Unobtainium: the differences between the ore in Avatar and real life

January 26, 2023

Avatar is back on the big screen after 13 years with the new film production "Avatar: The Way of Water", which continues the story of the first film. In the first film from 2009, the main element of the plot is the ore "Unobtainium", which humans need because it is a superconductor that greatly reduces energy costs and waste. On an Earth that lacks natural resources, the discovery of this material is extremely important for the survival of the human race.

With its discovery, the chances of developing new technologies in the field of superconductors have increased, as the ore has an extremely strong magnetic field, its atoms are arranged in an orderly but never repetitive pattern, and it surpasses the efficiency and stability of existing superconductors by a thousand times.

Have you ever wondered what it would be like if this ore really existed? What applications could it have in real life? Then follow our text as we bring you all about Unobtainium and similar materials that you can find here on Earth.

From fiction to real life

You might think that Unobtainium came from the creative mind of James Cameron (Director of Avatar), but that's not entirely true. In fact, the ore Unobtainium is not catalogued. However, far from the screen, this word is used by various scientists and engineers to describe a material that is ideal for a particular application but impossible to obtain. Over the years, the term has been expanded to describe real elements on Earth that are very rare or expensive, especially elements used in electronics.

However, even though it's not a real ore, the compound that represents it in the film is inferred to be galena. Galena was a mineral widely used in ancient Egypt for cosmetic purposes. In the modern era, its crystals were used to produce the first radios.

Cena do Unobtainium no filme. Fonte: 20th Century Fox

Unobtainium Avatar

Galena

Galena is currently the largest source of lead (Pb), one of the metals most used by industry worldwide.

Chumbo (Pb) – O minério pode causar contaminação caso aja contato prolongado. Fonte: theguardian.com

About lead (Pb)

Lead is a chemical element identified by the symbol Pb, with atomic number 82 and atomic mass 207.2. Its main characteristics are:

Low electrical conductivity;
High density and durability;
Easy to fuse with other chemical elements;
Highly toxic;

At room temperature lead can be found in its solid form, with a bluish-white colour, but in contact with air its colour turns greyish.

Lead applications

Lead (Pb) has been used since ancient times. There are prehistoric traces of rudimentary furnaces in which lead was extracted using galena.

We list some of its applications below:

Construction of batteries for engines;
Electricity accumulators;
Production of glass and ceramics;
Production of solders;
Plates and pipes;
Metal alloys;
Ammunition;

What could be created with Unobtainium?

There are no materials with the same characteristics as Avatar's Unobtainium, but there are superconducting materials that have similar properties.

Superconductors are materials that reach a state of matter that has no electrical resistance (superconductivity) and does not allow the penetration of magnetic fields, i.e. an electric current in a superconductor can persist indefinitely, but this state can only be reached at low temperatures.

There are currently around 6,000 superconducting materials already discovered, some of which are compounds and some polymers. Mercury, lead, carbon and niobium-titanium are examples of superconducting materials.

Although superconductors do not currently possess superconductivity at room temperature, many applications have already been developed to test their potential and the advantages of their use.

Below we list some of the most important applications that have been implemented so far:

Electricity generation: In hydroelectric, thermoelectric and nuclear power stations, there is a need to convert mechanical energy into electrical energy, which is why a generator is used, whose coils are made of superconducting metal alloys when properly cooled.

Magnetic resonance: The machines use powerful electromagnets, which would melt normal metals due to the heat. However, as superconductors have no electrical resistance, no heat is generated and the electromagnets can generate the necessary magnetic fields.

Transport: The so-called Maglev Train, located in Shanghai/China, is the only magnetic levitation train in the world. Utilising the properties of superconductors, it can reach up to 500 km/h.

If Unobtainium really existed and had the same properties as film, all the applications listed above would be easily expanded, for example, the Maglev Train could easily and silently reach speeds of over 2,000 km/h and transport a passenger from São Paulo to Salvador in less than an hour, consuming less than 4 litres of diesel.

In "Avatar: The Way of Water", we follow the story 14/15 years after the first film. Earth has become an inhospitable planet, which has led to a new attempt to colonise Pandora. The film introduces a new element of Pandora, the Tulkuns, which are animals similar to the whales we have here on Earth. They are highly intelligent, able to communicate and have a culture of their own. However, what makes them important to humans is their brain fluids, as they retain an enzyme that can slow down human ageing, and this has led to a massive hunt for this species. Interest in Unobtainium has apparently waned, as there is no way of saving the earth, and with the colonisation of Pandora they would have a gigantic reserve of this ore and enough resources to sustain them for a long time.

Would you like to know more about what Unobtainium and other fictional minerals could be used for if they really existed? We at DMT have written a post on this subject and you can access it by clicking here.