Talk:Unobtainium

No sources in the introduction

There should be references in the beginning. 148.69.59.20 (talk) 11:19, 20 January 2025 (UTC)

• No, see MOS:LEADCITE. EEng 14:11, 20 January 2025 (UTC)

Cold War Hoax ?

"Titanium allowed a higher strength-to-weight ratio at the high temperatures the Blackbird would reach, but its availability was restricted because the Soviet Union controlled its supply" Because: "Titanium is the ninth-most abundant element in Earth's crust (0.63% by mass) and the seventh-most abundant metal" ... "The element occurs within a number of minerals, principally rutile and ilmenite, which are widely distributed in the Earth's crust and lithosphere; it is found in almost all living things, as well as bodies of water, rocks, and soils" ... "Titanium cladding of Frank Gehry's Guggenheim Museum, Bilbao" ... "some late model Corvettes have been manufactured with titanium exhausts and a Corvette Z06's LT4 supercharged engine uses lightweight, solid titanium intake valves for greater strength and resistance to heat. Titanium is used in many sporting goods: tennis rackets, golf clubs, lacrosse stick shafts; cricket, hockey, lacrosse, and football helmet grills, and bicycle frames and components. Although not a mainstream material for bicycle production, titanium bikes have been used by racing teams and adventure cyclists. Titanium alloys are used in spectacle frames" ... "About 210,000 tonnes of titanium metal sponge were produced in 2020, mostly in China (110,000 t), Japan (50,000 t), Russia (33,000 t) and Kazakhstan (15,000 t). Total reserves of anatase, ilmenite, and rutile are estimated to exceed 2 billion tonnes" ... "Throughout the Cold War period, titanium was considered a strategic material by the U.S. government, and a large stockpile of titanium sponge (a porous form of the pure metal) was maintained by the Defense National Stockpile Center" source: PS it seems there was plenty titanium available, but few capable engineers ;) "In the 1950s and 1960s, the Soviet Union pioneered the use of titanium in military and submarine applications" .. "The former Soviet Union developed techniques for making submarines with hulls of titanium alloys, forging titanium in huge vacuum tubes" [the same source like before] 84.47.92.44 (talk) 09:45, 22 February 2025 (UTC)

Similar terms

Has upsidaisium been used outside Rocky and Bullwinkle? —Tamfang (talk) 23:18, 17 July 2025 (UTC)

subject of a dependent clause

Less commonly, it can mean a device with desirable engineering properties for an application that is exceedingly difficult or impossible to achieve.

is is a recent change from are. So is its subject application or properties? —Tamfang (talk) 23:01, 7 September 2025 (UTC)

It was device. But the sentence was convoluted and hard to understand, so I rewrote it. Dan Bloch (talk) 23:49, 7 September 2025 (UTC)

Does -ium imply an element?

User:Danbloch, Undid revision 1331659778 by SmokeyJoe (talk). Not clear what problem this is supposed to be solving..

The problem is that

with -ium, a suffix for chemical element names.

implies that the suffix “-ium” implies that the material is an element. It doesn’t, and the examples of “ammonium” and “Ferrocerium” are proof of exception. Unobtainium could well be a metallic alloy. The problem is fixed by inserting “mostly”. Excluding ions, -ium is a suffix mostly used for metallic elements. - SmokeyJoe (talk) 21:31, 7 January 2026 (UTC)

The problem with "mostly" is it leaves a reader scratching their head ("Why mostly?"), over something that really doesn't matter. I don't think the original was wrong (It's a suffix for chemical element names. It may also be a suffix for other things.), but I've reworded the sentence to "The word unobtainium derives humorously from unobtainable, with -ium, a suffix used in many chemical element names." Hopefully everyone can live with this. Danbloch (talk) 04:22, 8 January 2026 (UTC)

That works. Thanks. SmokeyJoe (talk) 05:07, 8 January 2026 (UTC)