History Main / ArtisticLicenseChemistry

** It could also be construed as a slightly careless wording. Those materials are _made_of_ medium atomic weights and not of transuranics.

* In ''StarTrekGenerations'', Trilithium is able to stop all fusion inside a star, causing it to implode on itself and then go supernova-- thus destroying the star and all of its inner planets. This involves the same problems as "Dilithium," below.

* In ''Film/{{Spider-Man}} 2'', Dr. Octavius requires some tritium for his experiments. He obtains it in form of a gray metallic ball. Tritium is gaseous under normal conditions, but it's possible that the gold object is a second layer of containment in addition to the glass ball around it. He also mentions how tritium is one of the rarest elements on Earth. Tritium is actually an isotope of hydrogen, which is the most ''abundant''.
* In ''Film/IronMan 2'', Tony Stark's power supply uses a palladium core that is slowly poisoning him. He finds that a "new element" can be a suitable replacement for palladium, but his supercomputer informs him it's "impossible to synthesize", so he builds a particle accelerator in his basement to... create the new element. Another way of saying "create" would be "synthesize". He's right, the computer is wrong.

* In ''BatmanSupermanWorldsFinest'', dissolving kryptonite in acid means it's "disappeared", and Superman is back to full strength. In the real world, dissolving radioactive isotopes in acid leaves you with a radioactive acid.

* ''{{Evolution}}'' did this for selenium. They {{hand wave}}d it by saying that selenium was to the alien creatures' nitrogen-based biochemistry as arsenic is to carbon-based life forms, because they're in the ''same relative position on the periodic table''. This handwave made it clear that nobody involved in the movie understands the concept of valence electrons[[hottip:*:In real life, arsenic is poisonous because of its relative position to ''phosphorus'', which it can impersonate as far as certain core enzymes are concerned, but it is not quite similar enough that, say, an RNA molecule made with arsenate links instead of phosphate ones will actually fit into a ribosome]]. Besides, the Rule of Funny dictated they ''had'' to defeat the EldritchAbomination amoeba with gallons of anti-dandruff shampoo.

*** Respiration, as we carbon-based life forms do it, would also be impossible for Si-based life forms. CO2 is a gas. SiO2 is a solid.

* Tiberium from ''CommandAndConquer''. However, like kryptonite in ''SupermanReturns'', it's stated to be a compound rather than an element - ''Tiberian Sun: Firestorm'' gives it as 42.5% phosphorus, 32.5% iron, 15.25% calcium, 5.75% copper, 2.5% silica (itself a compound), 1.5% unknown.

* DanBrown has stated several times that, in his opinion, antimatter is the future of energy supply. He fails to realise that what he's describing is the molecular equivalent of a perpetual-motion machine -- any attempt to make antimatter will inevitably cost more energy than annihilating the antimatter will yield (probably ''vastly'' more, as at present). As those more knowledgable have pointed out, wood is only a viable energy source because the vast energy cost of growing trees is met free by the Sun; if trees had to be grown under artificial light, the energy needed to do so would be far in excess of that given off by burning the wood.

** "Duranium-235" occasionally referenced here and there ("duranium" being a strong building material used for most ''sane'' space vessels in the TrekVerse) implies an isotope of an element... thing is, if there is an interesting property of any isotope with atomic weight 235 (protons and neutrons like to band together in particular configurations, making an atomic weight very likely to give away what element the atom is), it's almost certainly good ol' uranium (U-235 being the isotope of uranium prized for its radioactivity). If "duranium" is instead a future term for "depleted uranium" (a common fan theory; canon avoids clarification), well, that would be U-238.

** However, they were partially correct, as matter is made up of particles that individually give atoms their properties. And, of course, transmutation, which occurs daily in any nuclear reaction, from fusion to decay. The problem with Alchemy was mostly due to scale and the fact that it still had some lingering "magical" notions. Some things were right in front of them the whole time, like with the universal solvent - turns out its water. Of course, nobody wanted to admit that, they just kept looking for that cool acid that desolves everything instantaneously. Thus, alchemy isn't a science. Its IdenticalGrandson, chemistry, is however.

** It is also depicted as being far less ''flammable'' than it actually is. Uranium and Plutonium metal are both pyrophoric and can burn when exposed to air at room temperatures. This is why depleted Uranium is the substance of choice for anti-tank projectiles as they not only punch through the armour, but [[RuleOfCool also immolate whatever's inside]]. Of course this is also why early nuclear reactors using Uranium metal had a tendency to [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windscale_fire catch fire]].

* The ''{{Team Fortress 2}}'' website has a little fun with [[http://www.teamfortress.com/engineerupdate/v00.php Australium]].

* In ''Film/{{Spider-Man}} 2'' Dr. Octavius requires some tritium for his experiments. He obtains it in form of a gray metallic ball. Tritium is gaseous under normal conditions, but it's possible that the gold object is a second layer of containment in addition to the glass ball around it.

** In one of the later films, ''{{Godzilla}} VS Mechagodzilla'', it's stated that Mechagodzilla is made of [[InSpace Space Titanium]]. We would like to know how it's different from regular-old everyday titanium, which, by the way, you can already find in outer space (not least because it's a good metal for some parts of our spacecraft).

* ''{{Evolution}}'' did this for selenium. They {{hand wave}}d it by saying that selenium was to the alien creatures' nitrogen-based biochemistry as arsenic is to carbon-based life forms, because they're in the ''same relative position on the periodic table''. This handwave made it clear that nobody involved in the movie understands the concept of valence electrons. Besides, the Rule of Funny dictated they ''had'' to defeat the EldritchAbomination amoeba with gallons of anti-dandruff shampoo.

Not to be confused with ElementalRockPaperScissors; granted, elements don't work ''that'' way either in RealLife. Compare ParodicTableOfTheElements.

* In the Kurt Vonnegut novel ''[[CatsCradle Cat's Cradle]]'' a single synthetic ice-crystal called "Ice-Nine," formed of ordinary oxygen and hydrogen, is able to freeze all liquid water that it touches, into identical crystals of "Ice Nine" via chain-reaction--eventually freezing all water on Earth. This is impossible due to the simple state of hydrogen-bonds that form liquid H[-2-]O and ice, preventing any such strange isomer-crystal.

* In H.G.Wells' ''WarOfTheWorlds'', the Martian's Black Smoke is said to be made of an unknown element that reacts with the Argon in the atmosphere, causing devastating effects on humans. Argon, being a noble gas is extremely difficult to react and the reaction will never happen in the atmosphere, especially considering the absolutely tiny amounts of noble gases in general in the atmosphere.

** Noble gases in general are rare, for sure, but argon comprises nearly one per cent of air - that is, it's about one-twentieth as abundant as oxygen, and present at a far higher concentration than carbon dioxide. Hundreds of thousands of tons of the stuff are isolated and used industrially every year. That aside, Wells needed a slap for this.

** Also, the ''Science of Discworld'' books introduce several elements -- chelonium, elephantigen, deitygen, and of course narrativium -- that play a crucial role in the Discworld's cosmology and physical sciences. A subversion, as elements that aren't even possible in our universe Really ''Do'' Work That Way in the Discworld's reality.

** Iridium armour has also turned up as an option for Tau Battlesuits. This may be a subversion, as while iridium is indeed used in crucibles and high-strength alloys, it has not yet been tested for weapons-grade durability. It's ridiculously dense and has a high melting point, though, which makes it a very good (if expensive and heavy) radiation shield, and at least a passable defense against lasers or particle beams. Its main problem would almost certainly be its rarity (more so than platinum).