Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you: No adverts like this in the forums anymore. Times and dates in your local timezone. Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance. Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely. Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net. If you are already a member then feel free to login now.

Yet again another "Why does GW use this term" thread. Fluff states that flamers use promethium as fuel for burning all the xenos and heretics. While I am not a chemist, what little I can tell from my light research is that it is a synthetically made element that is highly radioactive, and was named so because one of the finder's wives felt as though "they were stealing from the gods", like how the titan Prometheus stole fire from the gods and gave it to man. Does this stuff burn? Should we just assume that this is one piece of tech that has survived into the dark age (how to make a burning version of promethium), or is it just another slip up on GW's part, where they use science-y terms that sound good?

I always just assumed it was GW's way of making petrol, gas, fuel, or whatever you want to call it sound grimdark.

Then why not combine other such fire-y sounding terms? Why take one that is a known name for an element?

Because it's simple to just call it promethium. It sounds fiery, it fits with the latin names they throw everywhere in the Imperium, and it helps with the over the top setting. Petrol? No, promethium.

Also, if you remember your mythology from school, Prometheus was the one who gave man fire.

Loki has the best guess with a few extras I'll add:

Flamers obviously have nothing to do with the element Promethium, and likely neither do the Vehicles that run on the fictional Promethium(how you run on a sticky gel for fuel I have no idea) However given the Imperium's propensity for naming most things after ancient Mediterranean sounding words, especially Greek and Roman, it makes sense that when they got their hands on/figured out how to make this super-napalm they naturally went to look for the Greek Mythological character that brought man Fire and named it for him.

Besides Cacusium doesn't sound as cool, and Vulcanum would make it seem like only the Salamader's legion/chapter should have it(or had made it). In Roman Mythology there is no story equating to Prometheus; and Cacus, son of Vulcan was something of a villain(He was a fire-breathing monster, killed by Hercules)

Kel, I'd assume that Flamers and other things that use Prometium, use differenty refined types of Promethium, much like how Diesel and Petrol, while both made from crude oil, are refined differently and this results in differing properties. This could be the same with Prometium, but with the variations being labelled under the same catchall of Promethium. Given the fact of how the Imperium views technology, it's not all that improbable that the distinction is rarely ever used and only really used in logistical applications.

Promethium is described in the Fluff (Specifically Caves of Ice) as being quite different from oil/petrol in appearance. However, it shares a similar role in the setting.

I was only using it as an Example, but, if I remember rightly, in Caves of Ice, they were mining a rare form of promethium so while different in appearance, probably similar in composition (i.e hydrocarbon chains)

Although... flamethrowers that spew flaming radioactive liquid IS pretty grimdark.

Exopheric wrote:Although... flamethrowers that spew flaming radioactive liquid IS pretty grimdark.

Very true!

I honestly cannot think of any way you'd make something radioactive also flamable... I'd have to ask my wife the physicist, but it sounds like they just threw together some scientific sounding gibberish (If you ever read the books you'll notice they do it a lot, like calling Ohm's Law the Primal Law of Gases or some such in the Mechanicum novel) to make themselves sound smart.

Thus is the way of fiction. Just like saying flux capacitors could be harnessed into small little nuclear cells and fired from guns... its possible, just like a rail gun is possible, but hell if they could explain it simply lol.

Most materials can be radioactive, it is just a matter of the stability of the nuclei of the atoms, which depends on the number of neutrons.

A carbon 12 atom and a carbon 14 atom are identical chemically, but the carbon 14 is radioactive.

There are nonetheless various practical problems with making flamethrower fuel out of organic flammable molecules containing carbon-14 atoms.

The main one is that the rate of decay, which governs the amount of radiation produced, is constant and can't be changed by freezing or heating the fuel, so it will release as much radiation while it is in the tank as it will when shot at a target.

The other issue with Promethium as a fuel is that it would be insanely dangerous. The slightest leak would instantly cause an explosion as it ignites spontaneously on contact with oxygen.

But yeah, Grimdark.

Promethium has been used in science fiction as "minny-nukes" where something the size of a gumball can take out an entire room. In aliquid form, this reaction could extremely violent and powerful, picture it like nuclear fire.

It's a bit like how the element krypton has nothing to do with the fictional Kryptonite.

Wll the name makes sense to me because of prometheus I see the similarity there to but promethium just seems like napalm on crack to me..

Well, as I recall in Traitor General the Nighante encampment was built around a natural promethium well that Brostin (being the pyro he is) DESPERATELY wanted to light up. This makes me think that promethium might be the Imperium's name in general for most forms of liquid fuel. As for the fact that there is an existing element named promethium, I'm pretty sure we can assume it was lost sometime in the next 38,000 years, and the Imperium allocated the name to a slightly more alliterative substance.

Remember, a Leman Russ could run on pieces of wood...why couldn't it run on a flamer fuel? More importantly, since when has the Imperium CARED about safety? If it works, and it kills things they'll do it, screw the fact that a tank crew might get killed by it.

I love the way the Impeium is with their saftey its exactly as described above lol

Well it's only fiction.

RayvenQ wrote:Kel, I'd assume that Flamers and other things that use Prometium, use differenty refined types of Promethium, much like how Diesel and Petrol, while both made from crude oil, are refined differently and this results in differing properties. This could be the same with Prometium, but with the variations being labelled under the same catchall of Promethium. Given the fact of how the Imperium views technology, it's not all that improbable that the distinction is rarely ever used and only really used in logistical applications.

But also note(as you somewhat did) That Diesel and Petrol(Gasoline in the Americas) are Named differently; and while you could use Petrol/gasoline in some Diesel engines, you cannot use Diesel in a Petrol/gasoline.

Not to mention that most Flamethrowers use napalm(although some early versions did use diesel).


So maybe Promethium is Diesel

Yea Ive always thought promethium was just to make it sound like "Prometheus" from mythology, and not that they use the chemical promethium. That being said the imperium tend to use large amounts of "Adamantium" and "Ceramite" which apparently they mine. These are obviously not elements from the periodic table, so I simply assume their advanced metal alloys.

(500th POST FTW!)