Scientists Create Petrified Wood

Petrified wood normally forms when the soft parts of wood leach away and are replaced by minerals. Scientists at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory have produced a man-made petrified wood in the lab. Wood was soaked with acid and a silica solution before being treated with high temperatures. The process took only a few days.

Researchers are interested in the properties of the ceramic that forms on the wooden template. The process has also been tried on rice and pollen grains, which have intricate structures with microchannels and fine pores. Ceramics produced by this method may have applications in filtering pollutants.

Links:

• Petrified wood created in the lab from the BBC News


• PNNL scientists can mineralize wood in record time from the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory

Posted by Eric La Fountaine at 3:19 PM on March 9, 2005