April 24, 2007
‘Kryptonite’ discovered in mine – Superman gets himself insured
A mineral found by geologists in Serbia shares virtually the same chemical composition as the fictional kryptonite from outer space, used by the superhero’s nemesis Lex Luther to weaken him. However real mineral is white and harmless and is not in the form of green crystals as shown in the movie. Researchers from mining group Rio Tinto discovered the unusual mineral and enlisted the help of Dr Stanley when they could not match it with anything known previously to science. Once Dr. Stanley mineral’s chemical make-up he was astonished to find the chemical composition referenced in literature – fictional literature.
“Towards the end of my research 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.
“The new mineral does not contain fluorine (which it does in the film) and is white rather than green but, in all other respects, the chemistry matches that for the rock containing kryptonite.”
The mineral is relatively hard but is very small grained. Each individual crystal is less than five microns (millionths of a metre) across.
The mineral will be named Jadarite, (Jadar is the name of the place where the Serbian mine is located) when it is described in the European Journal of Mineralogy later this year.