Why is Unobtanium so valuble/mined?

[Dreaming Of Pandora]

Is it mined for fuel or is it for luxuries? Why do the humans mine Unobtanium?

[Sovereign]

It's a super-conductor at room temperature. Further, its structure is durable enough for many, many uses. Source and further information (http://james-camerons-avatar.wikia.com/wiki/Unobtanium).

[109th Star]

It's so valuable because it is a room temperature superconductor. The applications of such a metal are damn near endless.

Did I mention that the stuff floats? yeah that.

[Wulgarra]

Is it mined for fuel or is it for luxuries? Why do the humans mine Unobtanium?

its right up there with Scriptouium and Rediculanium, why, because we needed a reason to make the viewers hate us.

I just ignore that aspect and pretend that it didn't happen, I just get lost in the forest :)

[Shatnerpossum]

Who cares, point is its really hard to get! :ntongue:

[Iluvrien]

Did I mention that the stuff floats? yeah that.

It isn't a separate property, it floats because it is a superconductor. It is called the Meissner effect and having seen it done I have to say, the effect is pretty impressive.


its right up there with Scriptouium and Rediculanium, why, because we needed a reason to make the viewers hate us.

It seemed more like they needed a material so valuable that it subsumed any ethical standards the company held. It was that subsumation we hated because of its effects on Pandora, the Na'vi and the human soldiers sent to die there. An interesting question for me was; Would it work with something else? Is there another material, a known one, that would cause the same effect. The answer is, of course, yes. Having happened many times on our own world almost anything that is wanted, will be taken.

[Atokirina']

It's a superconductor which can end with the energy crisis at Earth.

[Human No More]

It's a room temperature superconductor (conducts electricity with 0% loss)

Superconductors exist now, but they have to be at most a few degrees above absolute zero to work (like in the Large Hadron Collider)

[sullyjakes14]

uhhh hello rare mineral unobatinium ??? un-obtain-able ??? come on bro..and it selling 20 million a kilos...nwo that alot of cheddar

[109th Star]

It isn't a separate property, it floats because it is a superconductor. It is called the Meissner effect and having seen it done I have to say, the effect is pretty impressive.

I know what the properties of a superconductor are. That my friend was called a joke.

[Iluvrien]

I know what the properties of a superconductor are. That my friend was called a joke.

It was a joke, and indeed it did get a chuckle out of me.

I do assure you though that my post wasn't an attempt to either remonstrate or correct anyone. I wasn't assuming anything about anyone's level of knowledge. I was highlighting the information for those people who might not have known, and possibly assisting the research of others into the subject since you obviously already knew what you were talking about.

I apologise for any displeasure caused.

[ViperWingLeader]

Unobtainium - Television Tropes & Idioms (http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/Unobtainium)Unobtainium - Television Tropes & Idioms (http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/Unobtainium)

Before Avatar there was a Wiki, and the Wiki was good, and it explained TV and Movie cliches and Jokes.

[Human No More]

TVtropes FTW.

[roman1965]

"Unobtanium" comes from "Unobtainable"
a fictional element also used in the Movie "The Core"
read this:
World Wide Words: Unobtainium (http://www.worldwidewords.org/weirdwords/ww-uno1.htm)

[Cnl Miles Quaritch]

because i want to to power my starships that will oblitorate your planet

[UnNamed]

It's so valuable because it is a room temperature superconductor. The applications of such a metal are damn near endless.

Did I mention that the stuff floats? yeah that.
^This.

[I-Heart-Neytiri]

ooooo icic

[TORUK-MAKTO]

Is it mined for fuel or is it for luxuries? Why do the humans mine Unobtanium?

Using it for energy was mentioned, unobtainium is probably being sold at an inflated price in 2154 just as gasoline is now. In Venezuela gasoline is 20 cents(US) a gallon. It's interesting that they have a bad economy in 2154 just like we do now.

[Oraenxienael]

In some official story I read about Pandora, the Humans used the element to power things and it was stated primarily for their levitating trains on earth.

[eywa_devotee]

Metallic hydrogen, if stable at room temperature and pressure would have properties identical to the unobtanium of Pandora.

[Friend of Pandora]

I've been thinking about this a bit and I understand the explanation (although I don't think I truly understand the possible applications).

I'm going to have a go at the Maglev example for a second - see what you guys think:

Right now airplanes are powered (at a basic level) by oil. Airplanes and airtravel are not essential to life. But without air travel, it would take orders of magnitude longer to send and receive many products, and you could make an argument that people would be far less likely to move long distances away from friends and family if it meant a 10 day journey instead of 12 hours. In fact some exports wouldn't even be possible where there is a high rate of spoilage. And things like organ transplants would be virtually impossible except within a very tightly constrained geographic area.

So if we assume in the future that these super-high-speed maglev trains have taken the place of air travel, could you then argue that, even though not required, unobtainium was critical to the function of high-speed transport of goods and people and related services?

I'm trying to come up with a better understanding of why unobtainium was so important in 2154 that it would justify all that it took to obtain it. So far I'm coming up kinda empty (or is that perhaps part of the point of the movie)?

[Oraenxienael]

I don't know, you would think by that time other sources of power were available besides mining fuels. Realistically they should have developed fusion power or something.

[Iluvrien]

Even if you develop fusion, unless the generator is part of the thing you are trying to power then you need to transmit that power.

We do that by power lines. They might do it in a similar fashion, or with underground conduits or whatever.

Point is that conventional manterials lose quite a lot of the energy they are transmitting to resistive effects, heating. Superconductors really don't have this problem. So, actually the requirement for superconductors may have no bearing whatsoever on how the power is generated, and a lot in how it is used.