I loved the film Avatar but I thought that it was rather spoilt by the choice of the name "unobtainium" for the mineral that was so precious to Earth but perhaps I was being rather hard on the film makers because did you know that element #118 in the periodic table has been given the (temporary) name "ununoctium"? That's not a million miles away from unobtainium, is it, so maybe I should let the film directors off the hook.
As to how I found out about ununoctium, well I came across these wonderful chopping boards on BoingBoing and you can customise the final element which just happens to be ununoctium. If P&P from the US was less exorbitant I'd be very tempted.
4 COMMENTS:
I agree! My guess was that 'unobtanium' was a placeholder noun that they forgot to replace. I mean, seriously...?
That's a good point, Lexi. I wonder if that's how it happened? But now I know that scientists use silly placeholder names in real life I'm more willing to give them a pass.
That is a very cool chopping board. And I quite liked "unobtainium" I must admit...
Simon, well at least someone was happy about it!
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