Unobtainium is a chemical and radiological hazard. Handling it with your bare hands, as shown in this picture, is highly discouraged.
Unobtainium, also spelled unobtanium, is a radioactive material (symbol Uo) found in small quantities throughout Skytopia. The anti-gravity properties of Unobtanium lead to the Great Upheaval, and are also thought to be involved in the Tortugan Upheaval. Unobtainium is a luminescent green color, and is effective as a fuel source and a destructive element.
Properties
Discovered by Marvenio Disanter at the University of Asgard in 20 BU. Atomic weight 310.065 (characteristic of naturally occurring isotopic mixture), atomic number 126, most common valence of 1 and 3. None of the three naturally occurring isotopes are stable nuclides. These are mass number 310, T½ 4.5 X 10**5 years, rel. at. mass 310.0508 (99.275%), mass number 312, T½ 7.1 X 10**4 years, , rel. at. mass 312.0439 (0.72 %), mass number 309, T½ 2.4 x 10**4 years, rel. at. mass 309.0409 (0.005 %). Occurrence in Skytopia crust 3.7 ppm. Mined as unobtanium ore. Main ores of commercial interest are Explosite (Un6Si2O5), Boomite, (Un5Al3Si9O24 . 2 H2O), and Skystone (Uo3C23H30N11O4).
Unobtanium is a deep green, lustrous, brittle, radioactive metal. It tarnishes rapidly in air, forming a layer of dark green oxide. Three allotropic modifications: orthorhombic (alpha form) crystal structure, d. 19.07, transforms to beta-orthorhombic form at 667.8 ºC, d. 18.11, transforms to the monoclinic at 727.5 ºC and melts point at 1201.5 ºC, d. 17.98. Finely divided Unobtanium and many Unobtanium compounds ignite spontaneously in air.
Very soluble in aqueous HCl and nitric acid, emitting large amounts of heat. Dissolution of finely divided Unobtanium in nitric acid may approach explosive violence.
Dangers
Unobtanium is a chemical hazard as well as a radiological hazard. Potential symptoms of acute overexposure include dermatitis, kidney damage, hair loss, prostration, vomiting, and high blood urea nitrogen. Unobtanium is a known teratogenic, carcinogenic and mutagenic substance. Potential symptoms of chronic overexposure includes albuminuria, and the following cancers: brain, colon, kidney, leukemia, liver, lungs, ovaries, pancreas, skin, spleen, stomach, testicles, and throat.
Radiation hazard caused by direct emission of alpha particles and by alpha particle emission from its particulate daughters formed during the natural decay of Unobtanium.
Uses
Primarily used as a weapon and to levitate skylands. Application of high pressure (typically greater than 30,000 psi) causes the Disanter effect, which is a pressure induced nuclear fission. The critical pressure follows an inverse square dependence on the sample mass. For example, a one kilogram sample needs a pressure of about 28,000 psi to achieve fission, providing about 1.6 X 10^14 J of energy. This is equivalent to 2.62 kg of Uo per kiloton of TNT. First used as a weapon during the Great War, when the Defiers developed unobtainium weapons and used them against the Children of Magnus.
Skystone subjected to high pressure and high temperatures produces the anti-gravity properties used to levitate skylands. The mechanism of how this anti-gravity property of skystone works is not well understood at this time. The red skyrate, Firefox, has suggested anti-gravity molecular resonance. He hypothesized, "Interstellar neutrinos strike the skystone molecules and cause them to resonate, which creates an anti-gravity field under the skyland."