In reply to Jed Rothwell's message of Mon, 11 Dec 2006 17:32:16 -0500: Hi, [snip] >Thinking about the Case experiment . . . Does anyone know what >charcoal made from coconut shell might include? Mainly carbon, of >course, but what other elements? > >This source: > >http://www.fao.org/docrep/X0451E/X0451e11.htm > >Says that shells are: > >Lignin 36% >Cellulose 53%
These imply Hydrogen, Oxygen, and Carbon. However all organic material also contains Nitrogen and Phosphorous, and in small amount lots of other chemicals, e.g. Sodium, Potassium, Iron, Copper, Magnesium, Calcium, etc. etc. In short the only real way to find out is to do an analysis of the actual material used (the more so because it will to some extent depend on what was in the water when the tree was growing). However you may be "barking up the wrong tree". It may not be the actual substances that are present so much as the physical structure that is important. Regards, Robin van Spaandonk http://users.bigpond.net.au/rvanspaa/ Competition provides the motivation, Cooperation provides the means.
