Is this possible ?

[tom_e]

Got to admit i laughed

EDIT: either not many people read it the way you meant it and just browsed over it or i'm just easily amused? Most likely the latter i guess.

It raised a smile over here, but then again I've been stuck inside for the last few days finishing off some work so anything is amusing

 

[Philtor]

Is this possible in any way ?

To break down and item into its smallest elements and display them all as individual items / molecules
For instance, a slice of bread
Can you get all the ingredients that make bread, and break each one down bit by bit, giving you individual elements of each singular ingredient.
So instead of having say 5 parts that make bread, after each of the 5 were broken down you would have 50 or 60

Are you smoking something?

 

[V4NT0M]

1) Read 'ingredients' on bread packaging.
2) Google them.
3) ??????
4) Profit.

 

[Sho]

o.O

 

[TheCenturion]

So instead of having say 5 parts that make bread, after each of the 5 were broken down you would have 50 or 60

You would have LOADS more. Imagine a number with 23 0's after it, that's the minimum number that you'd have

 

[Vonhelmet]

You would have LOADS more. Imagine a number with 23 0's after it, that's the minimum number that you'd have

The minimum? No reason why that would be a minimum. I don't know how many moles make up a loaf of bread.

 

[TheCenturion]

The minimum? No reason why that would be a minimum. I don't know how many moles make up a loaf of bread.

But you know that a loaf of bread weighs a fair bit right? Even if there was only 2g of carbon, that'd fulfill the criteria

 

[Philtor]

1) Infiltrate CERN complex.

2) Power up Large Hadron Collider.

That's assuming you can get it to work. lol! Sure it's broken down a few times.

 

[Vonhelmet]

But you know that a loaf of bread weighs a fair bit right? Even if there was only 2g of carbon, that'd fulfill the criteria

Yeah, true. I nearly added another sentence saying if it was a tiny enough crumb then it could easily have less than that amount of molecules/atoms.

 

[deusexlumina]

Salt is made of sodium and chlorine, not chloride.

The answer is that in some cases it's possible, but likely not in this case. Bread is largely starch, which is a glucose chain that consists of hydrogen carbon and oxygen molecules. To break it down you'd need a catalyst - for example amylase (found in saliva) and that would give you glucose molecules. To break down glucose you'd then have to provide heat, which would cause it to decompose leaving more basic compounds. After this point you'd have trouble, you'd likely need very powerful magnetic fields/ maybe use electrolysis. Salt is insanely difficult to seperate, intact I don't think you could do it and actually have the viewable seperate elements.

 

[Yosiah]

There exists the possibility that you may creat a Hovis induced Singularity which will wipe out the Earth. Alternatively you may simply create Hovis "Best of Both"

lol

 

[p4radox]

Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy

Although it wouldn't be quite as simple as sticking a slice of bread in a machine.

 

["andy"]

The chemical process of making bread is irreversible. Baking the bread mix changes the molecular structure of the ingredients.

is this how they talk in the hood thesedays?

 

[KnightsWhoSayNi]

Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy

Although it wouldn't be quite as simple as sticking a slice of bread in a machine.

NMR does not break things down it merely shows what compounds are present in a sample by detecting the absorbtion of radiation at certain wavelenghts. This is not what the OP has asked.

OP, yes it is possible but would be a long labourious task to break bread down to its elements.

 

[Vonhelmet]

Salt is insanely difficult to seperate, intact I don't think you could do it and actually have the viewable seperate elements.

I thought you could use electrolysis for that?

 

[Crowort]

Does it have to be broken down? Could we just work out what is in it then just weight out the atoms to match (yes this isn't that easy either likely) but I'd say less different than braking it all down.

 

[Deadbeat]

I thought you could use electrolysis for that?

Electrolysis woul work fine, and you'd easily end up with visible compounds. Quoted poster is a little out of touch with 19th century science, though.

 

[mrk]

That's assuming you can get it to work. lol! Sure it's broken down a few times.

I don't know when you last checked the sci-news pages but CERN has been smashing pasticles for quite some time now.

 

[SexyGreyFox]

CERN has been smashing pasticles

Sig worthy