How would you think of the after "Situation" back on earth

[Human No More]

Yeah, a lot of information on the wiki isn't well sourced...

There will be a supply for over 6 years for the ISVs to return, and then they will have to reduce usage of new amounts (although I can certainly imagine a large stockpile with the unreliability of ISVs) and reuse what there already is. It's a superconductor, not fuel. Equally, the only real uses are in a transport network, and in the ISVs themselves.

[Banefull]

The wiki is very vauge as you said but it does seem to indicate that is used as some sort of fuel (more likely a process to make fuel).

Without unobtanium, interstellar commerce on this scale would not be possible. Unobtanium is not only the key to Earth’s energy needs in the 22nd century, but it is the enabler of interstellar travel and the establishment of a truly spacefaring civilization. This makes a feedback loop; the more unobtanium is mined, the more ships can be built and the more mining equipment can be sent to Pandora.

[Raiden]

I don't know if this has already been mentioned, but to be a superconductor means:

1) Conduction of electricity with zero resistance (therefore making circuits 100% efficient) at a temperature extreme.

2) Strongly magnetic (Maglev Trains, and The Floating Mountains), and able to levitate in a magnetic field at a temperature extreme.

Unobtainium is so great because it does both of these at room temperature and a ways below and above it.

Basically, Earth would run out of it in a few years. It isn't "making more power", it's increasing the capacity of what's there already by eliminating the loss of energy by resistance (and thus heat).

Once Earth ran out, it would be a while before the lack of it did any real damage. One thing that I really wonder about is what Jake thinks of it. He's not terribly attached to Earth any more physically, but I don't see him throwing the whole thing away; that would be a waste, and there has to be some good people left still; where do you think Norm, Max, Grace, and Trudy came from?

Unfortunately, this means that the humans are bound to return in one form or another.

It all depends on why.

[Sothis]

^This.

Also, for anyone interested in learning more:
Technological applications of superconductivity - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

I still remember my high school physics teacher talking about how much the world would change if we had ready access to a room-temperature superconductor (this was years and years before Avatar). Transmission losses in the electrical grid would drop to effectively zero, and transportation would become almost trivially energy-cheap. And he didn't even talk about the implications for computing. I think Avatar's estimation of unobtanium's worth is pretty much what I would've expected from what I already knew about superconductors.

If Avatar's 2154 earth is undergoing an energy crisis, I can definitely see them banking on unobtanium to pull them out of it, in which case cutting off the flow could be quite devastating indeed. Research "peak oil" for an idea of what I mean. Here's a good primer:
The Crash Course - Chris Martenson - chapters, Crash Course, Economy, Energy, environment, Peak Oil, videos, what should I do

At the same time, I don't think it's economically or logistically feasible to resume mining on Pandora without willing cooperation from the Na'vi. It'll be interesting to see how it all plays out.

[Woodsprite]

That's why I'm thinking they may just try another one of Polyphemus' moons.

[Raiden]

Originally Posted by Woodsprite

That's why I'm thinking they may just try another one of Polyphemus' moons.

Or the RDA could build a base on one and use it as a staging area...

Or some new aliens might come onto the scene that want the unobtainium for themselves, and are a threat to all corners.

[Human No More]

Originally Posted by Banefull

The wiki is very vauge as you said but it does seem to indicate that is used as some sort of fuel (more likely a process to make fuel).

It's a superconductor - in that context, it is used for containment of the antimatter reaction. That info isn't actually at all correct (otherwise, how did they get there in the first place? )
The first ISV used cold superconductors, and was 3 times the size, but it existed.

[Ashen Key]

Originally Posted by Human No More

It's a superconductor - in that context, it is used for containment of the antimatter reaction. That info isn't actually at all correct (otherwise, how did they get there in the first place?
The first ISV used cold superconductors, and was 3 times the size, but it existed.

Oooh. In the interests of being accurate (*g*) where did you get the info on the first ISV? I've always wondered how the hell they got to Pandora in the first place - I figured there was a little bit of unobtanium close-ish to Earth.

[Human No More]

It's on the wiki with Pandorapedia as a reference, plus common sense. The previous ISV class was 4 times the size (not three as I thought) due to the use of cold superconductors needing much more cooling and power systems as well as larger radiators. It has been mentioned that there is no unobtainium known anywhere other than Pandora (or possibly the alpha centauri system)

As for an energy crisis, that was never really mentioned - indeed, the relatively casual use of antimatter for power, assuming they have an efficient means of producing it, implies the opposite - the stated description of the primary use of unobtainium is in building maglev systems.

[Raptor]

This brings up another issue. Does unobtainium lose its infinite conductance over time? How much of it has been stockpiled on Earth? There are so many questions that need to be answered. Damnit, I really wish I can read the novel that JC is working on. I'm not hearing any news on it recently.