[Archmed] aka "a_plutonium" wrote
in message ...

[Archmed]
I did not see mercury on that list and since coal power stations are notorious for
emitting mercury into the air, I wonder how much mercury is in bark of trees.

[hanson]
Not too many plants do store Hg till they wilt. HgMe2 is
volatile. The main acquisition of Hg into coal comes during
the wet bog phase via sequestering/chelating of Hg by humic
acids from mineral leeching over LONG periods of time.
These organic Hg compounds then become/evolve into
molecules of increasingly more hydrophobic nature as the
coalfaction process continues... Hence they/Hg ends up
highly enriched in anthracite.

[Archmed]
But I know some tree species evolved into a fire resistant bark in order to live
in fire prone regions, so I wonder what chemical it is that gives them the best
fire resistance. Is it potassium and salts? Archimedes Plutonium

[hanson]
It's not so much the chemicals as it's the structure of the bark
that gives the fire resistance. .. And as far as the chemicals,
apparently everybody except you knows that, it is these
Group V elememts here that do the main assistance in breaking
ignition sequence chain events on the molecular level....
Farooq W
P2O5 12.87
As2O5 1.9