Chemical Balance

All recipes in GTNH that involve materials with chemical formulas follow strict rules called Chemical Balance. These rules were inspired by their equivalents in GTCE and other versions of GT5U. In the following these rules are explained.

The Goals of Chemical Balance

The main goal of chemical balance is to have internally consistent rules. Any recipe can be directly checked to satisfy these rules. And it automatically ensures this recipe is consistent with all others. Therefore, if all recipes in a closed setup obey these rules no material can be created from nothing. Of course if the setup has inputs like a tree farm, a cobble generator, or air compression, then materials can come from that.

What about realism? While the rules are inspired by real-life chemistry and physics, they do not strictly follow them. Consistency and simplicity are more important than realism in this regard. Aside from being too overwhelming for players, more realism is not feasible because there is no representation of density, all processes such as reactions and mixing are treated the same, and there are no arbitrary fractions of materials.

The Rules of Chemical Balance

Any recipe can be balanced by understanding the compounds of each component and then ensuring that the inputs and outputs are in total equal. In rare occasions it can make sense for the outputs to be deliberately less than the inputs. The components of a material are based on its chemical formula. To be precise, there are three rules:

• Solid Rule: Count the number of parts to get the total. If the solid material Testmaterial has the formula $A_{2}B_{3}C$ then 6 dusts of the Testmaterial are equivalent to 2 dusts of A, 3 dusts of B, and 1 dust of C. If any of A, B, or C are a fluid or gas then you get 1000L instead of a dust. So if only B is a fluid for example, then 6 dusts of Testmaterial are equivalent to 2 dusts of A, 3000L of B, and 1 dust of C.
• Fluid Rule: Fluids are mole based. If the fluid material Testmaterial has the formula $A_{2}B$ then 1000L of the Testmaterial are equivalent to 2000L of A and 1000L of B. If either A or B is a solid, switch out 1000L for a dust. (molten materials that have a solid version do not fall under the fluid rule but should be calculated in terms of the solid variant)
• Compound Rule: If there are brackets in the chemical formula then one has to apply the solid or fluid rule as if that bracket is just one material. If the solid material Testmaterial has the formula $A_{2}(complexformula)_{3}$ then 5 dusts of the Testmaterial are equivalent to 2 dusts of A, 3 dusts of the material with the complex formula.

Actual Examples

• Water: 1000L $H_{2}O$ are equivalent to 2000L of H and 1000L of O. (fluid rule)
• Tantalite: 9 dusts of Tantalite (formula $MnTa_{2}O_{6}$) are equivalent to 1 dust of Manganese, 2 dusts of Tantalum, and 6000L of Oxygen. (solid rule)
• Potin: 5 dusts of Potin (formula $Pb_{2}(SnCu_{3})_{2}Sn$) are equivalent to 2 dusts of Lead, 2 dusts of Bronze ($SnCu_{3}$), and 1 dust of Tin. (compound rule)