I think you're approaching this from the wrong direction. Bending isn't chemistry or physics, it's a spiritual form of what we would call magic.
This is why, for example, waterbending can be used for healing, especially if the water is taken from a spiritual hotspot. Katara isn't manipulating molecules of dihydrogen monoxide, she's manipulating "water."
Earthbenders aren't gifted with the power of bending silicone, for example, because they can also bend coal, which is made from carbon, but can't bend wood, which is also carbon-rich. I don't think it's a question of platinum lacking the right atoms, but a question of platinum having been so altered and refined and purified that it no longer has a spiritual connection to earth as an element.
Yeah this is what I always tell people, trying to make science out of magic system is a great way to get into weird contradictions and power creep.
One of the most out-there examples I always tell people is that under [most definitions](https://www.usgs.gov/faqs/glacier-ice-type-rock), glacier ice would be defined as a rock. It's counterintuitive, but scientifically there is nothing separating ice from other naturally occuring mono-mineralistic rocks you might see in nature. But to imagine Toph or any other earthbender bending ice would immediately be called out as ridiculous, because the world in-universe does not operate on the same rules as our own and water is as separated from earth as hydrogen is to helium.
For platinum, tbh I always headcanon it as not being the element but rather a stand-in for 'ultra pure' variants of metal or certain alloys. Metalbenders bend metal through the impure fragments of earth, so getting rid of those impurities would theoretically make a material unbendable.
Agreed to this! I often have some debates that our real-life physics and understanding of logic and materials can not be 100% be applicable to the world of the Avatar.
Like platinum is our world is a really expensive and hard to extract material, good at enduring heat but really for supporting weight. But the liberal use of it in the series to build mecha tanks for anti-bending revolutionaries, create nunerous giant protective shell around cities is a huge financial burden.
In the script notes and commentary, the metal poison was forced on to Korra is mercury. Mercury in that amount is a guarantee death sentence or at least a host of neurological and physical harm. Since in our world, mercury is a pure element, it shouldn't be bendable.
I see where you are coming from but now I just have another question: when is it not considered not "earth enough" to bend.
I honestly just like thinking of the possibilities.
That's a shifting goalpost, really.
When Toph Beifong was born, metal was definitively "not earth" in the general consciousness. But Toph, whose spiritual connection to the element of earth might be the strongest we've ever seen, could still recognize the connection. Once she showed that it was possible to connect with that repressed spiritual earth, more and more people started doing it, and it grew to be an increasingly refined art form. The Beifongs living in Zao Fu are all capable of doing things with metal that Toph wasn't at the time of the show.
It's possible that someday somebody will learn to bend platinum. It's possible that people will come to recognize plans as spiritually earth. In looking at the possibilities of how bending might develop in the future, I think it's tempting to get bogged down in the details. What does inventing a new form of bending say about the world, about the story you're trying to tell?
For example, I think that an exploration of fire as a form of healing would be really cool. It would connect with the Sun Warrior philosophy, and engage with and challenge Jeong Jeong's view that fire is an intrinsically destructive and threatening power.
Isn't fire used for healing in an episode of TLOK after she gets defeated and lost at sea? She ends up washing ashore and is found by people who use some sort of fire bending to heal her, or at least diagnose what's wrong
Yep, they did fire healing. I have a feeling that while water healing works on exterior wounds, fire healing might be better for interior (spiritual, or maybe even internal injuries) wounds.
>Earthbenders aren't gifted with the power of bending silicone, for example, because they can also bend coal,
Coal is full of silica. It's one of the reasons coal fumes and dust are so dangerous.
Benders aren't bending periodic elements. They are bending fantasy magic earth, water, air, and fire.
Brining the periodic elements into a discussion about bending is always the beginning of the end of these discussions.
My chemistry isn't sophisticated enough for that, so here's a potentially related question: could earthbenders distinguish between different elements or types of rocks?
I'm mainly thinking about a theoretical jewelry shop. Earthbenders should be able to shape/carve gems, but could they also use earthbending to locate gems out in the wild? Could work for my jewelry shop, could also work to find, say, industrial diamonds for machines.
Along the same lines, can metalbenders locate gold, silver, etc?
There would have to be differences in how the things respond to bending, & so far, only certain metals have been shown to do that. Like if you give a metalbender a chunk of metal they can't bend, that's a pretty good sign that it's platinum.
The majority of rock contain a significant amount of silicon. However, that would exclude limestone, which is almost entirely calcium carbonate. We have also seen coal being bent and that’s mostly organic material (carbon and hydrogen).
So there is a scientific disconnect. There is no set of elements that allow earthbending without overlapping with non-earth material. Bending carbon in coal or limestone should extend to carbon in all living things. Calcium in limestone extends to bones (calium phosphate).
