They are doing that. In a brief spilor, it shows Aang doing something like that. But I woun't say what. What I think would be more interesting if they could inhance their weapons by diomond sheathing them. A low grade quility and likely harder than heck to make, but it is better than nothing.

LOL Yes, as I said, I was going out on a limb. I have still been thinking of how a waterbender could fake firebend, but the only other possibility I could come up with was if the water was mixed with some sort of flammable substance like oil, though as oil and water do not mix well, such may not be possible either.



I agree that most people associate plants with the earth they grow upon, but I think most people also would associate lightning with air due to storms, yet it is fire that bends lightning. The biggest issue with "association bending" is that the bender is no longer bending just his/her element and so it can get muddy real quick.



Actually, the reverse is true. Without earth (whether it be rock, sand, loam, etc.) there can be no plants. However, rock, sand, etc. can exist without plants. That is why Greek philosophers called earth, water, air, and fire elements, because they believed them to be the four building blocks upon which all else was created and that you could see evidence of the four elements in all other aspects of nature. Example: If you break a branch of a tree you see the inside is wet (water), the tree itself is hard (earth), a tree burns (fire), and when a tree burns smoke (air) is released from it.

Copper for your thoughts.

Actually, I never thought of using oil. A waterbender might be able to evaporate it and ignite it with static or small existing flame.

This is my first post on this site, but I have been watching
Avatar ever since the first episode. In addition, I've somehow
managed to keep from flunking phyics.....so....

On the subject of earthbenders being able to magnetize their
bodies, and since magnetism is actually the same force as
electricity, maybe earthbenders can wield lightning, I have
the following to say: It seems unlikely that they are actually
generating magnetism. If they were, it would require an
enormous amount of it, plenty enough to send metal objects
from all around rushing to the site of the bender. I don't think
it's actually the magnetic force at work, just simply a more
complex effect of earthbending, like anything else they might
do, just requiring more precise control.
This isn't precisely on topic, since it is already Avatar canon, but
I don't think waterbenders should be able to control plants, even if
such a bender is very rare, or must be very skilled. Waterbenders
obviously cannot manipulate plants outright, or they'd be called
treebenders; they are controlling the water stored within them.
In our world, that would almost surely rend the tree to pieces
from the internal force. I'm not entirely certain about this, since
it's been some time since I had biology, but it seems logical.

Firebenders seem to me more like energy benders, as I believe
someone already said. Fire isn't precisely energy, but it gives off
quite a bit of thermal energy, and it has been shown before that
firebenders can generate heat without actually making fire.
Electricity is the movement of electrons, so it is energy. This just
seems logical.
Perhaps most of the things suggested on this thread would be
possible, if the bender could live long enough. But even the Avatar
dies and is reborn without his precious learning. I think if a single
bender from each nation was immortal, they could probably learn
to do most of the things you all have suggested.
As an afterthought, someone mentioned earlier that the Fire
Nation controlled Sozen's comet in order to start the war. I'm not
sure that is entirely correct. We know they did so well in the war
because of the comet, but I think it was simply because its passing
made their bending abilities much much stronger, like how their
power increases in sunlight. They wouldn't have had to alter its
course or speed in any way, just be here when it flew past.

Just my two cents. Pretty soon, I'll have three cents....

*poke* Earth benders soften the earth below them, just so you know. Water bending can cause healing because water is what most of the body is made of, and what is the most important thing to get when sick!

Just think about this, when waterbenders bend salt water, does the salt stay where it was or is mixed in?

Welcome to the site, Legion. ;D



If earthbenders can magnetize their limbs, I would say by definition that is controlling magnetism at least to a limited degree, unless the "magnetizing" of their limbs is not magnetism at all, but just something that mimics it. And Legion is correct that magnetism and electricity are related. (After I reread this thread about the issue below, I found that Do Sho also posted about this) Run an electric current through copper and a formerly non-magnetic metal becomes magnetic. Rotate two magnets and you generate an electric current.



Gravity has nothing to do with magnetism. Gravity is a force in and of itself exerted by all objects. It is a very weak force, however, and so needs to be exerted by an object of extreme mass in order to be felt to the degree that we feel it here on Earth. This is also why the moon has less gravity than Earth, because it is less massive. The only way I can see earthbenders affecting gravity would be if they had some way of increasing the density of dirt, stone, sand, etc. thereby increasing the mass of said earth and thus affecting the gravitational force it exerts. While possible in theory, I think it more likely that the earthbenders use magnetism to in some cases mimic, in others defy gravity.



