this post was submitted on 25 Aug 2026
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No Stupid Questions
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There is no such thing as a Stupid Question!
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Couldn't you technically synthesize anything from anything as long as you have all the molecules and don't care about yield or cost? Trivially, all organic compounds can be broken down into methane, and then reformed into whatever you want. Polystyrene is all carbon though, so you'll still need a source of nitrogen to get meth.
It's been over a decade since I've taken orgchem, so I don't know if I'm remembering this stuff correctly.
Better yet, everything is just protons, neutrons and electrons. Create fission to break all those bonds, rearrange them, create fusion to recreate the bonds, bang you got anything from anything else.
You had me at bang!
Good because likely you won't be able to bang after smoking crack
BANG!