Elements
Elements cover four different categories: Solids, Liquids, Gases and Other. The latter only contains Vacuum and The Void. These can range from common solids, such as Sandstone, to Rare Resources that can only be obtained via space exploration.
Elements can be converted by heating or by cooling them. This, however, may not always be the same element nor a different state. For example, Sand will melt into Molten Glass, and Algae will turn into Dirt if heated enough. This is often the basis for converting elements from one to the other without the use of specialized machinery. For example, Sour Gas Boilers can convert Crude Oil into Natural Gas using a complicated route: Crude Oil → Petroleum → Sour Gas → Methane (+ Sulfur) → Natural Gas.
It should be noted that elements in-game do not necessarily correspond to real life chemical elements. For example:
- Iron is both an in-game element and a chemical element.
- Multiple elements such as Abyssalite are fictional and do not exist in real life.
Spawning
Depending on which Asteroid Type was chosen, different Biomes contain different elements. All Biomes contain a variety of Solids and may contain various Liquids or Gases. In some cases, additional elements may occur due to quirks in world generation- An Oil Biome may contain Petroleum due to high temperatures and a Frozen Biome may contain Liquid Chlorine or Liquid Carbon Dioxide if the temperature is low enough.
Abyssalite acts as a natural border around biomes that prevents heat transfer. Neutronium spawns around the edges and underneath Geysers.
Geysers can be found around the Asteroid. They periodically emit a certain element.
Production
Some elements can only be collected using Rockets with Cargo Modules. While other elements can also be found, these do not differ from the ones on the Asteroid; this merely provides a renewable source for them.
Genetic Ooze is a special element that certain entities are made of but cannot occur naturally.
Some elements are produced by machines or Critters. These include, but are not limited to, Manufactured Materials, Ceramic, Lime and Plastic.
State Change
All elements have temperature transition points, where they transform into their other states of matter (Solid → Liquid → Gas) or sometimes to entirely different elements (Crude Oil → Petroleum, or Plastic → Naphtha).
All such transitions are listed in the element's Properties, but does not actually occur until 3K past the displayed temperature. For example, Water is listed with an evaporation Point of 99.35 °C210.83 °F, but does not actually boil into Steam until it is heated to 102.35 °C216.23 °F. The Steam condensation point is likewise listed as 99.35 °C210.83 °F but does not condense back to Water until cooled to 96.35 °C205.43 °F.
This hysteresis gap exists to keep elements from flickering back and forth between states when just at the transition point, but can be exploited intentionally in some cases.
Damage from state change in liquid pipes can be prevented by decreasing the packet size to 1/10 (1 kg)
List of Elements
For a list of elements and mechanics surrounding them, see their respective pages: