Fantastic materials
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f you work with materials, then you have almost certainly encountered the most wonderful material of them all. It has amazing properties. It can manifest as a gas, solid, or liquid, and has a phase diagram unlike any that you’ve ever seen. It can be a conductor or an insulator. It can have an atomic number anywhere between zero and a Googleplex, including non-integer values. The fabulous material to which I am referring is, of course, unobtainium. We’ve all been in meetings where someone would say, “Oh, if only we had a material that (you fill in the blank)!” For example, “if only we had a material that was a superconductor at temperatures up to 300 K.” Or “If only we had a material with all of the properties of silicon, but that flows like a Newtonian fluid at room temperature and pressure.” Or “If only we had a material that was super-hard and could not be dented or broken.” “If only we had a solar cell material that would absorb 100% of all incident light at all wavelengths.” “If only we had biomaterials that would allow growth of replacement organs on demand.” At this point in our understanding of materials, these materials are merest fantasy, (i.e., unobtainium).1 The worlds of science fiction and fantasy are filled with references to fantastic materials.2 The Marvel universe (in comic books, movies, television series) has introduced us to adamantium,3 a super-hard metal that forms Captain America’s shield, Wolverine’s claws, and the outer body of Ultron. Adamantium also appears in various forms with a number of other Marvel characters.4 Imagine an automobile body made of adamantium. Dents and scratches would be a thing of the past. Never, ever! Unless, of course, you ran into the Incredible Hulk or Thor’s hammer, Mjolnir. Sharp objects would never dull. You would never have to replace your razor blades, or sharpen knives or shears. You could cut through almost anything. Oh, if only we had a material like adamantium. If you are familiar with the universe populated by Superman and his colleagues (in comic books, movies, and television shows), you have probably heard of Kryptonite.5,6 My first encounter with Kryptonite was the green form. Over the years, the stories have identified at least 22 different types of Kryptonite in many different colors such as green, red, gold, and black. Kryptonite is almost always identified as a product of the huge explosion that obliterated Krypton (Superman’s home planet), although there have been some forms of Kryptonite that were artificially produced (e.g., x-Kryptonite, magno-Kryptonite, and various alloys such as green-red). However, in some cases, Kryptonite is identified as an element, while in other cases, it is identified as a mineral. Some discussions suggest that Kryptonite is a super-heavy element—perhaps with a very high atomic number, but it must also be very stable.7 Other reports have identified Kryptonite as an element
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