Great, another reason to chop trees down.
Why wood pulp is world's new wonder material
41–50 of 55 posts
Re: Why wood pulp is world's new wonder material
#42Earlier quoted context omitted.
I'm kind of curious if this high tech paper can be folded like origami into interesting transparent and super strong creations?
Also: What about this article that popped up here on Y(HN)? http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/09/magazine/arlene-blums-crus... Can we print out foam-replacements for open source couches? Does the material have intrinsic "flame retardant" properties? (Probably not but who knows?)
Yeah that one got me planning how to replace all the mattresses and pillows in my house too !
Re: Why wood pulp is world's new wonder material
#43Just read PG's submarine essay for the first time a couple weeks ago [1], and have been on the lookout for a good example since then.
Bingo.
Re: Why wood pulp is world's new wonder material
#44Great, another reason to chop trees down.
A wood farming industry could be great for the environment, if done right. As long as you don't burn it, wood is a carbon sink, and as long as you keep replanting trees as you cut them down, you aren't really deforesting.
Basically, assuming this is produced sustainably, for every tonne of this magic wood pulp we produce we suck about 2/3rds of a tonne of CO2 out of the atmosphere. Win-win!
Re: Why wood pulp is world's new wonder material
#45NSF says $600 billion industry by 2020? Wow, I'd really like to see the details of how that projection was made.
This would be a good place to start: http://xkcd.com/605/
Re: Why wood pulp is world's new wonder material
#46Great, another reason to chop trees down.
A wood farming industry could be great for the environment, if done right. As long as you don't burn it, wood is a carbon sink, and as long as you keep replanting trees as you cut them down, you aren't really deforesting. Basically, assuming this is produced sustainably, for every tonne of this magic wood pulp we produce we suck about 2/3rds of a tonne of CO2 out of the atmosphere. Win-win!
> and as long as you keep replanting trees as you cut them down, you aren't really deforesting.
That may be so, but there are plenty of ways of cutting them down that still leaves the environment devastated. Poorly managed logging utterly ruins the eco-system of the forests.
You're right it can be good for the environment by creating additional economic incentives to manage forests, but only as long as they're managed well, and that's not at all a given.
Re: Why wood pulp is world's new wonder material
#47tl;dr: US Forestry Service: We have too many trees ! How can we sell more of them in a declining building market? The US Forestry service (certainly by Bill Bryson) is regarded as in thrall with loggers (builds roads for access to heavy equipment, sells trees at a loss acting as a subsidy provider etc.) So the idea that the great new industry, that involves chopping down trees, should be owned by US forestry service,…
The US Forestry service (certainly by Bill Bryson) is regarded as in thrall with loggers (builds roads for access to heavy equipment, sells trees at a loss acting as a subsidy provider etc.)
You seem surprised by this? The clue is the name: Forestry service - it exists to provide service to the forestry industry.
BUT this isn't necessarily a bad thing! A properly managed forestry industry is a good thing: it provides a cheap, 100% renewable resource, acts as a carbon sink, and acts as a substitute for non-replenishable resources (eg, unmanaged rainforest logging).
At the same time, there is a tension between the renewable aspects of forestry management and the idea of opening new areas for exploitation. That's where the issues are, not around building forestry roads etc.
Re: Why wood pulp is world's new wonder material
#48This brief article about current uses of wood pulp reminded me of something I read in a book back in the 1970s about a proposal to build an aircraft carrier during World War II (when there was a shortage of steel) out of a mixture of wood pulp and water ice. That material was called "pykrete," after the name of its inventor, Geoffrey Pyke. The shortage of steel was alleviated, and plenty of aircraft carriers construc…
While they didn't build battleships out of Pykrete they did build fuel tanks out of laminated paper and plastic. (An early form of fibre glass, using paper instead of glass.) ( http://www.ww2aircraft.net/forum/other-mechanical-systems-te... ) ( http://home.earthlink.net/~charlesfelton/id19.html )
Anyone who has been around a university physics lab will easily recognize linen (as well as paper) phenolics which are typically used as insulators and occasionally for mechanical parts. They used to be pretty popular for gaskets as well.
In general, paper based phenolics were used for tons of things, and if you have anything around that looks like hard plastic that was made before the 70s you've probably encountered it as well (buttons, knobs, etc...). The trade name Bakelite was a general term to denote a paper/linen/cotton based thermoplastics.
Re: Why wood pulp is world's new wonder material
#49Sad that hemp is overlooked, it's truly a wonder material. So much so that it sounds fake.
Re: Why wood pulp is world's new wonder material
#50Sad that hemp is overlooked, it's truly a wonder material. So much so that it sounds fake. http://www.informationdistillery.com/hemp.htm http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Emperor_Wears_No_Clothes
It isn't overlooked, follow the link to the technical report.
http://www.tappi.org/Hide/Events/2012-Nanotechnology-Confere...