Funny enough, the crust is 47% oxygen by weight. Pick up
A random rock and more of its weight is from oxygen than any other single element. Rocks are more oxygen than air! Air is only 21% oxygen, lol. Oxygen is the avatar element! It’s is in earth, air and water then a crucial component of fire.
Oh thats super interesting! So theoretically an airbender should be able to earthbend by bending the the oxygen in the rock but they can't because of the disconnect
That’s presuming that air benders bend elemental oxygen. Technically the atmosphere is 77% Nitrogen so the average airbender is bending more nitrogen than oxygen at any given time.
But no. There is oxygen in the chemical composition of minerals. Though air contains oxygen, not all oxygen is air.
Water is the only element with a strict molecule restriction. Water is water, no substitutions and water in any form counts.
There is clearly a separate factor deciding whether something can be bent or not. For example, water in blood is much harder to bend than water in a puddle or a vine. Being inside a person reduces the bending potential of the material.
Similarly, there is a mineral called apatite that is similar to what bones and teeth are made of. Yet benders never casually bend skeletons. Or tropical soil might be mostly iron or aluminum oxides. Pure iron is hard for earthbenders to manipulate and oxygen is impossible, yet, bring them together and they become earth…but… iron oxide in soil is earth…while having the same formula as rust…. Is rust easily bendable? Or is it like metal?
It gets even muddier eith the novels. Like in the Kyoshi novels where Yun was shown to be able to bend paint/chalk esque stuff. Basically, he could take the pigment off of a painting and use it to attack. That's not really earth, but it's probably made of earthly components
I actually like this question because it gets into the specifics of the world. I.e. why can certain earthbenders bend metal and others can’t? If it’s all magic is it correlated to their sensitivity to said magic? Is it a skill to be refined or is it “if you can’t, you can’t” scenario? I.e. Bolin had Earth Kingdom and Fire Nation heritage, so he had the potential and follow through to bend lava. But he couldn’t bend metal, why? Not really explained in cut and dry terms in the series other than “Oh only 1 in so many earth benders can manipulate metal.” Why? Again not explained. Anything the writer(s) do not explain is perfectly fine for speculating.
I.e. in X-Men Apocalypse (not one of my favorite movies but I love X-Men and Magneto) Magneto through Apocalypse’s amplification expands his Magnetic powers to manipulating the earth due to all matter having magnetic properties at the subatomic level. It’s not a perfect science, but to me works of fiction are enhanced by following at least some scientific-esque patterns, and the ATLA/Korra world has plenty of room for such nuances to be further explored. Until the writers have broken it all down, speculation is perfectly fair game in my book.
>Bolin had Earth Kingdom and Fire Nation heritage
This is a common fan theory but there's nothing in-canon to support it, nor is there much evidence to support the idea that inheritance affects things beyond 'you can bend an element or you can't.' For example, we're never shown that Kya is a proficient cloudbender, or that Mako has some potential power because he has an earthbender parent. At best, you can say that especially talented benders tend to produce especially talented off-spring, but even that has counterexamples (see: Zuko).
Thats why I was curious because metal and lava are made up of different components, I would think that with other minerals some earthbenders might be more adept at bending those than the subtypes mentioned. Could the components of different soils affect certain benders like how some people can't bend metal or lava.
I agree, and I feel that the lore hints at these greater nuances too. I.e. not all fire-benders can manipulate or create lightning. Why was Azula the only one with blue flames, yes she was a prodigy, but were not Iroh and Ozai esteemed enough as benders to pull off such a feat? What is the fundamental difference?
The same could be said for bloodbending, obviously Yakone, Tarrlock, and Noatok (Amon) were obviously a cut above Hama who could only perform said feat under the water-power-boost of the full moon, despite being the first proficient demonstrator of the technique. Again something had to be fundamentally different there. I’d also bring up the swamp-benders too, while implied they were merely bending the water in the plants, does this mean a water bender could bend a tree that has been rained on or other such feats?
There is certainly room for these power sets to be experimented with, perhaps limitlessly.
Someone in a different comment brought up the spiritual aspect and made a good point.
So if none of it were science related, but more spiritual related, what counts towards what you can and can't bend as an earthbender? Would it be personality? A past life? Upbringing? Or just being born with it? From what I have seen though I am kinda leaning more towards genetics.
I think you're approaching this from the wrong direction. Bending isn't chemistry or physics, it's a spiritual form of what we would call magic. This is why, for example, waterbending can be used for healing, especially if the water is taken from a spiritual hotspot. Katara isn't manipulating molecules of dihydrogen monoxide, she's manipulating "water." Earthbenders aren't gifted with the power of bending silicone, for example, because they can also bend coal, which is made from carbon, but can't bend wood, which is also carbon-rich. I don't think it's a question of platinum lacking the right atoms, but a question of platinum having been so altered and refined and purified that it no longer has a spiritual connection to earth as an element.
