Unobtainium Why?

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Hurr Durr Derp

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sagacious said:
In the movie Avatar, unobtainium is a naturally-occuring room temerature super conductor. The properties of said object would be 1) the ability to transfer electric current with 100% effieciency (as opposed to current high-voltage wires which have ~50% effieciency over long distances.) and 2) levitation in a magnetic field. Which is why you see the floating islands, and the floating rock in Selfrige's office.
It sounds logical, but if the unobtainium was responsible for the floating mountains, then why didn't they mine those? And the unobtainium cache they were after all along didn't float at all.
 

milkoy

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Blatherscythe said:
If you've seen Avatar you know that the corporation was their to mine for a shiny substance, unobtanium. The thing is that it is never explained (in the movie) why this shiny metal is so damn valuable. So I ask you, what do you think unobtanium does to make it so valuable? I personally think it's a cure to some form of disease, or maybe cancer.

Edit: Unobtanium is worth 20 million dollars a kilogram.

Cameron stated that it is a room temperature superconductor, something that will fixed the broken economy of earth, as stated by Jake as he is leaving the drop ship at the beginning.
 

scornedbythenine

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chrisdibs said:
If it's anything like smurfberries, it'll be a great source of energy.
sp lol

but no unobtanium is an element that is created in hyper-disi-thermonuclear reactors
A.K.A
SUPER SUN

its virtualy indistructable, hyper conductive and is an extreme sorce of energy when used as a magnetic conductor ...
its hat we need to develop warp drives.....

only problem is (as its name sates...)
it is unobtainable
 

sagacious

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hURR dURR dERP said:
sagacious said:
In the movie Avatar, unobtainium is a naturally-occuring room temerature super conductor. The properties of said object would be 1) the ability to transfer electric current with 100% effieciency (as opposed to current high-voltage wires which have ~50% effieciency over long distances.) and 2) levitation in a magnetic field. Which is why you see the floating islands, and the floating rock in Selfrige's office.
It sounds logical, but if the unobtainium was responsible for the floating mountains, then why didn't they mine those? And the unobtainium cache they were after all along didn't float at all.
It is probably the movie's one big plothole: why didn't they mine somewhere else and avoid a war? I don't know. But as far as the unobtainium cache they were mining not floating: it could be that the magnetic field in that area isn't very strong, which would also explain why the human's electronics work fine in some areas, but not around the floating mountains.

EDIT: I know why they couldn't mine the floating mountains. they wouldn't be able to get mining equipment up there... or something...
 

G1eet

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According to the movie guide (give me a break, I work in a bookstore), it's a room temperature superconductor.
 

messy

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soapyshooter said:
Because of its ridiculous magnetic properties. Something like that could be used to build matter-anti matter annihilation engines for space craft, which could reach upto 92% the speed of light.

EDIT: Also it could be a superconductor. one of the holy grail's of science is finding a cheap superconductor
specifically one that works at room temperature as well
 

Baby Tea

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Sep 18, 2008
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Pyode said:
It's not about demand. Trust me, if it where physically possible to make diamond windows or diamond knives and blades, people would want them.
What about synthetic diamonds? Since they are man-made, couldn't they be made to certain specifications?

More on topic: I thought it was a funny name for a floaty rock.
I didn't really care about what it actually was. All I had to know that it was valuable and wanted, and I knew that.
 

ziggy161

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Probably because it's so rare...I mean it's...unobtainable?

That or it hypnotises even the sexiest women into thinking it's holder is the best thing on legs...
 

DogofRaw

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Old Trailmix said:
thenumberthirteen said:
Pingieking said:
Or the craziest idea, what if it's a monopole? That would be CRAZY AWESOME!
Maybe that'll go towards explaining those floating mountains. Seriously WTF?
My theory is that the huge gas giant that pandora orbits is pulling the mountains up with it's gravity.
Ahh, the general ignorance of basic physics in that theory is heartwarming. What happens to the mountains when they rotate with the moon away from the gas planet? Or when they are standing on the top of one how come don't float off? The monopole idea is better because they haven't been discovered/don't exist and so fall under 'artistic licence'. As for the Unobtainium, I say its Crystallized Religion, and the fundamentalists at home need it to get church attendance up. And thats why its all under the giant tree, with its resident religious hippie cats. QED.
 

RagingMetrosexual

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If unobtainium is actually unobtainable how the hell did they obtain it in the first place?

Also how the fuck do those mountains float?!?

Gah that film annoyed me. Twas pretty though
 

brodie21

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i read on the wiki that it is a substance that is a great superconductor that they use in making electronics and magnets for maglev trains. and since the earth is highly industrialized, superconductors are in high demand for connecting all corners of the world and making computers, and i think even the ship that brought jake to Pandora.
 

raankh

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Unobtanium [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unobtainium] has been a staple of sci-fi since at least the 70's, probably earlier (since it's been around in engineering longer). Larry Niven invented "scrith", a type of unobtanium with tensile strength on the order of the strong nuclear force (that keeps quarks together to form nuclei).

Other "unobtaniums" include dilithium (Star Trek), adamantium (Marvel), carbonite (Star Wars) and elerium-115 (X-Com: UFO Defense). Element Zero in Mass Effect is another one.

It should be noted that in engineering "unobtanium" can be something else than an actual element -- as in the proposed nano-materials to be used in space elevators. There it's actually (doped) carbon, but the nano-scale structure of the material gives it unusual properties. However, since there hasn't yet been created a sufficiently strong and light type of nano-wire in sufficient quantity to actually build a space elevator, the material is as-of-yet "unobtanium".

In contrast, "handwavium" exists through Proof by Handwaving, and is thus unlikely to even be possible. That's usually the category that sci-fi unobtanium falls into.

In sci-fi it's usually some exotic form of matter with vastly different properties than the Standard Model of particle physics can account for, or simply unexplained (ie, proven by handwaving).
 

Deadpool062

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Hopeless Bastard said:
The literal reason is irrelevant.

It was a metaphor for money. The entire planet and it's inhabitants were a metaphor for the internet. The movie was saying its simply impossible to make money from the internet using old corporate driven methods.
Uh... no. It symbolized other things... besides that. Like destroying the Amazon and native culture...
 

SeanTheSheep

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Jun 23, 2009
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I'm assuming it's super-oil.
But it could just as well be phlebotinum, solidified fairy dust, magic metal, tree brains, or just plain and simple nutrients that can keep a fully grown man going for days, weeks even, solidified into a rock.
soapyshooter said:
Because of its ridiculous magnetic properties. Something like that could be used to build matter-anti matter annihilation engines for space craft, which could reach upto 92% the speed of light.

EDIT: Also it could be a superconductor. one of the holy grail's of science is finding a cheap superconductor
Aaah yes, 20 million dollar per kilo cheapness, it's practiacally a bargain!
Sorry.
 

FROGGEman2

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Mar 14, 2009
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The correct answer (from the videogame) is that it is used to power very fast, very fancy trains (called maglev trains).

Retarded.

ziggy161 said:
scornedbythenine said:
LiquidGrape said:
It's the one thing in this universe which could possibly expand Cameron's already bloated ego.
...... HA
Seconded XD
Dude, respect, please. This is the king of sci-fi you're talking about.