Fictional applications of real materials

Typically, the villain would spill a few drops from a small bottle onto a handkerchief, and then sneak up behind the victim. When the handkerchief was clamped tightly over the mouth of the victim, there would be a brief struggle before the victim slumped into unconsciousness. After-effects were usually limited to a brief headache. In reality, a dose far greater than a few drops inhaled over a short period of time would be required to knock somebody out. Such a dose could also be lethal.

In Star Wars, the lightsaber hilts of Mace Windu and Darth Sidious were made of electrum.

In Terry Pratchett's book, Pyramids, the pyramid constructed is given a capstone of 'real life' electrum (an alloy of silver and gold) so it can flare off its store of trapped time and dimensional energy.

Stel Pavlou uses buckyballs, nanotechnology and complexity theory in the creation of flocking nano-swarms that form human-sized golems in the novel Decipher (2001).

Science fiction writer Neal Stephenson uses buckyballs as nanotechnological containers for things such as rod logic computers in his 1995 cyberpunk/postcyberpunk novel The Diamond Age.

In Green Mars by Kim Stanley Robinson, fullerenes of various sizes are created in the fall of the first space elevator (a cable of carbon) onto the surface of Mars.

In the Walt Disney film, Flubber, the formula and molecular structure of the Flubber was modeled after buckminsterfullerene.

In the Global television series ReGenesis, buckyballs are the primary component of a HazMat suit produced by government contractor, Shining Armor.

Buckyballs are used as a barrier in a Man-Kzin Wars book by Larry Niven.

Gold is lethal to Doctor Who villains, the Cybermen — its non-corrodible nature supposedly clogs their respiratory systems, although they also seem to be affected by gold bullets and arrows.

In CSI episode 2.11, Organ Grinder, two murderesses use selenium in dandruff shampoo to poison one of their husbands, and it is revealed later in the episode that the other's husband also died of selenium poisoning.

In the film Ghostbusters, the site of the climactic final battle against Gozer takes place on the Ivo Shandor building which earlier in the film is stated as being "cold-riveted with selenium cores", the building itself is used as an antenna to draw surrounding psycho-kinetic energy in order to bring Gozer into our world.

Robert A. Heinlein envisioned thorium as being the principal fuel of the advanced space-travelling civilizations described in his novels Have Space Suit-Will Travel and Citizen of the Galaxy.

In the world of UFO conspiracy theory culture during the 1980s and 1990s, Bob Lazar asserted that ununpentium functioned as "fuel" for UFOs, being "stepped up" to ununhexium under "particulate bombardment," and that the ununhexium's decay products would include antimatter.

In the X-COM series, in reference to this kind of UFO theory, ununpentium is known as elerium-115 or just elerium (the name "elerium-115" being an error as in this form the number refers to the atomic mass instead of the atomic number, meaning that elerium would have no neutrons, which is not possible). It is used by the aliens to power their weapons and fly their UFOs on the game series. It can't be found naturally on Earth and it generates anti-matter when bombarded with certain particles, while also releasing gravity waves and other types of energy. Researching Elerium was essential for victory on the first game.

A stable isotope of ununpentium occurs in the game Dark Reign.

A stable isotope of "Element 115" powered the time machine in the TV Show Seven Days.