Talk:Alchemy (Fullmetal Alchemist)

First header

What does the snake symbol on Al's shoulder mean? —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 71.58.155.109 (talk) 20:13, 21 December 2006 (UTC)

That symbol is known as the "Flamel" and apparently a symbol representing equivalent exchange. It is the same one on Ed's coat and was passed on to them by Izumi. It's like how in Dragonball Z, Goku wear the symbol of his master on his clothes.

Roy Mustang

How does Roy Mustang spead the Fire if he has nothing to combust?--Herb-Sewell 23:38, 2 January 2007 (UTC)

Through the air. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by Duodecahydra (talk • contribs) 23:33, 25 February 2007.

His gloves make a spark when he snaps his fingers.

Unnecessary

I don't think the colour part of the article is really necessary. It doesn't seem all that important to the nature of alchemy.

Additionally, the section of alchemic techniques looks somewhat... not so encyclopedic. It's just a list compiled of all the described alchemy techniques performed (which don't have actual names). If it can be improved, it can be left; other wise, I think it should be removed.

The alchemy techniques section should be reduced or removed. It has a lot of minor alchemists' techniques rather than just "Some Alchemy Techniques". 24.84.2.239 00:29, 2 December 2007 (UTC)

Some Alchemy Techniques

There are way too many techniques under "Some Alchemy Techniques". It looks as though someone has tried to included the descriptions of every possible alchemy technique that has appeared in the franchise.

I think that the section should be either reduced or removed, as advocated in the the "Unnecessary" section in the talk page. 24.84.2.239 (talk) 07:40, 29 January 2008 (UTC)

List

Shouldn't we have a list of alchemists in the series. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 142.163.206.251 (talk) 13:11, August 28, 2007 (UTC)

Hi, I was just wondering. Isn't it theoretically possible to conjure any kind of item out of thin air with alchemy? Couldn't you just break down the oxygen in your hand and then reconstruct it into a sword? Or does alchemy only let you shift matter like a metal wall into metal spikes? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 71.127.186.80 (talk) 19:15, 20 January 2008 (UTC)

This isn't exactly the place to be asking this; in the future, you should try a FMA forum or something.

But, to answer your question, alchemists can rearrange matter, but to make into something else entirely doesn't seem as possible. So the metal wall, assuming it's made entirely of iron, can be reconstructed into iron spikes, with a total mass equivalent to the iron wall. But making it into, say, a wall of gold probably isn't possible. If it is, the gold wall may actually have less mass than the iron wall as a result of equivalent exchange - you need to give up more of what you started with in order to change the element.

Oxygen can't be broken down and made into something because oxygen is the most basic form of the chemical element. Water, as a molecular compound, can be broken down (Mustang can do this and does so in the manga to create a giant bomb to kill Lust) since it's made of two elements: oxygen and hydrogen. So, as an alchemist, it's probably not likely for them to turn oxygen into a metal sword. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 24.84.2.239 (talk) 07:34, 29 January 2008 (UTC)