Talk:Firebending/@comment-75.194.18.96-20120311025002/@comment-4521003-20120411044501

That is an inaccurate comparison. What you describe is alchemy, and that's a whole different ballgame. It's the transmutation of one substance into another substance made of completely different atoms. Bending isn't alchemy. Bending is the manipulation of what is already there. No matter what, the water molecules stay water molecules, air stays air, earth stays earth, and fire stays fire. One can rearrange the structure of molecules with bending, but not the molecules themselves.