Poll: The 5th element of nature.

[Anacortian]

I'd say Boron.

Boron! Atomic number five. Check your periodic tables.

 

[Exocet]

I have never seen a thread hijacked this badly.
You all deserve cookies

 

[anNIALLator]

The 4 elements are just a quaint idea now outdated by hundreds or thousands of years. The closest thing you could get to the "Fifth Element" would be something like dark matter or dark energy etc.

 

[Cairo]

Leeloo being taken, I'll side with Miyamoto Musashi and say Void.

 

[TheDrHuw]

The 5th element is Leeloo Dallas

 

[Aunel]

I voted metal because it just seems like it to me, and I will go with my gut on this one.

and because Metallica just deserves a element.

 

[NeutralMunchHotel]

They've recently proved that actually Aristotle was right... kind of - he had the states of matter. The scientists' thoughts were this: solid = earth, liquid = water, gas = air, and plasma = fire. So, looking at it, scientifically all that exists is accounted for, so there is no 5th element.

 

[sidhe3141]

They've recently proved that actually Aristotle was right... kind of - he had the states of matter. The scientists' thoughts were this: solid = earth, liquid = water, gas = air, and plasma = fire. So, looking at it, scientifically all that exists is accounted for, so there is no 5th element.

No, there's still Einstein-Bose Condensate, and a number of things come in more than four states (helium has Liquid II [superfluid], carbon has Solid II [diamond] and III [metallic], etc.)

 

[internutt]

Asia tends to label the fifth element as metal, thus that is my choice.

 

[Yegargeburble]

I'd say Boron.

It is Boron indeed.

I'd also like to say that fire, water, air, and earth are not elements, just reactions and a mass of different elements (especially air).

EDIT: The above seems rather dickish, so I will type in a smiley face to show I'm just joking.

XP

 

[Hikikomori Ookami]

They've recently proved that actually Aristotle was right... kind of - he had the states of matter. The scientists' thoughts were this: solid = earth, liquid = water, gas = air, and plasma = fire. So, looking at it, scientifically all that exists is accounted for, so there is no 5th element.

So maybe Monkfish is right with time...

 

[asinann]

Don't you watch Captain Planet, the 5th element is heart.
Make an option.

 

[Maggotworm]

the element of heart, haven't any of you ever watched captain planet?

 

[BrokenWind]

They've recently proved that actually Aristotle was right... kind of - he had the states of matter. The scientists' thoughts were this: solid = earth, liquid = water, gas = air, and plasma = fire. So, looking at it, scientifically all that exists is accounted for, so there is no 5th element.

Actually, that is still incorrect. The classic states of matter are, of course;

Solid
Liquid
and Gas.

Plasma isn't generally considered one of the classic states, but is a state of matter. However, we still have quite a few others to consider;

Liquid crystal states
Amorphous solid
Magnetically-ordered states
Superconductors
Superfluids
Bose-Einstein condensates
Rydberg molecules
and Quark-gluon plasma.

As well as a few more currently proposed states;

Degenerate matter
Supersolid
String-net liquid
and Superglass.

This suggests to me that there may be even more. So he may have been on the right track, but he missed a couple.

Also, normal natural fire generally isn't hot enough to create a plasma. While 'flames' can be present in the creation of a plasma, in Aristotle's time it seems unlikely that this is what he was talking about. (Thank you, Wikipedia) So the four 'elements' really don't describe the constituent parts of anything, nor do they really describe with any accuracy the states of matter.

However! If we're speaking strictly in mystical terms, as the OP seems so insistent on - I would like to agree with some other posters that the fifth element would be 'life' (Which is what I choose to believe the movie was trying to say anyway). None of the other elements really account for growth, animation, or anything like thought. 'Death', if you wanna throw it out there too, is just the absence of life, and therefor not an element.

 

[X Gintoki X]

well every one knows that

no one can destroy the metal... the metal will strike you down with a vicious blow... we are the vanquished souls of the metal... we tried to win, for why we do not know!!!

METAL!!! IT COMES FROM HELL!!!

but for all seriosness go read the book the fifth sacred thing.

 

[L4hlborg]

I'd say Boron.

I'm pretty sure you are right, if we are using the periodic table.

 

[Gigawolf1]

I notice that you almost ignored the classical fifth element of Aether/Void/Nothing. Which is odd, because it's in most systems that use Fire, Air, Water, and Earth, or at least the ones I know of. I know the Chinese system has Metal and Wood with Earth as its fifth.

Space is closest.