# Favorite Fictional Chemical? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 8, 2003, 9:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-fictional-chemical/173866 "2003-05-08T09:29:49Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Manduck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/manduck/32/256_2.png) [@Manduck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Manduck)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2003, 10:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-fictional-chemical/173866/41 "2003-05-08T22:18:40Z")
I like the re-animation serum from **Re-animator**. I don’t remember what it was called. Also, you gotta like solonite (or, sometimes, “solomonite”) from **Plan 9 From Outer Space**. It was a substance that could cause sunlight to explode, thus destroying the entire universe. ---
**Author:** ![Saltire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saltire/32/553_2.png) [@Saltire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saltire)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2003, 10:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-fictional-chemical/173866/42 "2003-05-08T22:30:48Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by BrainGlutton \* > \*\*Did they ever give a name to that slag drug from “Alien Nation”? \*\* Not sure of the spelling, but it was called _jonniphrene._ It worked on both humans and Tenktonese. Oh, and lay of the specieist slurs. You wouldn’t want our extraterrestrial fellow citizens to call you “tert”, now would you? ---
**Author:** ![Mockingbird](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c68b51/32.png) [@Mockingbird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mockingbird)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2003, 10:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-fictional-chemical/173866/43 "2003-05-08T22:47:27Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by caveman \* > \*\*Adamantium…its even got its own soound effect: _snikt_ \*\* At least in the Marvel Universe, Adamantium is a metal. I believe as it is naturally occuring, it would be considered an element. ---
**Author:** ![Mockingbird](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c68b51/32.png) [@Mockingbird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mockingbird)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2003, 10:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-fictional-chemical/173866/44 "2003-05-08T22:48:55Z")
**Miraclo** which was what gave Rex Tyler his hour of power as Hourman(DC Comics - Member of the Justice Society). ---
**Author:** ![Icerigger](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/icerigger/32/432_2.png) [@Icerigger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Icerigger)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2003, 10:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-fictional-chemical/173866/45 "2003-05-08T22:56:20Z")
**tetralubisol** ---
**Author:** ![Phnord\_Prephect](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/df705f/32.png) [@Phnord\_Prephect](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Phnord_Prephect)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2003, 10:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-fictional-chemical/173866/46 "2003-05-08T22:57:27Z")
Flubber. The best fictional chemical of all time! Mithril, of course. A mithril and flubber car would be AWESOME. Plutnium Nyborg, from Heavy Metal. Heh. just one bag, tho. The virus whose name I forget from the Wild Cards series of books. It kills 90% of those who get it. 90% of the survivors are horribly disfigured in some way. The lucky 1% become ‘superheroes’ of some sort, based on their subconscious. VERY cool stories! I’m sure there are plenty of others… ---
**Author:** ![rowrrbazzle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rowrrbazzle/32/414_2.png) [@rowrrbazzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rowrrbazzle)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2003, 11:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-fictional-chemical/173866/47 "2003-05-08T23:35:16Z")
TDX, James Blish’s gravity-polarized (“two-dimensional”) explosive. ---
**Author:** ![Speaker\_for\_the\_Dead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c77e96/32.png) [@Speaker\_for\_the\_Dead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Speaker_for_the_Dead)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2003, 12:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-fictional-chemical/173866/48 "2003-05-09T00:08:05Z")
My personal favourite is Dune’s **Spice Melange** , which can extend life and boost prescient abilities! If breathed in a pure gas form, it can mutate you. ---
**Author:** ![tracer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tracer/32/20578_2.png) [@tracer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tracer)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2003, 1:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-fictional-chemical/173866/49 "2003-05-09T01:40:24Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Phnord Prephect \* > **The virus whose name I forget from the Wild Cards series of books. It kills 90% of those who get it. 90% of the survivors are horribly disfigured in some way. The lucky 1% become ‘superheroes’ of some sort, based on their subconscious.** The virus was called … brace yourself, here … _ **the Wild Card virus.** _ ---
**Author:** ![tracer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tracer/32/20578_2.png) [@tracer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tracer)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2003, 1:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-fictional-chemical/173866/50 "2003-05-09T01:45:53Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Steve Wright \* > **"Doc" Smith had some good ones … the _Skylark_ series featured _arenak_, which was stronger than steel, but also transparent and colourless, with the same refractive index as air (effectively, invisible).** Not just stronger than steel, **500 times** stronger than steel! Can you imagine the impact on human construction and technology if we had a substance like this? Of course, the _Skylark_ series also featured the mysterious metal known only as “X”. When plated around copper (or uranium in later books) and exposed to an X-ray source, all the copper (or uranium) in contact with the X metal got coverted from matter into energy. 'Twas as potent as antimatter, without havng to scrape together any actual antimatter. ---
**Author:** ![Kat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/b19c9b/32.png) [@Kat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kat)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2003, 1:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-fictional-chemical/173866/51 "2003-05-09T01:49:24Z")
Trellanstone. The Imperial Orb of Dragaera is made out of this. ---
**Author:** ![SolGrundy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bbce88/32.png) [@SolGrundy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SolGrundy)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2003, 2:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-fictional-chemical/173866/52 "2003-05-09T02:12:48Z")
Both of mine have already been mentioned. But I’ll say 'em again. Chemical X is a positive BOON to the people of Townsville and our planet as a whole. And adamantium is not only indestructible, but apparently cats go wild for the rich taste. > [@](#): > > _Originally posted by Mockingbird_ > **At least in the Marvel Universe, Adamantium is a metal. I believe as it is naturally occuring, it would be considered an element.** Ah-hah! But unless you can come up with any other fictional chemicals that haven’t been mentioned _and_ are cooler than adamantium, then the thread’s a wash. Unless it were re-titled “favorite fictional substance?” which seems to vague and unsavory for the SDMB. ---
**Author:** ![Koffing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/898d66/32.png) [@Koffing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Koffing)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2003, 2:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-fictional-chemical/173866/53 "2003-05-09T02:16:21Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Mockingbird \* > \*\*At least in the Marvel Universe, Adamantium is a metal. I believe as it is naturally occuring, it would be considered an element. \*\* Definitely not an element, and not naturally occuring. Adamantium is a series of alloys. _Adamant_ on the other hand, is a god-metal and may qualify. Uru as well. ---
**Author:** ![tracer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tracer/32/20578_2.png) [@tracer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tracer)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2003, 2:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-fictional-chemical/173866/54 "2003-05-09T02:29:41Z")
What about **mithral** (note the “ **a** ”) and **adamantite** from the AD&D universe? ---
**Author:** ![Achernar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e274bd/32.png) [@Achernar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Achernar)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2003, 2:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-fictional-chemical/173866/55 "2003-05-09T02:42:39Z")
I don’t think it has a cool name, but Friar Laurence’s handy temporary death potion, from _Romeo and Juliet_. Its effects are described in Act Four, scene one: > [@](#): > > …through all thy veins shall run > A cold and drowsy humour, for no pulse > Shall keep his native progress, but surcease: > No warmth, no breath, shall testify thou livest; > The roses in thy lips and cheeks shall fade > To paly ashes, thy eyes’ windows fall, > Like death, when he shuts up the day of life; > Each part, deprived of supple government, > Shall, stiff and stark and cold, appear like death: > And in this borrow’d likeness of shrunk death > Thou shalt continue two and forty hours, > And then awake as from a pleasant sleep. ---
**Author:** ![jeanster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/9fc348/32.png) [@jeanster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jeanster)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2003, 3:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-fictional-chemical/173866/56 "2003-05-09T03:09:08Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Lamia \* > \*\*I can’t believe I’m the first person to mention Iocaine! It is odorless, tasteless, and dissolves instantly in liquid and is among the more deadly poisons known to man. Luckily, it is possible to build up an immunity. \*\* [The Princess Bride]Inconceivable![/The Princess Bride] 😃 You beat me to it, Lamia. Good one. ---
**Author:** ![eburacum45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eburacum45/32/8690_2.png) [@eburacum45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eburacum45)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2003, 3:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-fictional-chemical/173866/57 "2003-05-09T03:58:49Z")
in Brave New World, The hedonistic alphas were kept happy by liberal doses of Soma, Aldous Huxley’s wide spectrum prozac. * * * Sci-fi worldbuilding at [http://www.orionsarm.com/main.html](http://www.orionsarm.com/main.html) ---
**Author:** ![eunoia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eunoia/32/97_2.png) [@eunoia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eunoia)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2003, 4:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-fictional-chemical/173866/58 "2003-05-09T04:14:00Z")
A new drug: [Mimezine](http://www.techgnosis.com/palms.html), an empathogenic designer drug which creates the sense that the holograms are physically real. Also not mentioned: [Illudium](http://asuaf.org/~johnc/Illudium.htm) used notably in explosive space modulators. ---
**Author:** ![Firx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/c2a13f/32.png) [@Firx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Firx)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2003, 4:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-fictional-chemical/173866/59 "2003-05-09T04:14:18Z")
I’ll go with **duckmite** and **oxide of strombolium**. ---
**Author:** ![tracer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tracer/32/20578_2.png) [@tracer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tracer)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2003, 4:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-fictional-chemical/173866/60 "2003-05-09T04:20:49Z")
When I was a kid, I came up with a substance I called “solid friction.” It had a coefficient of friction that was practically infinite. (It was also, for all intents and purposes, indestructable, and clear like a sheet of plexiglass. And only one sample of it existed, which came from space; the secrets of its fabrication were never discovered.) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-fictional-chemical/173866.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-fictional-chemical/173866.md?page=4)