"Is it getting heavy?"

April 24, 2007 8:37 AM

Kryptonite! A new mineral has been found in Serbia which 'closely matches' the chemical compound of Superman's least favourite substance (sodium lithium boron silicate hydroxide). Too bad it isn't green.
posted by chuckdarwin (23 comments total)

It's not that easy, being green.

Very definitely not green
posted by Blazecock Pileon at 8:49 AM on April 24, 2007

it will be formally named Jadarite

Could it have killed them to call it kryptonite?
posted by Dave Faris at 8:52 AM on April 24, 2007 [1 favorite]

You're right; it isn't.
posted by chuckdarwin at 8:53 AM on April 24, 2007

Could it have killed them to call it kryptonite?

I think that would actually have been pretty lame. Plus

"The new mineral does not contain fluorine (which it does in the film) and is white rather than green but, in all other respects, the chemistry matches that for the rock containing kryptonite."

Oh and this:

The mineral cannot be called kryptonite under international nomenclature rules because it has nothing to do with krypton - a real element in the Periodic Table that takes the form of a gas.

It would sort of take away some of the "mystery" of the chemical though, I mean "kryptonite" was always sort of mysterious and it obviously emitted some kind of radiation. Naming a real substance after it would have kind of diminished it.

Plus, it (the formula) was probably just some technobable thrown in by a film writer, it's not part of the original superman story (as far as I know)
posted by delmoi at 8:58 AM on April 24, 2007

Stop letting me down, Real World! Kryponite needs to be green! Wait! Unless....

White Kryponite: Kills all plant life, whether Kryptonian or not. Induces decay immediately upon exposure, with a range of about 25 yards. The most prominent use of this variety in the comics was to destroy Virus X, which was revealed in a storyline in 1968's Action Comics #362-366 to actually be a form of plant life.
posted by robocop is bleeding at 8:59 AM on April 24, 2007 [1 favorite]

Could it have killed them to call it kryptonite?

If there weren't already a completely unrelated gaseous element called "krypton," I'm guessing they probably would've.
posted by cerebus19 at 8:59 AM on April 24, 2007

XQUZYPHYR, it must be a slow news day!

Seriously, I considered blogging about wanting to ban racial epithets in rap music Russell Simmons ... but decided against it.
posted by chuckdarwin at 9:07 AM on April 24, 2007

*I got that out of order, but you probably get my drift.
posted by chuckdarwin at 9:08 AM on April 24, 2007

You can keep your scientific mumbo jumbo about periodic tables and gaseous elements, Mr. Man. I live in a world of poetry, and I think they still should have named it kryptonite.
posted by Dave Faris at 9:10 AM on April 24, 2007 [1 favorite]

Holy Periodic Chart!...but wait... that's Batman speak. Wrong comic dialect.

Elsewhere in the news: First habitable Earth like planet outside Solar System discovered.
posted by nickyskye at 9:16 AM on April 24, 2007 [1 favorite]

This explains why I was feeling a bit weak today...
posted by NationalKato at 9:20 AM on April 24, 2007

What, no tar?

For those too lazy to check the periodic table, Krypton (Kr) is already listed.
posted by Smart Dalek at 9:21 AM on April 24, 2007

*hands cerebus19 a free Coke*
posted by Smart Dalek at 9:23 AM on April 24, 2007

This will only encourage DC to retcon their whole fucking universe AGAIN.
posted by briank at 9:54 AM on April 24, 2007 [2 favorites]

"The new mineral does not contain fluorine (which it does in the film) and is white rather than green but, in all other respects, the chemistry matches that for the rock containing kryptonite."

So if it did contain fluorine, it would be green. QED.
posted by Faint of Butt at 10:07 AM on April 24, 2007

This will only encourage DC to retcon their whole fucking universe AGAIN.

Well, how else would we mark the passage of seasons, if not by a new DC retcon?
posted by signal at 10:28 AM on April 24, 2007

I love the no-bullshit caption in the BBC article.
posted by Anything at 10:53 AM on April 24, 2007

So, if I took this stuff, molded it into bullets and shot people, would them dying indicate that they are not Superman or that they are?

I'm confused.
posted by quin at 10:56 AM on April 24, 2007

Clearly, the people who named this substance are Superman fans. So of course didn't choose a name for this stuff based on something from that incredibly lame this-is-not-the-real-Superman movie.
posted by straight at 11:18 AM on April 24, 2007

Oh, and nickyskye, that link was really neat.
posted by quin at 11:23 AM on April 24, 2007

Not as cool as actual Dolomite (CaMg(CO3)2) - that righteous black mineral that don't cop out when there's heat all about. Now that’s getting heavy, baby.
posted by Smedleyman at 12:52 PM on April 24, 2007

Hmmm... from Nickskye's link, we have a habitable planet which is more massive than the earth and which is orbiting a red sun. The next thing we'll find out is that this planet exploded so many years ago and this new mineral is of extraterrestrial origin.
posted by ooga_booga at 3:05 PM on April 24, 2007

XQUZYPHYR, it may be a questionable news hook, 'hey we found a new mineral' happens 30 times a year - tell me the last new mineral that you saw making international headlines. The mineralogists involved are happy, so what's the problem?
posted by Skaramoosh at 11:41 AM on April 25, 2007