Re: What elements make up wood?
Date: Mon Nov 16 10:57:47 1998
Posted By: Eric Biddinger, Grad Student, Horticulture, Penn State University
Area of science: Chemistry
ID: 911083009.ChMessage:
Wood is made up of a wide variety of elements. As you could probably
guess, some of the elements are found in more abundance than others.
I answered a question about the elements found in an orange some time ago.
I ask you to look at that page for more information on the amounts of
elements found.
There are certain elements which are required for plant growth.
Other elements are not needed, but are taken up and stored in the
cells. The amounts of the trace elements will depend on the amount
found in the soil.
Additionally, the amounts some of these are very, very small (less
than 0.00005% by weight).
Here is a quick list of possible elements. Without analysis, there
is no way to be sure that all of these elements will be found in a
particular wood sample and that other elements will not be
present.
* - an essential element for plant growth.
(The following are all trace elements)
*Manganese, *Copper, Titanium, Nickel, Vanadium, Chromium, Zirconium,
*Molybdenum, Tin, *Zinc, *Chlorine, Cobalt, Barium, Silver, and
Bismuth.
Thanks for the question!
Eric J. Biddinger
Grad Student - Department of Horticulture
Penn State University ejb190@psu.edu