Stargate materials: Encyclopedia II - Stargate materials - Naqahdah

Stargate materials - Naqahdah

Naqahdah [ˈnækwɪdʌ] is a fictional, superheavy metal used in Stargate SG-1. It is also in the original Stargate movie, though it was not named, only described as a quartzite-like material; it was not stated why it was quartzite-like, but fans speculate that it turns physical impacts against it into electricity, the so called piezoelectric effect. It has a dull grey sheen in its natural form, and glows green in a liquid form. It has a radioactive half-life of 150 years, which can be used for dating purposes.

A variant spelling of the name, "naquahdah", is sometimes seen in various sources (including the official sites) but the "u" is not present in the instances where word is spelled on-screen.

Naqahdah is the building block for all Goa'uld technology, and the material used to handle the massive amounts of energy required to create a stable wormhole by a device known as a Stargate which is composed almost entirely of Naqahdah.

At least 4 variants exist: Liquid Naqahdah, used to power staff weapons, Heavy Liquid Naqahdah (although this particular type may not actually exist in Stargate canon because it was only mentioned in a dream sequence), and Naqahdriah. The Goa'uld also have many other mining operations on various planets extracting the mineral to be refined into Weapons-Grade Naqahdah which is even more rare than the raw ore.

Naqahdah is very rare, and does not exist naturally in Earth's solar system. At least some of Earth's naqahdah supply comes from P3X-403, where as a result of a treaty negotiated by Daniel Jackson with the native Unas; the Unas work the mines and turn over the naqahdah to the SGC. The Unas agreed to do this both to prevent the humans from desecrating Unas holy sites while mining it themselves and to facilitate the SGC's war against the Goa'uld, whom the Unas hate.

Naquadah is technologically very important for most advanced races. It is the only known material to interact with neutrinos, which are used to energise the material. It is known to be a superconductor capable of storing and converting many types of energy, including electrical and thermal forms. This makes it important in high-energy applications such as weapons, propulsion mechanisms (including hyperdrives) and force-field technologies. The refined weapons-grade metal has been shown to amplify the effects of both standard chemical and nuclear explosions, this property was exploited by the System Lord Ra to create an enhanced nuclear warhead which was ultimately used against him. This effect has also been used by Earth forces to produce enhanced warheads and bombs, incuding a 'planet-buster' capable of destroying entire worlds. Naquadah itself can be used as an explosive; compact reactors utilising its energy production properties can be set to overload, producing an uncontrollable chain reaction. The use of naquadah as an energy source appears akin to standard nuclear fission reactors, although the radiation generated appears to be far more limited, shown by the lack of shielding used on naqahdah generators. Naquadah has also been seen to react violently with potassium; the mechanism of this reaction is unknown, but it is believed to be not entirely chemical, due to radiation release. The Goa'uld used this property to create a bomb implanted within a living person (Cassandra) in order to destroy the Earth Stargate.

Naqahdah is also a part of the Goa'uld's physiology. Its presence gives them the ability to use their technology, and to sense the presence of other Goa'uld within a close range. The host of a Goa'uld symbiote carries Naqahdah in his or her blood, and the metal remains in their system, even if the symbiote is removed. The only exceptions to this are most symbiotes which are artificial clones, and the Goa'uld who remained on their native homeworld (known only by its SGC designation, P3X 888) which were found to have no naqahdah. It is believed that heavy use of Naqahdah based technology such as the sarcophagus may have introduced the metal into their systems centuries after they left P3X 888. It is due to blood naqahadah that any Goa'uld, Tok'ra or Jaffa can detect the presence of other symbiotes.

Naqahdah is apparently also the standard medium of exchange within the area that is or has been under the dominion of the Goa'uld; weapons-grade naqahdah is preferred by the traders of the Lucian Alliance.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Naqahdah", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki