Sorry if this question has been asked before but I wanna go into detail with it.

Firebenders control fire, WaterBenders control water, etc.

So a firebender and a earthbender are surrounded by LAVA. Who controls it? a Earthbender and a waterbender are surrounded by MUD. who controls it? what I mean is when the elements mix, (duststorm, thunderstorm, lava, mud, etc) who do you think gains the most control/avantage?

the only thing I have to go on is in SoTFN(2) when katara is bending that dirt/water (whatever they called it) she can barely hold it back, but then toph comes to help and by earthbending she more than doubles they're ability to "back up the drill " with dirt/water. Seeing as Toph is a better earthbender than Katara, this could be the reason she's able to be more effective, however, it could be that earthbenders control mud better than waterbenders. that's just my pondering, whatcha think? ps: Jin, Iroh, Koph pwn
PPS: Poof!

I think the idea was that Katara and Toph were just bending their elements seperately. In the case of magma, my assumption would be that the firebenders would control the viscocity of the lava and it's destructive immoliation (by changing it's temperature), while the earthbenders would control the exact actions taken by the lava (what shape it's in, where it's moving, etc.). Possibly, in Book 1: Water: "The Fortuneteller", the earthbenders simply were unable to move the staggering amounts of lava, and simply chose to redirect it by moving significantly smaller amounts of dirt. However, this is a question which should be posted in the "Ask a Question, Get an Answer" thread. Please read the rules of the forum, I know I've made the same mistake as you.

A earth bender can bend mud because it has dirt in it. The thicker the mud the easier to bend it for a earth bender, if the mud is really watered down then a water bender would have the advantage. As for lava, a earth bender would have the advantage being lava has rocks in it, but Avatar Roku bends fire. I guess mud/lava could be a middle ground, meaning two kinds of benders can do it but with either no real advantage or alittle better then the other depending on the bender.

Lava seems more closely correlated with fire than EArth. Roku, who seems to favor fire, what with being the fire avatar and all made his fire temple on top of an active magma pocket. The nameless fire avatar shown in the avatar state was bending volcanic lava.

EDIT:???? if you think about it, fire is the heat based event that is spawned off a liquid like oil or a solid like wood.?? Heated rock would probably fall more into fire than into earth, just like plasmatic gas doesn't fall into air.

On The Fourtune Teller, Aang blew the lava away by airbending it and blowing it away. That's my opinion.

I'm more curious about the sandbenders. They're bending sand?!? Sand isn't an element, so I wonder what it is exactly that they are bending. Are they earthbenders who learned a specific style of earthbending, like the swamp guy who specialized in bending the water in plant vines? Or are they airbenders, like Aang, since air kicks up a lot of dust and makes it look like they're bending the sand? That seems logical considering they use those funny boat/sail things to travel. Or, are they a mixture of both? (which would raise questions that're probably trying to read too much into the show, such as "Is the Avatar the only person able to bend more than one element?")

Also, are there really such things as metal benders (allusions to in "Imprisoned" and "The Drill")

sand is simply ground rock or quartz

My head hurts!

Ok see what you all are saying is that Avatar Rhoku bended the lava.See lava is both earth and fire and depending on how much more heat or earth is in it the better the earth or firebender is able to bend it.But with an Avatar,well hes the Avatar.He would be able to bend it.

The sand benders are probibly bending earth only its sand.As in they are earthbenders.

Ok so if earthbenders bended lava on the show people would get mad.Do you guys agree?

I am sure a earth bender could bend lava, being lava is just molten rock. But I dont think a earth bender would be very effective at it due to its viscosity. A fire bender could bend the heat part of it I guess and move the rock also.

There could be inbetween bending here.

Water/Earth=mud

Fire/Earth=lava

Air/Water=clouds

You guys are thinking a bit too deeply on the issue.

Lava is fired based because it's very hot and lethal, like fire and lightning. So its fire

Clouds and vapor are water based, so its Water.

Mud is wet dirt, so its under Earth.

It's simple. There's no deep thought in it.