Orichalcum (Cosmoria)

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Dance, O Freest Aeon

This content is a part of Cosmoria.

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Index / Lexica / Timeline

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Orichalcum

Meta Information

Article Creator

User:Duodecillionaire

Scope

Cosmoria

General Properties

Other Names

Yurescence (on Haven in Ambrosia)
Eka-Neptunium

Unbipentium

Type

Element

Physical Properties

Density

19.11 g/cm³

Boiling Point

15500 C

Melting Point

12600 C

Elemental Properties

Atomic Mass

322.231

Group

g

Period

Period 8

Electron Configuration

[Xa] 5g¹ 6f² 8s² 8p²

Oxidation State

+1, +6, +7

Electronegativity

2.44

Chemical Properties

Molar Mass

322.231 Grams/Mol

Thermal Properties

Coefficient of Thermal Expansion

14.13×10⁻⁶/K

Heat Transfer Coefficient

319 W/(m⋅K)

Specific Heat Capacity

4224 J⋅kg⁻¹⋅K⁻¹

Phase under Standard Conditions

Solid

Electrical Properties

Resistance

57.14 nΩ⋅m

Solid Properties

Hardness

9.8

Tensile Strength

1400 MPa

Fatigue Strength

200 MPa

Hazardous Properties

Toxicity

Biochemically Inert

Reactivity

Very Low

Nuclear Properties

Half Life

10 Billion Years

Emitted Radiation

Alpha Particles

Isotopes

³²³Or (91.9%) 10 Billion Years
³²²Or (8.1%) 1.3 Billion Years
³²¹Or (trace) 5 Million Years

Economic Properties

Price per Gram

Worth its weight in Antimatter

Rarity

Ultra-rare

Major Producers

• Miners around Gira Gira

Major Consumers

Militaries

• Orichalc Palsgraviate
  
• Occult Galaxy Project

Natural Occurrence

All Orichalcum emerged as a product of a neutron star collision.

Cost of Mining

High

Recyclability

>99% of Orichalcum is recycled from ruins rather than mined new.

Commodity Investment Potential

Ultra High

Trade Restrictions

International trade is usually forbidden.

Cultural Significance

Religious

In the Orichalc Palsgraviate it is worshiped as an embodiment of their state.

Applications

Use Cases

Any case where extreme temperature and corrosion resistance are needed. Neutronic fusion (using only deuterium) is a good example.

Military Applications

• Ultra-Compact fusion reactors
  
• Infantry Particle Weaponry
  
• Ultra Compact Rail guns

Consumer Applications

• Fusion drives for high end racing craft
  
• Commodity Value

Optical Properties

Color

Lustrous Pink

Sonic Properties

Speed of Sound

2000 m/s

Ontological Properties

Geometric Properties

Resistant to the Lux Aeterna's space-warping effect, enforcing a locally coherent space-time.

Magical Properties

Magical Energy Resistance

500 Ei/A^-1

At the height of rarity is element 125 (Symbol Or) Orichalcum. For primitive civilizations, gold and other platinum group elements are a common medium of exchange. Gold is almost universal given its inertness and therefore non-toxic nature, but often tantalum can represent value due to its great rarity. In some more developed civilizations, Uranium or its heavier derivative elements are quite valuable. For the most advanced of civilizations, this ultra-strong light weight element rivals antimatter as a medium of exchange since they are about equally common.

A hard red metal, Orichalcum has the highest specific heat of any pure element. This means that heating the metal is incredibly difficult, requiring vast solar mirrors to concentrate enough energy to even begin melting it. As such, small impure nuggets of the substance are usually used instead of pure metal. Orichalcum is ultra-rare, with about a kilogram existing throughout most star systems. Gira Gira is estimated to have over ten kilograms of the substance in total, leading to a great deal of mining in the system. Miners stake their entire lives on harvesting micrograms of the substance. In the case of ancient ruins, even if the entire structure has already disappeared, the Orichalcum within remains exactly as it was, leading to an alternative to mining akin to archeology, the tracking of individual multi-million-year-old craft and their final landing sites.

Characteristics

With such a high atomic number, one would expect Orichalcum to be highly unstable. Quite the opposite is true, with the element occupying the so-called "Island of Stability" which gives its most common isotope, Or³⁵², a half-life of about 10 Billion years. Its neighbor, Eitr, element 124, also occupies this island but has a half-life measurable in millions rather than billions. Orichalcum is a Mythride, group-g on the periodic table. Like all Mythrides, Orichalcum is resistant to the space-warping properties found in the Lux Aeterna and many Spirits. Orichalcum is average in this regard, with 500 Eidols required to reduce its authority by one decree. Put simply, all matter has a certain resistance to the reality-warping effects of the Lux Aeterna or other Noospheric Disturbances. Orichalcum and its mythride cousins are highly resistant, enforcing coherent space time and physics in areas where they are present. This is similar to a charged substance exerting a region of coherent magnetic fields or a planet exerting its influence over local spacetime.

Orichalcum occurs natively but is usually found in naturally occurring alloys that often have high melting points and specific heat, making purification difficult. It has a strong affinity for Uranium, making most samples of the substance, even quite pure samples, noticeably radioactive.

Applications

Orichalcum is often used in high-temperature conditions and is crucial for many miniature fusion reactors that would normally be impossible. Its scarcity makes it impractical for most uses; where it is the only option, the technology usually goes unused. Within territory administered by the Occult Galaxy Project, as well as the Orichalc Palsgraviate, the element has special symbolic value and confers high status as jewelry. Being so difficult to purify and radioactive, it is usually reserved for Magi, the only people usually capable of wearing it.

Orichalcum is very useful in areas where most other metals corrode due to high temperatures. Its ultra-high melting point and resistance to corrosion makes it ideal in these cases. For the most well-equipped militaries, Orichalcum opens up the realm of exotic particle weapons and compact infantry-usable devices such as LASER weaponry.

Synthesis

Orichalcum is difficult to synthesize due to the ultra-short half-lives of its precursor elements. Xanthron (118 is incredibly costly and short-lived, making aelkium, another precursor to orichalcum, all the more difficult to produce. There have been a handful of successful attempts, but the several-atom yield makes it far from worthwhile. It is unclear how natural Orichalcum formed, but a collision between two neutron stars is the most likely explanation.