Skyrim Geology and Metallurgy

[ProphetDragon]

There are certain metals in Skyrim that resemble real world. For example, Iron is in both worlds and quite the same. Other than that there are certain ores and ingots in the game that seem to resemble real life.

Iron Ore to Iron: Extraction by smelter resembles blast furnace method of converting Fe2O3 to Fe.

Iron to Steel: Steel is Iron and Carbon but Corundum seems to be Copper. This is a problem.

Gold and Silver: Au and Ag are somewhat the same. Correct me if I'm wrong.

Quicksilver: Quicksilver is another name for mercury. Here is the problem: Mercury's melting point is -39 degree Celsius which means it is not possible to carry a refrigerator with you at all times.

Malachite: Malachite is a copper carbonate hydroxide mineral, with the formula Cu2CO3(OH)2. It seems pretty useless for making armor.

What do you think is moonstone?

[legoless]

They don't correlate exactly. Malachite, corundum and quicksilver don't correlate to their real-world equivalents. They're all fantasy materials, e.g. malachite in TES is a quasi-magical volcanic glass. Real-world mercury is named 'liquid silver' in TES, not quicksilver. There are multiple different types of iron as well, and the process of making steel varies between games.

[Marisa Kirisame]

Moonstone, well, is selenite, by the looks of it. Doesn't look like real moonstone. However, as legoless pointed out, they do not correlate in most of their properties.

[ProphetDragon]

Of course, In Skyrim you extract even the toughest or most complex metals via smelting. No Electrolysis......Sad.

[SarthesArai]

Don't forget ebony, which is a wood rather than a metal in the real world.

[Marisa Kirisame]

Umm, while there is ebony wood (or how is it called in English) TES ebony is more like real ebony (ebonite), which is a mineral.

When I was little, I had an ebonite stick. I played with it like it was a magic wand. It also gets a static charge if you use fur on it.

[Dark Spark]

Don't forget that Dragon Scales aren't real, since recent theories suggest they were actually covered in feathers, like birds.

[Marisa Kirisame]

Scales, feathers - the material itself is the same.

[SarthesArai]

Umm, while there is ebony wood (or how is it called in English) TES ebony is more like real ebony (ebonite), which is a mineral.

Ebony is a dense black hardwood, most commonly yielded by several different species in the genus Diospyros.
Ebonite was a brand name for very hard rubber first obtained by Charles Goodyear by vulcanizing rubber for prolonged periods.

[MetaCthulhu]

Don't forget that Dragon Scales aren't real, since recent theories suggest they were actually covered in feathers, like birds.

That doesn't sound scary; more like a 30 foot long Turkey.

Ebonite was a brand name for very hard rubber first obtained by Charles Goodyear by vulcanizing rubber for prolonged periods.

Ebonite was called Vulcanite for a time though, and now Vulcanite refers to a mineral, so a mix up was probably inevitable.

[ProphetDragon]

Don't forget that Dragon Scales aren't real, since recent theories suggest they were actually covered in feathers, like birds.

Confused? 'Dragons' are covered in scales! Dinosaurs had feathers!

[Marisa Kirisame]

Oh, so I guess I mixed it up, sorry.

[Dark Spark]

Confused? 'Dragons' are covered in scales! Dinosaurs had feathers!

That's the joke.

Dragons are actually covered in the winds of the spoken breath, fleshed out with the ink of a storybook, and colored by the spark of imagination. Of that, I am not confused about.

[ProphetDragon]

Umm, while there is ebony wood (or how is it called in English) TES ebony is more like real ebony (ebonite), which is a mineral.

Ebony is a dense black hardwood, most commonly yielded by several different species in the genus Diospyros.
Ebonite was a brand name for very hard rubber first obtained by Charles Goodyear by vulcanizing rubber for prolonged periods.

In the game, Ebony is not Ebonite. It is some volcanic glass. This reminds me that the Aztec used to wield weapons formed of volcanic glass. Perhaps Obsidian. Whatever it is, it's formula is SiO2 (generally).

I'm not much of a geologist but I get 96% in Chemistry and Metallurgy is an interesting chapter.

Moonstone has some Calcium in it. It should also contain Aluminium, Sodium and Silica. Anyone has the formula?

[Marisa Kirisame]

In the game 'moonstone' looks more like selenite.

[Aarah]

Moonstone has some Calcium in it. It should also contain Aluminium, Sodium and Silica. Anyone has the formula?

Moonstone's chemical formula, mineral-forming substances:
K[AlSi3O8] +Na,Fe,Ba

[ProphetDragon]

Thank you, now Corundum is copper and dwarven alloy is brass with stainless steel. What is Orichalcum?

In history, orichalcum or aurichalcum is a metal mentioned in several ancient writings, including the story of Atlantis in the Critias of Plato. It should be a copper-zinc-brass alloy or something.

[legoless]

Dwarven alloy is another fantasy material. It's made from rare metals found deep underground, and shouldn't be confused with the aboveground "Dwarven ore" in ESO.

[Marisa Kirisame]

Reminds me of "Alien Alloys" back in UFO Defense.

[ProphetDragon]

Let us hope that the dwarven alloy is not titanium.