequeathed to
Bullwinkle by an uncle),
and everyone wants
it: the U.S.
government, as
well as spies Boris
and Natasha.
En Energon
Transformers
According to tfwiki.net, energon
is the “preferred fuel of the
Transformer race. It takes many
forms... but it is most commonly
used by Transformers in its liquid
state, which is stored in many
different mediums, most famously
the energon cube.”
Fi Feminum
Wonder Woman
On the TV show, her Bracelets of
Submission were forged of the
metal, which made
it into the title of
two episodes that
aired in November
1976: “The Feminum
Mystique,” Parts 1
and 2.
Jt Jerktonium
SpongeBob
SquarePants
A green substance that turns
residents of Bikini Bottom into
jerks when ingested. “Infected
victims develop big black eyebrows,
black bags around their eyes, and
a mass of black stubble around
their mouths,” according to the
Encyclopedia SpongeBobia.