Could a tree build its bark out of Starlite-like material?
How could trees in an environment with 23% Oxygen (The atmosphere is identical to earth in all other respects.) grow bark with Starlite-like qualities?
Starlite is a material claimed to be able to withstand and insulate from extreme heat. It was invented by British amateur chemist and hairdresser Maurice Ward during the 1970s and 1980s, and received significant publicity after coverage of the material aired in 1990 on the BBC science and technology show Tomorrow's World. The name Starlite was coined by Ward's granddaughter Kimberly Ward, who died in 2011, revealed the composition of Starlite only to his closest relatives. The material is believed to be a type of intumescent material (a material that swells with heat exposure) and products with roughly similar properties are commercially available. The American company Thermashield, LLC claims to have acquired the rights to Starlite and replicated it.
Could it absorb the materials required from the ground?
Link to a video on Starlite --> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=10C5oQiUU_U
This post was sourced from https://worldbuilding.stackexchange.com/q/146383. It is licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.
1 answer
They do on Earth, so why not.
Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris)
[...] trees has evolved to make best use of the environment in which each species occurs. Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris) bark offers protection from fire [...]
Many Scots pines have very characteristic thick protective plates on their bark, and it is thought that in areas more prone to fire the bark may become locally adapted to offer extra protection.
Cork oak (Quercus suber)
[...] is a strong fire-resistant tree species thank to is very thick and insulating corky bark. In fact it is the only European tree with the capacity to re-sprout from epicormic buds in the canopy after an intense crown-fire
In the case of cork, the protective spongy material grows to a thickness of 3-4 cm (nearly 2 inches).
When charring, the outer surface reduces to soot - essentially a (beware commercial link) - soot-coating:
Formed from any combination of metals [metal oxides], soils, acids, dust and other chemicals
The high temperature this would need to oxidize/vapourize and the spongy insulation of the remaining cork beneath provide protection for the tree.
Harvesting bark (image below), increases the tree's vulnerability to fire hugely.
Attribution: ecology.info 2019
0 comment threads
0 comment threads