And what Legion is saying is that in his opinion such should destroy the plant as most plants' cellulose is much to rigid to survive all the twisting. I would agree with him, but as we saw, the swamp bender found a way around it. My guess is that vines (and unless I missed something, vines are the only plants we have seen waterbenders bend) are flexible enough to bend rather than break. (Pun intended.)



And indeed he said exactly what you just stated: That firebenders don't control the comet, just use it to improve their firebending skill. I read back through the thread to see where the control thing came up. Here it is:




Copper for your thoughts.

Thank you Akailen, for reading my post so carefully before posting.
And yes, he was bending vines, which are extremely flexible. He
certainly should be able to manipulate them through their water
stores.
Something else to think about is this: Are there certain bending
abilities that only certain special benders are able to use? In
the episode where Katara discovered that she could heal using
water, the indication seems to be that only a few waterbenders
can. Also, Iroh commented that only a very few firebenders were
able to seperate the two energies needed for lightning attacks.
Is this because only a few possess the necessary skills, or it is
actually possible for only a few? I'm not saying that it's one or
the other, just speculating.
Another thing. In one episode, we see Prince Zuko sitting in his
cabin with several candles around, and he causes the flames
on them to burn more forcefully. Additionally, Avatar Roku was
seen lighting a tree onfire without actually shooting flames at
it, it simply lit(admittedly this was in a vision, but still). This has
already been suggested, but consider this a restatement. Can
firebenders manipulate heat levels in foreign objects without
actually touching them, or blowing flames at them?

We have to remember also that the writers of Avatar don't have
an infinite amount of scientific knowledge. Some things will be
a little off, simply for this fact. On things like this, we would
do well to assume that physics operate slightly differently in
the world of Avatar than they do on earth.

You are very much welcome.



My opinion on this is no. My reasoning is this: Katara was the only bender in the South Pole and so had no one to teach her about her abilities. When she discovered she could heal, I think her surprise had more to do with the fact that she did not know such was possible, rather than it being a rare gift. Furthermore, when she wanted to train under Master Pakku, he sent her away to learn healing with the other girls due to the Northern Tribe's patriarchal traditions. If healing was a rare gift, I doubt Pakku would have been so dismissive of it.
In regards to lightning bending, I think it is a very difficult move, (note that we never saw Iroh use it until Zuko asked him to teach it to him, and even bending prodigy Azula uses her regular blue fire way more often than lightning even when fighting Aang) yet still possible for any firebender to achieve provided they work hard enough at it, especially in regards to achieving the mental clarity necessary.



Firebenders can definitely control already existing fire, we saw that with the candles, as you stated, and with the performer in the fire village in "The Deserter" episode. As to whether or not they can control heat levels in objects without touching or blasting, I would have to say no. If they could, I would think that one of the benders would have caused Aang (or any of their enemies for that matter) to spontaneously combust by now. LOL

Copper for your thoughts.

I heard some stuff, and I just wanted to through in some new stuff.
I'm not sure what bending is based off, but considering the use of kung fu and chi, I would guess it was based off of Tai Chi. This would also explain why Ang can't make people's lungs explode and Katara can't rip blood out of people's bodys-- they all have chi. Their chi stops other people's chi from gripping the elements inside them.
Same reason firebenders havn't spontaneously cumbusted anyone yet.

I'm just waiting 'till they get to the fire nation and maybe check out a fire nation workshop. I want to see some metal bending!!

Come to think of it, there may be a possibility that airbenders can survive for quite some time in space. If they had enough energy to keep oxygen up there, it could be...

Well, what about breathing under water? As in, making a bubble of air and swimming in it? Also, do you think earthbenders could make plants grow, or flowers bloom? Technically it's from the earth..

Underwater? Yes. Growing plants? No. Just because they are from the Earth, doesn't mean they can bend it. Then they could bend humans, and processed metals.

they don't control gravity and they dont soften the earth. they can soften the earth but they don't because that would be a waste of energy. they use the energy of the jump to make a rock rise. like in the game of pool, you hit the q-ball just right at another ball and when it hits the q-ball is completely still while the other ball goes off in the same direction. thats why youll never see a earth bender hit the ground with out a rock flying up some were un less they decide to soften the earth which would make them sink into it instead.