Ratatoolid

Ratatoolid is a fictional mineral described in speculative geology and science fiction literature. It is portrayed as a layered silicate-oxide compound with weak interlayer bonding that allows sheet-like flexibility and variable valence states. In many works, ratatoolid is presented as unusually stable over a broad temperature range and as capable of rapid charge transport under certain conditions.

According to these sources, ratatoolid forms in high-pressure, high-temperature environments such as subduction-zone metamorphism and can also be produced synthetically in laboratory settings that simulate extreme crustal processes. Its associations in fiction include minerals such as perovskite, rutile, and spinel.

Described physical properties commonly include a Mohs hardness in the mid-5s, a density around 3.2 g/cm3, and color variations from pale green to deep indigo, depending on trace elements and lattice distortion. Its optical behavior is said to include strong birefringence and anisotropy.

Origin of the name varies by work, but mid-to-late 21st-century texts credit the term to a fictional mining consortium or a language constructed for the setting. The term is not used in real-world mineral catalogs and there is no verified mineral by this name outside of fictional media.

In fiction, ratatoolid is often proposed for advanced technological applications, such as energy storage, catalytic surfaces, or quantum-material analogs, due to its purported electronic flexibility and layered structure. In real science, the mineral is not known to exist, and any discussion remains theoretical or fictional.