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Willie Nelson | |
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 Veteran country music singer Willie Nelson is always up to something new. Read our Willie Watch column to keep up.
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World Around Us |
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Superman Beware
• "kryponite" unearthed in Serbia
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 On the Web |
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By
Urban Cowgirl, editor
Tuesday,
24 April, 2007
Kryptonite, which robbed Superman of his powers, is no longer the stuff of comic books and films.
A mineral found by geologists in Serbia shares virtually the same chemical composition as the fictional kryptonite from outer space, which is supposed to sap Superman's powers whenever he is exposed to its large green crystals.
In the Superman movies, the large green crystals have a devastating affect on the superhero. However,the new mineral is white, powdery and not radioactive. And, rather than coming from outer space, the real kryptonite was found in Jadar in Serbia by geologists and mineralogists from mining group Rio Tinto.
When they realised it didn't match anything known previously to science they sought the help of mineral expert Dr Chris Stanley at the Natural History Museum. 'Towards the end of my research,' says Dr Stanley, '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 Luther from a museum in the film Superman Returns'.
In the Superman stories kryptonite is green but in real life it is white and harmless. "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," Dr Stanley told BBC News. "The new mineral does not contain fluorine but in all other respects the chemistry matches that for the rock containing kryptonite. We will have to be careful with it - we wouldn't want to deprive Earth of its most famous superhero."
The substance has been confirmed as a new mineral after tests by scientists at the Natural History Museum and the National Research Council in Canada. Approximately 30-40 new mineral species are discovered each year. Before it can be classified as new, a mineral's chemical properties must be rigorously tested, including its crystal structure. The crystals of the new mineral were too small to be tested through standard techniques. So Dr Stanley used the sophisticated analytical facilities at Canada's National Research Council (NRC).
It is very unusual to find a new mineral in this quantity. New minerals generally come in the form of a few grains only visible under the microscope, but this one has several centimeters of drill core as well as a few bags of fragments.
The mineral could be used as a source of lithium, which has many uses including in batteries, or as a source of borate, which is used for cleaning, also known as borax.
The mineral will be formally named Jadarite, after the Jadar mine in Serbia where it was found, when it is described in the European Journal of Mineralogy later this year. It will go on show at the the Natural History Museum in London at certain times of the day on Wednesday, April 25, and Sunday, May 13.
On the Lam 2007
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