965: Elements

2025-06-26T15:27:15Z

2601:300:4083:1C70:FAE6:B5CB:62D0:BF94: contrary to popular belief killing litvinenko was not polonium's side hustle

{{comic
| number = 965
| date = October 17, 2011
| title = Elements
| image = elements.png
| titletext = Of all the nations, the armies of the ununoctium-benders are probably the least intimidating. The xenon-benders come close, but their flickery signs are at least effective for propaganda.
}}

==Explanation==
In the popular children's TV show ''{{w|Avatar: The Last Airbender}}'', the four nations that inhabit the world can each telekinetically control ("bend") one of the four classical elements: water, earth, fire and air. One person, the avatar, can control all four elements and is markedly more powerful than any other character. {{w|Dmitri Mendeleev}} is the creator of the modern periodic table, which categorizes the 118+ atomic elements by their atomic number.

The comic is comparing the control over more magical power with more practical, "science-y" power. Fire, boulders, and storms may be more impressive visually, but science has proven time and again that "boring" can have very practical, very deadly applications. Additionally, while the advantages of controlling the four alchemical elements are mostly physical and visible (characters in the show most often use their powers to push, throw, or create barriers), the phenomena related to Mendeleev's elements and his research include subatomic particle interactions. One power the depicted Mendeleev has that the Avatar definitely does not have is control over radioactive elements, and this is the subtle, slow-acting power he demonstrates.

The powers of the Avatar's world, moreover, generally require actual contact with the relevent element (or a material that is sufficiently composed within its sphere). An Earthbender typically cannot do anything to manipulate rock or soil without touching some connected part of it, and cannot do anything if suspended in the air or (until they can learn to manipulate any of the "earth impurities" within it) restrained and enclosed by metal. Firebenders generally learn to make use of their own bodyheat, in a manner that seems initially inconsistent with the other bending disciplines but is hand-waved (in either sense) to be actually very effective, insofar as waterbending significant effects only using one's own bodily moisture is a far less prolific occurence.

With this in mind, manipulating and coercing a particular element does not imply the ability to generate it from nothing. Mendeleev, therefore, should not be expected to spontaneously create any given rare element from nowhere, and (if true to the same philosophy, with the addition of modern scientific understanding of the elements) must therefore be either identifying and concentrating extremely small trace quantities already within reach (in order to weaponise the substance) or somehow be able to use his mastery of all elements to induce transmutation (via established fission or fusion processes from other types of atom under his full control).

{{w|Polonium}} gained a level of notoriety as it was the kind of poison used to kill Russian dissident {{w|Alexander Litvinenko}}.

The title text talks about power levels of the elements if each element had a controlling nation as per the TV show. Ununoctium (1-1-8-ium) was the placeholder name for {{w|oganesson}}, the 118th element. It did not officially gain its permanent name until late 2016, 5 years after this comic was released. Oganesson, the heaviest element that has been created, has the shortest life before it decays into other elements, with a half-life of less than a millisecond. {{w|Xenon}}, a noble gas like oganesson, has few practical applications, but it is sometimes used in "neon" signs.

==Transcript==
:[Aang the Avatar and Dmitri Mendeleev stand in opposition to each other. Aang wields all 4 classical elements: Water, Fire, Earth, and Air.]
:Aang: I'm the avatar, master of all 4 elements!
:Mendeleev: Really? I'm Mendeleev, master of all 118+.
:''swoosh''
:Mendeleev: That was polonium-bending. You probably didn't feel anything, but the symptoms of radiation poisoning will set in shortly.

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics with color]]
[[Category:Comics featuring real people]]
[[Category:Chemistry]]
[[Category:Periodic table]]

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965: Elements