Glowing Wood?!?

[Richard Stewart]

Hi, I was at camp during the summer, and there was some GLOWING WOOD in the dark. I was wondering if somebody can tell me what it is and if its turnable...If so, where can I buy this wood???:confused:


^^
How's that for grammar??:p

[Chris Barton]

This wood likely had some organism living on or in it. Many bacteria are biolumenesent (glow in the dark) as well as a few fungi.

[Rich Stewart]

Probably something that grows on the outside of the wood and would be turned away. That area has nothing but pine and oak in it.

[Andy Hoyt]

Richard - It was most likely firewood; and in the last stages of giving up its life for hot dogs and s'mores.

[Jeremiah Jordan]

Firewood glowing lol. Now if there was a way to stabilize that color and turn it, man that would be noice.

Jeremiah

[David Fried]

Rich,

In general, stay away from things that glow in the dark! :eek: Haven't you watched enough scary movies to know that??:D

Dave Fried

[David Wilson]

Richard
The glow is caused by a fungus (don't remember the name) which grows on royying wood. It glows when it gets wet. My only experience with it is from a church camp I attended near Brainerd MN. A group of us were walking back to the tents from a campfire one night after a rain and there was a 5' standing dead tree just off the path infested with it and looking like a gost. Was a little freaky. The next day we found the dead tree and all it took was a gentle push to topple it. I believe the wood has to by very rotten to support this fungus so it wouldn't be good for turning.

[Frank Chaffee]

Quote from Chris Barton:
“This wood likely had some organism living on or in it. Many bacteria are bioluminescent (glow in the dark) as well as a few fungi.”

Richard,
This guy obviously knows what he is talking about. Why I can tell from here what a fun guy he is!

Frank

[Frank Chaffee]

But more seriously Richard,
Like David Wilson, I saw glowing wood in northern Minnesota.

The name I learned for it was “foxfire”.

Frank

[Jeremiah Jordan]

The name I learned for it was “foxfire”.Frank

I just did a google on foxfire wood, and I second the motion that Frank made. What would be very interesting if this rotting wood to be stabalized heavy duty. But I am not sure if the bacteria/fungus would still produce a glowing effect over time. Or even at all. But definatly researchable.

Jeremiah

[Jack Wood]

Foxfire is the term for the bioluminescence (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bioluminescence) created by a fungus (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fungus) that can grow on decaying wood in the right conditions. It is often attributed to members of the genus (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genus) Armillaria (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Armillaria), though others are reported, and as many as 40 individual species have been identified.
Foxfire is indeed what that was. There was a really good magazine a few years back put out by high schoolers that had everything to do with "natural" things called Foxfire. As to stabilizing the wood so that you could use it and have it to display, well the glow comes from the bio-processes of the fungus so you would probably kill it of with anything you did. It needs lots of moisture, which in your house might be a bad thing, unless you placed it in a terrarium?

[Rob Bourgeois]

I just did a google on foxfire wood, and I second the motion that Frank made. What would be very interesting if this rotting wood to be stabalized heavy duty. But I am not sure if the bacteria/fungus would still produce a glowing effect over time. Or even at all. But definatly researchable.

Jeremiah


The bacteria/fungi won't glow unless they are alive. The glow is similar to fireflies and uses cellular produced energy to make the glow with specialized enzymes. I used a similar emzyme mixture in grad school to measure the amount of energy produced by cells exposed to toxins. Not an expert but I know a bit about the enzyme.

To make a glowing bowl...buy glow in the dark paint (its almost clear)or see if the Russians are selling any from the Chernobyl area ;):eek:

[Jeremiah Jordan]

The bacteria/fungi won't glow unless they are alive. The glow is similar to fireflies and uses cellular produced energy to make the glow with specialized enzymes.

Thats what I was thinking Rob. Oh well there goes that turning idea.

Jeremiah

[Kurt Forbes]

you guys beat me to it :)

I have seen alot of foxfire growing up in the south.

[Curt Fuller]

You didn't by any chance gather mushrooms for dinner the same night you saw the glowing wood?

[Dennis Peacock]

I know!!!! I know!!!!!

It was a log from very near the nuclear power plant. Everything glows from around the nuclear power plant!!!!!:rolleyes: :D

[Harry Goodwin]

Years ago at Hart Boy scout reservation saw a lot of the stuff. Take it home like I did and the lights go out. Harry

[Frank Chaffee]

Richard,
Perhaps you should contact Rob Bourgeois for direction here, as he understands some of the related chemical processes that cause this impressive glowing of wood.

If you assign importance to a question you have you may find yourself noticing helpful information. Yes, even in this age of information overload, what you need may appear in bold type.

Rob suggests that the bacteria/fungi must be alive to produce this bioluminescence. I imagine that there must be food/media for this bacteria/fungi to eat or transform. The foxfire wood I remember seeing was in a state of decay, and therefore rather porous and light in weight.

Now keeping in mind that I am a neither chemist nor engineer, but have thought both inside and outside the vessel, consider this, and feel free to use my wacky thoughts in any way or discard them as irrelevant:

A bowl turned from a relatively porous wood and durably sealed both inside and out, possibly vented at its upper lip.

This bowl constructed with a male or female cylindrical base and sealed to a holding base via “O” rings.

Interlock of the bowl and mating base applied by vacuum or mechanical means.

The mating base supplying required media and oxygen to maintain bioluminescent activity.

The infusion of the media into the bowl to occur by any or any combination of the following means:

Capillary action.

Any of a number of means of manually applied force including self regulating means such as gravity, vacuum, pressure from pressurized gas cylinder or other means.

But as you can see, I am of old school thought, and haven’t followed developments in nanotechnology closely enuf.

Have fun with whatever you do Richard,
Frank