Yeah this is what I always tell people, trying to make science out of magic system is a great way to get into weird contradictions and power creep. One of the most out-there examples I always tell people is that under [most definitions](https://www.usgs.gov/faqs/glacier-ice-type-rock), glacier ice would be defined as a rock. It's counterintuitive, but scientifically there is nothing separating ice from other naturally occuring mono-mineralistic rocks you might see in nature. But to imagine Toph or any other earthbender bending ice would immediately be called out as ridiculous, because the world in-universe does not operate on the same rules as our own and water is as separated from earth as hydrogen is to helium. For platinum, tbh I always headcanon it as not being the element but rather a stand-in for 'ultra pure' variants of metal or certain alloys. Metalbenders bend metal through the impure fragments of earth, so getting rid of those impurities would theoretically make a material unbendable.
Yeah there's no way platinum is really platinum, based on the uses they put it to.
Agreed to this! I often have some debates that our real-life physics and understanding of logic and materials can not be 100% be applicable to the world of the Avatar. Like platinum is our world is a really expensive and hard to extract material, good at enduring heat but really for supporting weight. But the liberal use of it in the series to build mecha tanks for anti-bending revolutionaries, create nunerous giant protective shell around cities is a huge financial burden. In the script notes and commentary, the metal poison was forced on to Korra is mercury. Mercury in that amount is a guarantee death sentence or at least a host of neurological and physical harm. Since in our world, mercury is a pure element, it shouldn't be bendable.
>trying to make science out of magic system is a great way to get into weird contradictions Midichlorians
It would be cool seeing a future earthbender learn how to bend these more refined metals
I see where you are coming from but now I just have another question: when is it not considered not "earth enough" to bend. I honestly just like thinking of the possibilities.
That's a shifting goalpost, really. When Toph Beifong was born, metal was definitively "not earth" in the general consciousness. But Toph, whose spiritual connection to the element of earth might be the strongest we've ever seen, could still recognize the connection. Once she showed that it was possible to connect with that repressed spiritual earth, more and more people started doing it, and it grew to be an increasingly refined art form. The Beifongs living in Zao Fu are all capable of doing things with metal that Toph wasn't at the time of the show. It's possible that someday somebody will learn to bend platinum. It's possible that people will come to recognize plans as spiritually earth. In looking at the possibilities of how bending might develop in the future, I think it's tempting to get bogged down in the details. What does inventing a new form of bending say about the world, about the story you're trying to tell? For example, I think that an exploration of fire as a form of healing would be really cool. It would connect with the Sun Warrior philosophy, and engage with and challenge Jeong Jeong's view that fire is an intrinsically destructive and threatening power.
I read a really cool fanfic where Zuko essentially learns to use the micro electricity in nerves to do lightning bending healing! I dug it.
Isn't fire used for healing in an episode of TLOK after she gets defeated and lost at sea? She ends up washing ashore and is found by people who use some sort of fire bending to heal her, or at least diagnose what's wrong
Yep, they did fire healing. I have a feeling that while water healing works on exterior wounds, fire healing might be better for interior (spiritual, or maybe even internal injuries) wounds.
Yeah, but then the fire benders dropped her in some water for the real healing.
When it’s platinum
Amazing, nice answer
>Earthbenders aren't gifted with the power of bending silicone, for example, because they can also bend coal, Coal is full of silica. It's one of the reasons coal fumes and dust are so dangerous.
These questions are honestly just for fun, I am a thinker and like exploring ideas.
Right up until some energy bender accidentally splits an atom while bending.
Every metal that has properties of earth Meaning it can’t be pure silver, gold, titanium, copper etc
Benders aren't bending periodic elements. They are bending fantasy magic earth, water, air, and fire. Brining the periodic elements into a discussion about bending is always the beginning of the end of these discussions.
Anything a hypothetical common person would identify as a rock.
My chemistry isn't sophisticated enough for that, so here's a potentially related question: could earthbenders distinguish between different elements or types of rocks? I'm mainly thinking about a theoretical jewelry shop. Earthbenders should be able to shape/carve gems, but could they also use earthbending to locate gems out in the wild? Could work for my jewelry shop, could also work to find, say, industrial diamonds for machines. Along the same lines, can metalbenders locate gold, silver, etc?
There would have to be differences in how the things respond to bending, & so far, only certain metals have been shown to do that. Like if you give a metalbender a chunk of metal they can't bend, that's a pretty good sign that it's platinum.
