How's it going everybody? Enjoying the end of February? I certainly am. February has always been the month that feels the longest in the year, though shortest it may be. Anyway, I've spent some actual thought on this post (something that hasn't happened since the Elder Days), so enjoy, and excuse me for my slap-dashed mathematics and science. It's not as if I'm an engineer or anything.
This week, I'd like to delve into some Tolkien. For all the years of my life, I have been infattuated with the little hills and rivers of the Shire, the stormy majesty of the Misty Mountains, the great Fields of Pelennor. In recent years, however, questions have arisen, questions of science and engineering. Today, I hope to answer some of these questions, and I'll share with you my findings.
First, let's talk about what mithril is, exactly. Founded and forged by the Dwarves of Middle-Earth, mithril is a silvery metal, light in weight but great in strength, as valuable as it is rare. It is used for arms and armor, though the Elves took to using mithril in their jewelry, as the metal would never tarnish or weather. This raises a couple questions for me, chiefly: how strong is mithril, and could one make it? If not, how could it exist?
This first question has a simple answer: Strong. But I (obviously) wanted to go deeper than that. Like, quantitatively deeper. A number, really. So let's get into it. To establish how strong mithril is, we first need to establish what it's made out of. From The Fellowship of the Ring, we know that mithril can be "beaten like copper," and worked into jewelry and chains, which gives us an important clue. Mithril is ductile and malleable, meaning it can be flatten and shaped or turned to wire without breaking, which is why it can be worked into various crafts. Additionally, we know that it can be polished like glass, from which we can infer the material doesn't take to scuffs or scratches very well (confirmed by the fact that mithril reportedly never tarnishes or grows dim in luster). Finally, mithril is incredibly strong for it's weight, as it is "as light as a feather, but as hard as a dragon's scale," but isn't brittle, because brittle materials don't make for good weapons (they tend to snap in two).
So, where does this get us? We need something silvery and strong, but light and resilient to the elements (not the periodic ones). Something that can be worked in a smithy, and capable of hosting impurities to make alloys. Ladies and gentlemen, after some google-searching and textbook-scouring, I believe I've found a match. The closest thing in our world to the mithril of Arda is Titanium. So, if we assume that mithril has the basic properties of titanium, we now have a wealth of data on the material.
Making mithril is an entirely different matter, however. There are some very distinct differences between mithril and titanium, chiefly the difficulty of working them. Mithril can be worked in all ways, from weapons to armor to rings to great city gates with relative ease. Titanium is far harder to bend to our will. The methods of making such craft out of titanium have only been fully developed in recent times (relatively recent, that is), but the old ways of smithies, as is practiced by the Dwarves and Elves of Arda, would not be able to forge blades and bucklers. Here's where the magic happens.
Yes, magic is probably involved, but there's further science to engage herein. While the specifics are still hazy to me, and I can't fully explain it, I've found something that could help the case of mithril: metallic infusion. It's like alloys, where a host metal has impurities dissolved into it in solid solution, but what I'm thinking is slightly different. Imagine you could take an alloy of a metal, and infuse it into another metal. I know, it's technically not possible, but imagine if it where. If you could combine the properties of several titanium alloys (namely titanium carbide, titanium dioxide, and titanium nitride) into a single alloy, then you would have the means of making mithril. Of course, such a solute does not (to our knowledge) exist, so I lay this impossibility at the feet of fantasy. Now, if you don't mind, I'm going to look into have a titanium ring with a diamond jewel. I'd tell you more, but its Nenya business.
This week, I'd like to delve into some Tolkien. For all the years of my life, I have been infattuated with the little hills and rivers of the Shire, the stormy majesty of the Misty Mountains, the great Fields of Pelennor. In recent years, however, questions have arisen, questions of science and engineering. Today, I hope to answer some of these questions, and I'll share with you my findings.
First, let's talk about what mithril is, exactly. Founded and forged by the Dwarves of Middle-Earth, mithril is a silvery metal, light in weight but great in strength, as valuable as it is rare. It is used for arms and armor, though the Elves took to using mithril in their jewelry, as the metal would never tarnish or weather. This raises a couple questions for me, chiefly: how strong is mithril, and could one make it? If not, how could it exist?
This first question has a simple answer: Strong. But I (obviously) wanted to go deeper than that. Like, quantitatively deeper. A number, really. So let's get into it. To establish how strong mithril is, we first need to establish what it's made out of. From The Fellowship of the Ring, we know that mithril can be "beaten like copper," and worked into jewelry and chains, which gives us an important clue. Mithril is ductile and malleable, meaning it can be flatten and shaped or turned to wire without breaking, which is why it can be worked into various crafts. Additionally, we know that it can be polished like glass, from which we can infer the material doesn't take to scuffs or scratches very well (confirmed by the fact that mithril reportedly never tarnishes or grows dim in luster). Finally, mithril is incredibly strong for it's weight, as it is "as light as a feather, but as hard as a dragon's scale," but isn't brittle, because brittle materials don't make for good weapons (they tend to snap in two).
So, where does this get us? We need something silvery and strong, but light and resilient to the elements (not the periodic ones). Something that can be worked in a smithy, and capable of hosting impurities to make alloys. Ladies and gentlemen, after some google-searching and textbook-scouring, I believe I've found a match. The closest thing in our world to the mithril of Arda is Titanium. So, if we assume that mithril has the basic properties of titanium, we now have a wealth of data on the material.
Making mithril is an entirely different matter, however. There are some very distinct differences between mithril and titanium, chiefly the difficulty of working them. Mithril can be worked in all ways, from weapons to armor to rings to great city gates with relative ease. Titanium is far harder to bend to our will. The methods of making such craft out of titanium have only been fully developed in recent times (relatively recent, that is), but the old ways of smithies, as is practiced by the Dwarves and Elves of Arda, would not be able to forge blades and bucklers. Here's where the magic happens.
Yes, magic is probably involved, but there's further science to engage herein. While the specifics are still hazy to me, and I can't fully explain it, I've found something that could help the case of mithril: metallic infusion. It's like alloys, where a host metal has impurities dissolved into it in solid solution, but what I'm thinking is slightly different. Imagine you could take an alloy of a metal, and infuse it into another metal. I know, it's technically not possible, but imagine if it where. If you could combine the properties of several titanium alloys (namely titanium carbide, titanium dioxide, and titanium nitride) into a single alloy, then you would have the means of making mithril. Of course, such a solute does not (to our knowledge) exist, so I lay this impossibility at the feet of fantasy. Now, if you don't mind, I'm going to look into have a titanium ring with a diamond jewel. I'd tell you more, but its Nenya business.
No comments:
Post a Comment