I really don't think it matters, as neither fuel nor oil seem to be present as a fuel source. The Fire Nation uses coal in their ships and other machines, and they're pretty much the only nation with that sort of thing.

Hell, I'm wondering if any nation in the show knows there IS such a thing.

Uh, yeah it does matter for the show, because this is in the category for AVATAR DISCUSSION.

Now, if there was a thread for whether or not it would be possible for a bender to magically come to the real world and bend something here, then yes my answer would be inadequate.

However, as it stands; it's not. So if you want a 'smart answer' as to whether they can or not, contact somebody on AIM.

Christ, Kiriyama this section is called "The Bending Arts". Its designed for discussion about bending possiblities, origins, opinions, and relation to real life. I've seen people discussing 'Dark Benders' on other threads here, and everyone pretty much knows for a fact there is no one who can bend darkness or light in the series, and there never will be. Care to go over and smack them on the wrist too? or will you be labeled a hypocrite...OR will you realize that you were wrong to treat a newer member harshly?

Anyway Tai, Im not really the kind of guy who can give one of these fabled "smart answers", so ill just say that yes, i think that fuel/oil can be manipulated by a water bender because it is a liquid. Dont quote me on that though.

really it's too hard to say. Oil wasn't found until the 1900s if i remember my history. Since the whole world of avatar is more around the 1600s or earlier even i doubt they will ever encounter oil.

But if you want a super scientific level then here's what i think. Oil is part of petroleum and petroleum can be refined into several levels. I'll centralize towards Gasoline which is made up of hydrocarbons (carbons with hydrogens attatched at open sites)

Since water is made of hydrogen and oxygen i'll assume that it's likely hydrogen that is bended since if oxygen was bended then waterbenders could pull the oxygen together, but really if you pulled hydrogen from h20 then you don't have water. But lets say you do.

Hydrocarbons are made up of primarily Hydrogen. So since hydrogen is the bended material then yes waterbenders could bend gasoline, in particular.

Now since water is made up of BOTH hydrogen and oxygen that would require both of them to be present together so that would also result in a "No" for the answer to this question.


Bottom line: it's a yes and no, because we do not fully know the absolute extent and concept behind "Bending" in the show

In my humble opinion, bending oil or other petroleum derivitives would be different from bending water. Water is cool because it's nearly a universal solvent- it can dissolve lots of things. Why can it dissolve lots of things? Because it's made of polar molecules. By polar I mean that different parts of the molecules have different charges. The oxygen is slightly negative and the hydrogen is slightly positive. Think of oxygen as the school bully, the hydrogens as new, weak kids, and electrons as lunch money. The oxygen will want the money and will often be able to take it from the hydrogens, but not permanently. This creates a partial charge called a dipole. Because of the dipole, water molecules rearrange themselves into hexagonal shapes when they freeze (making them expand). Also the water molecules tend to stick together even when in liquid form, such as beading up on wax paper.

The thing about hydrocarbons and petroleum derivitives is that they aren't polar. They have no dipoles (at least not ones that matter) and therefore they don't stick together like water does. Therefore bending water (which tends to stick together) and oil (which tends to flatten out as much as possible- oil slicks, for example) would be vastly different.

As I'm sure you've read, this topic is never really discussed in the Avatar world, so everything here is pure speculation.

I say that is possible and have a scientific reason. (This is going to sound a little nerdy but here I go). Fuel and oil are both aqueous solutions which means that they both have water as the solvent or base. Water is of course also an aqueous solution because it is pure water. Water benders bend compounds that have water as their bases so bending Fuel and Oil are 100% possble.

Chiba do a bit of more research please. Fuel is NOT always (Aq) and and last i checked most liquid fuels are made of hydrocarbons which contain no water.

Aqueous aka (Aq) is a substance is a solution in water or is water.

Ethanol is a fuel and contains no Oxygens which are required to make up Water (H2O). Hydro carbons which is what Gasoline is made of does.

There's a reason for the saying "Oil and water don't mix", you know... polar solvents (water) can't dissolve nonpolar solutes (oil). It just doesn't happen; it's physically impossible. There may be a few exceptions that I'm not aware of, but for the most part like dissolves like- meaning polar solvents dissolve polar things and nonpolar solvents dissolve nonpolar things.

Alright, took a little while off from this thread, since having a debate when thoroughly pissed at RL events is not the brightest of ideas.

Anyway. I don't believe waterbenders would be able to bend fuel or oil since most of it isn't actually water. Decayed plant matter, etc makes crude, and through heating that we get the different types of fuel (kerosene, [automotive] fuel, Av Gas [Aviation fuel], etc). So no, I don't think waterbenders would be able to work with it.

I think earthbenders would have a chance at doing this, but I don't believe waterbenders could.

I agree with Makoto, because although fuel is a liquid, it's not exactly water. And if water benders could bend ALL liquids, it'd be called 'liquid bending' not water bending. Fuel and oil are completely different from water bending. But that's just my opinion...

I think they can bend anything that contains a large portion of water because in the episode with Bato, Katara was bending perfume and also she is seen bending swamp water(later epi). All in all oil and such would not fit in because it doesn't contain any water.

And as someone cleverly put it waterbending

It makes no sense that water benders would be able to bend oil. If you know what happens when oils and fuels come with water you would see why it is not possible. As described by wikipedia: "Oil, in a general sense, is a chemical compound that is not miscible with water, and is in a liquid state at ambient temperatures. Such substances are sometimes described as hydrophobic (meaning water hating) or lipophilic (meaning fat loving)." Now, how could you bend a hydrophobic compound as a water bender?

Although before they have portrayed waterbenders more as 'liquidbenders' those are compounds. Things that are mixed with a water base. Oil is strictly a different chemical in total.

It's been shown multiple times on the show that it's possible to bend water solutions so long as the compounds in the water have a polar or ionic reaction.

For example, waterbenders have no problem bending seawater(saltwater)...because salt dissolves in water. Katara was able to bend the perfumes in the episode, Bato of the Water Tribe.

I don't even think the compounds have to be hydrophilic. So long as the solution is mostly water, the compounds could be easily maintained in the solution.
Quick example, Katara was able to keep a fish within the water she was bending.

But I don't believe waterbenders could bend oil. Oil is a hydrocarbon. Similar to coal. And waterbenders can't bend coal earthbenders do. (Which shatters my earthbender-silicon theory. But maybe Earthbenders can bend bend elements specifically in the 4A group....hmmm....but I won't get into that here).

Anyway, we can't say the just because oil is a liquid it can be bend by waterbenders. Waterbenders can bend ice (which is a solid).

I think that the base of the bending is simply the water molecule H2O. If hydrogen is only the base of it then they could bend oil...and coal. But they can't. If oxygen was the basis, then waterbenders could then bend air (oxygen gas). So it's H2O.

Since earthbenders can bend coal...then it wouldn't be farfetched to say they can bend oil as well.

I have never seen water benders to be "liquid benders" they have never once bended anything but the three forms fo water. MUD on the other hand is a completely different story since it has the physical and chemical properties of water BUT it is mixed with the physical properties on dirt. SINCE the chemical traits of water has not changed in the mud it is STILL water with something dissolved in it. This is why Katara was able to only bend around half of it and why Toph was also able to bend the "liquid". ^^