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'Kryptonite' Discovered in Serbian Mine
Rubinstien writes "A mineralogist at London's Natural History Museum was contracted to help identify an unknown mineral found in a Serbian mine. While he initially thought the miners had discovered a unique compound, after its crystal structure was analyzed and identified the researcher was shocked to find the material already referenced in literature. Fictional literature. Dr. Chris Stanley, from the BBC article: 'Towards the end of my research I searched the web using the mineral's chemical formula — sodium lithium boron silicate hydroxide — and was amazed to discover that same scientific name, written on a case of rock containing kryptonite stolen by Lex Luthor from a museum in the film Superman Returns ... I'm afraid it's not green and it doesn't glow either — although it will react to ultraviolet light by fluorescing a pinkish-orange.'"
Kryptonite doesn't contain Krypton? W..t..f?
That's what I didn't get in the story. In DC continuity, Kryptonite is just fine to handle if you're only human. So how have these scientists established that it wouldn't hurt a fictional alien?
"I Know You Are But What Am I?"
Parent is correct.
FTFA:
"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."
IANAChemist but what little chemistry I had over 30 years ago says it can't be the same chemical formula if it has one less element. Thusly the article disagrees with itself and this sounds a bit like pushing things for the find to get extra attention. If we can leave out an element and ignore the chemical bonding requirements then we could sweeten our food with carbon dioxide instead of sugar.
They likely mean it has (or rather, would have) the same structure as the fictional kryptonite (based on nomenclature). Similar compounds usually share some characteristics such as reactivity (e.g. all alkali metals react with water in a similar fashion but with differeing severity), melting point, etc.
That assumption does not typically hold for complicated compounds with so many elements. For one, there are frequently many different possible crystal structures for the same molecule which exist under different conditions, which may have significantly different structures and properties. Additionally, there are often different molecular structures allowed for different formulae (called isomers), which often have drastically different properties. Additionally, the fictional and real versions differ in that the fictional contained fluorine, a very chemically active element that tends to drastically alter the properties of anything with which it bonds for a variety of interesting reasons.
So ultimately, it would be impossible to suggest that they would share the same properties based on similar but not identical chemical formulae, and that might not hold even if they were identical. As such, the press release is nothing more than some jackass wanting his 15 minutes.
What was super about him was his ability to still contribute to society as a quadriplegic.
Well, he was a quadraplegic with a lot of money who wanted to be cured, and thus spent a lot of money on himself. That's not as high on the respect-o-meter as someone who does things without a personal stake.
Sometimes it's best to just let stupid people be stupid.
Materials scientists make "new" materials all the time - they dream up an unknown composition and make it in the lab. Just because someone digs something out of the ground somehow makes it special?
Maybe I should quit doing real research and learn how to sell mundane stamp-collecting work as sexy and exciting.