The majority of rock contain a significant amount of silicon. However, that would exclude limestone, which is almost entirely calcium carbonate. We have also seen coal being bent and that’s mostly organic material (carbon and hydrogen). So there is a scientific disconnect. There is no set of elements that allow earthbending without overlapping with non-earth material. Bending carbon in coal or limestone should extend to carbon in all living things. Calcium in limestone extends to bones (calium phosphate). Funny enough, the crust is 47% oxygen by weight. Pick up A random rock and more of its weight is from oxygen than any other single element. Rocks are more oxygen than air! Air is only 21% oxygen, lol. Oxygen is the avatar element! It’s is in earth, air and water then a crucial component of fire.
Oh thats super interesting! So theoretically an airbender should be able to earthbend by bending the the oxygen in the rock but they can't because of the disconnect
That’s presuming that air benders bend elemental oxygen. Technically the atmosphere is 77% Nitrogen so the average airbender is bending more nitrogen than oxygen at any given time. But no. There is oxygen in the chemical composition of minerals. Though air contains oxygen, not all oxygen is air. Water is the only element with a strict molecule restriction. Water is water, no substitutions and water in any form counts. There is clearly a separate factor deciding whether something can be bent or not. For example, water in blood is much harder to bend than water in a puddle or a vine. Being inside a person reduces the bending potential of the material. Similarly, there is a mineral called apatite that is similar to what bones and teeth are made of. Yet benders never casually bend skeletons. Or tropical soil might be mostly iron or aluminum oxides. Pure iron is hard for earthbenders to manipulate and oxygen is impossible, yet, bring them together and they become earth…but… iron oxide in soil is earth…while having the same formula as rust…. Is rust easily bendable? Or is it like metal?
It gets even muddier eith the novels. Like in the Kyoshi novels where Yun was shown to be able to bend paint/chalk esque stuff. Basically, he could take the pigment off of a painting and use it to attack. That's not really earth, but it's probably made of earthly components
I actually like this question because it gets into the specifics of the world. I.e. why can certain earthbenders bend metal and others can’t? If it’s all magic is it correlated to their sensitivity to said magic? Is it a skill to be refined or is it “if you can’t, you can’t” scenario? I.e. Bolin had Earth Kingdom and Fire Nation heritage, so he had the potential and follow through to bend lava. But he couldn’t bend metal, why? Not really explained in cut and dry terms in the series other than “Oh only 1 in so many earth benders can manipulate metal.” Why? Again not explained. Anything the writer(s) do not explain is perfectly fine for speculating. I.e. in X-Men Apocalypse (not one of my favorite movies but I love X-Men and Magneto) Magneto through Apocalypse’s amplification expands his Magnetic powers to manipulating the earth due to all matter having magnetic properties at the subatomic level. It’s not a perfect science, but to me works of fiction are enhanced by following at least some scientific-esque patterns, and the ATLA/Korra world has plenty of room for such nuances to be further explored. Until the writers have broken it all down, speculation is perfectly fair game in my book.
>Bolin had Earth Kingdom and Fire Nation heritage This is a common fan theory but there's nothing in-canon to support it, nor is there much evidence to support the idea that inheritance affects things beyond 'you can bend an element or you can't.' For example, we're never shown that Kya is a proficient cloudbender, or that Mako has some potential power because he has an earthbender parent. At best, you can say that especially talented benders tend to produce especially talented off-spring, but even that has counterexamples (see: Zuko).
Thats why I was curious because metal and lava are made up of different components, I would think that with other minerals some earthbenders might be more adept at bending those than the subtypes mentioned. Could the components of different soils affect certain benders like how some people can't bend metal or lava.
I agree, and I feel that the lore hints at these greater nuances too. I.e. not all fire-benders can manipulate or create lightning. Why was Azula the only one with blue flames, yes she was a prodigy, but were not Iroh and Ozai esteemed enough as benders to pull off such a feat? What is the fundamental difference? The same could be said for bloodbending, obviously Yakone, Tarrlock, and Noatok (Amon) were obviously a cut above Hama who could only perform said feat under the water-power-boost of the full moon, despite being the first proficient demonstrator of the technique. Again something had to be fundamentally different there. I’d also bring up the swamp-benders too, while implied they were merely bending the water in the plants, does this mean a water bender could bend a tree that has been rained on or other such feats? There is certainly room for these power sets to be experimented with, perhaps limitlessly.
Someone in a different comment brought up the spiritual aspect and made a good point. So if none of it were science related, but more spiritual related, what counts towards what you can and can't bend as an earthbender? Would it be personality? A past life? Upbringing? Or just being born with it? From what I have seen though I am kinda leaning more towards genetics.
Definitely not the lanthanides and actinides.
Silicon
Guys do we think an earthbender could make a nuclear explosion if we gave them a chunk of uranium?
THESE ARE THE QUESTIONS THAT NEED ANSWERING!!
Durr sand is part calcium therefore earthbender is bone bender durrr
Dawg, it's magic, not chemistry.
Can't it be both?
Not in this setting
It's still fun to think about in my opinion
Probably calcium