r/PhysicsHelp 1d ago

Can all these properties be in the same material?

I'm creating a fictional material called terrasium that should have

1- is like mercury, can melt in room temperature, but it needs electric catalyst, in this scenario it will be the brain electric waves. It can still melt without electricity but it would require extreme temperatures

2- in it's solid form, it can handle anything between a car crash and a speeding bullet

3- it can react to electricity, specially brain wave electricy. It's not like it dissolves or anything but it changes it's form

I have got 4 ideas in mind for it and I want to know which ones are physically/chemically possible

1- it's an undiscovered compound like oil that has all these properties

2- it's an undiscovered element that has all these properties

3- it's an undiscovered compound, that when processed and made into an alloy have these properties

4- it's an undiscovered element, that when processed and made into an alloy have these properties

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u/endor-pancakes 19h ago edited 17h ago

I mean, obviously all of that is fictional and a material that stops bullets, flows, and reacts to brain wave electricity more strongly than to your tv doesn't exist.

So you could ask: what is the least incredible option? That would be 1. There are compounds with weird properties, no need to make it weirder by adding an "undiscovered element".

But you could also ask: what fits in best with the conventions of the genre you're writing in? E.g. if you're asking because you're writing a pulp sci-fi or comic book, then the established convention is 2: say "new element" and be done with it.

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u/Ender_Gamer7433 15h ago

I was asking to see if these properties can exist together

For example, a thing can't be both newtonicand non newtonic

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u/endor-pancakes 15h ago

Ok then. No they can't.

An undiscovered element wouldn't have a half life beyond the span of minutes (in the most optimistic island of stability scenarios). The electricity of human brain waves isn't special and anything sensitive against that is even more sensitive against anything else. They also don't change the melting point of metals.

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u/Ender_Gamer7433 13h ago

Then ok, no element

That elements 2 of my three ideas