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From: bright@dataioDataio.UUCP (Walter Bright)
Newsgroups: net.comics,net.sci
Subject: Re: promethium
Message-ID: <960@dataioDataio.UUCP>
Date: Tue, 15-Apr-86 13:09:59 EST
Article-I.D.: dataioDa.960
Posted: Tue Apr 15 13:09:59 1986
Date-Received: Fri, 18-Apr-86 04:26:34 EST
Reply-To: bright@dataio.UUCP (Walter Bright
Organization: Data I/O Corp., Redmond WA
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Xref: watmath net.comics:3121 net.sci:728

In article <943@ellie.UUCP> colonel@ellie.UUCP (Col. G. L. Sicherman) writes:
>Here's what my desk dictionary says (Webster's Collegiate Dictionary,
>Fifth Edition, G. & C. Merriam Co., Springfield, 1948):
>
>il-lin'-i-um (i-lin'-i-um), n.  [NL., fr. Illinois + -ium.]  Chem.  A rare
>metallic element discovered in 1926.  Symbol, Il; at. no., 61.
>
>(For those of you who are confused, chemists used to get into fist fights
>over naming new elements, back when the periodic table was full of holes.
>If you learned chemistry by just taking a college course, you probably
>never heard of elements like illinium and aldebaranium.)

There are many interesting metals commonly used in engineering designs:

o Balloonium - Used in aircraft design, where high strength and low weight
	are at a premium.

o Nonobtainium - A degenerate form of metal. Widely available metals
	specified in all the literature frequently degenerate into
	nonobtainium even before the parts are fabricated. A chemical
	breakdown known as incompetenciosis is suspected to be a leading
	cause of this degeneration.

o Elastium - The preferred material for helical springs. Using it, powerful
	springs can be designed to fit into impossibly small envelopes.
	Elastium holds up well under severe service conditions, and
	is galvanically compatible with all other metals.

o Premium - The only distinguishing characteristic of this material is
	its high cost. Subcontractors with cost-plus contracts always
	use Premium.

o Potmetalium - The raw material used to manufacture Premium.