Unobtainium

Unobtainium is a term coined by engineers to describe materials that do not exist. When you find that the material properties required for a particular function cannot be met by any material known to modern science, the material that you need is unobtainium. Examples include:

• Metals with impossibly high melting points.
• Structural materials with impossibly high tensile strength.
• Fuels or explosives with impossibly high energy density.

This term comes up occasionally in science fiction, describing a material with impossible properties. Many science fiction materials actually fit this description, though.

Science Fiction Examples

• Adamantium
• Cydonium
• Element Zero
• Elerium
• Hypermatter
• Naquadah
• Naquadriah
• Neutronium
• Quantium 40
• Red matter
• Trilithium
• Trinium

Uses of explicitly named "Unobtainium"

• The hull of the drilling vehicle in The Core was composed of unobtainium.
• The human miners in Avatar were extracting unobtainium, an element with superconductive properities which could, in sufficient quantities, levitate.