Join me on Wren and start offsetting your carbon footprint today! We'll protect 5 extra acres of rainforest for the first 100 people who sign up! www.wren.co/join/xylafoxlin What did you think of my first voyage into the world of organic chemistry? I edited this comment out of the video since it broke the flow, but I was quite disappointed at the paper for being what I believe is unreplicatable. I am not an academic, but I don't think it was written such that someone could follow the measly Fabrication paragraph and achieve clear wood without adding a significant amount of their own chemistry knowledge. What do you think? I've linked the full paper in the description. PS. I am SO CLOSE to 100k! I think I'll do a celebratory livestream that week so be sure to keep that bell turned on so you don't miss it!
we worked with this before. Replacing glass with chemicals and some fibers just to say it is "transparent wood" and not "Nasty Resin with wood fibers" is not only totally wrong, but we cannot find world for it. As a fun project, yes. But anything else, no! no way.
Your animated o-chem structure diagram with the mask wearing xylene molecule made my evening. Thanks for rep'ing authentic dork on the UA-cams Xyla. 👩🔬
I was thinking of your video while watching Xylas video. I would be interested in how the paper actually did it or if there was some funny science documentation going on there.
My son tried to do this exact experiment for his science fair project and he got stuck on the epoxy part. Seeing this video was so eye opening and we’ve realized there are no details in that paper!!!! Thank you Xyla!
Rule number 1 is never trust a paper. EVER. I've honestly lost count how many I've tried to replicate that either don't work or they left out some key detail or they were waaaaaaay over generous with how easy the method is. My lab notebook usually looks insane from all the stuff crossed out and rewritten after trying protocols dozens of times until they work. What was supposed to be a simple protocol for getting DNA into yeast took like... a year? to get it working. Totally know the feeling of being unable to sleep until I solve a problem. Was dangerous having a lab in my house for a while cause it was hard to not work. Good on you for sticking with it till the end. The end result looked great! Congrats!
@@baikia777 There are a lot of factors, sometimes the process depends on things the original researchers didn't realize were important or not even measured, some labs don't want to give away all the details since that more readily enables people to do the same thing and possibly scoop you on future papers, journal articles tend to be concise and even in the supplemental you might not extensively document all the details, usually the primary experimental people write the methods and don't have someone try to follow them as written to make sure they work so you might have missed something or just oversimplified since you are so familiar with it. In the end its quite frustrating to try to replicate other people's papers even when you are working in a well funded and equipped lab you still can really struggle getting stuff to work.
But, isn't that the scientific process? Other people present results, and other people try to replicate, as long as the process continues the more closer to the truth we get. One paper isn't the end all be all truth, just as one test of a paper that contradict it isn't.
@@janikarkkainen3904 this almost... Never happens the way its "supposed too". Most pier review is just "does this make sense". For reasons of cost, time, equipment etc. If you do a test on a large hadron collider nobody outside your lab can replicate it. If you make clear wood it's not that scientifically important so nobody tries to replicate it.
It's always worth reaching out to the paper's author(s) wherever possible. Papers are intended to focus on the parts most relevant to the intended audience, which may not be "someone trying to replicate the methodology."
When your vacuum chamber or pressure chamber is too large, consider filling it most of the way with non-porous, incompressable material like rocks just to take up much of the volume.
The idea that this is process could be more "environmentally friendly" than standard glass is hilarious. Silica is one of the most abundant resources on the planet, and all you require is heat to create glass. This requires a bunch of petroleum-based distillates (plastic epoxy) and chemicals that are harmful. That being said, it's pretty cool.
Yeah, I though the same. I mean, if I have to use resin for this, why even bother with the wood? (honest question because I never worked with resin, does the wood in there provide something?)
As a science student, I will put anything on my report if it sounds even remotely feasible just to satisfy the “what does this paper bring to the area that’s new fun and fresh” criteria lmao. But also, I heard that we were running low on the specific type needed to make glass? Probably not a problem anytime soon but if we don’t up our recycling game it might be. Don’t have any references and can’t remember where I heard it from though, so it’s entirely possible I dreamed the whole thing up
Honestly, watching a process unfold with failure and re-evaluation is much more instructive than seeing a one off successful run. This sort of video teaches people who to go about things- anything, it doesn't matter. Writing a novel, for example. You work yourself into an untenable position, you back up and evaluate and try something new. You keep working until you get success or you understand why success isn't possible. Then, for the rest of your life, you KNOW that thing.
@@xylafoxlin did you see AvE's video on transparent wood before starting this project? IIRC he had some unique insights into his own failings at making it.
I'm an old woodturner and just thought you might want to try this with Red Oak as it is known for being very porous (so much so you can blow air through the end grain). Also orienting this so you had a flat section of end grain would really help with removing bubbles and saturating with epoxy. Just my thoughts I have no idea if they would help and if you want to give it another shot.
Seems like using end-grain would kind of defeat the purpose. The only reason the wood is in there is to improve the tensile strength of the resin (this is really just wood-reinforced resin, not transparent wood), and a slab of end-grain isn't going to add much tensile strength.
Evan and Katelyn had similar frustrations when they tried to do this project. I was just watching their video the other day & remember seeing their several failed attempts before they got it.
The relentless problem solving, particularly with a modest array of tools/resources, is probably the biggest gift in this video. Not to mention the introduction to organic chemistry! Fantastic effort, remarkable result, well put together!
Helpful tip: when you said your pressure pot was too large for pulling a good vacuum using your pump, you just need to fill the unneeded space in the pressure pot with something. Bricks, marbles, packed greensand, whatever it takes.
Good suggestion... I'd be paranoid about unexpected materials changing the experiment, but that probably shows how much I don't know about these processes.
"With something" is much too non-specific. Many materials will off-gas when exposed to vacuum, which would make drawing a vacuum even *more* difficult.
@@JosephHarner "with something" is exactly as specific as it needs to be. All makers are not privy to perfect solutions at any given time and they can use their own judgment to make their choice of what to use.
0:28 - "alternative for eco-friendly windows" - uses a shipload of chemical stuff and the energy consumption of a small town to finally make a little square covered in chemical waste :D
@@JD-wf2hu it is accurate. Solve is the right word. Once the process is narrowed down any difficulty derived from not knowing what works best is gone. As well as the reduction of cost and materials.
@@orielsy reduction doesn't equal elimination. To 'solve' the issue of vast energy costs and the use of highly toxic chemicals. They would need to be entirely removed. So no, solve isn't the right word.
17:30 "Look! What you don't see is a transparent piece of wood." Also, this was really interesting, and the trial and error approach made for an engaging story.
Wow! So impressed, it’s the best transparent wood attempt I’ve seen AND I understand the science more so THANK YOU! Can we talk about how cute your neighbours dog is?!
I LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE your happiness. If anyone ever hates on you for that or calls you “inauthentic” please remember... jealousy makes people say terrible things.
In an effort to create eco friendly windows one car, an apartment, and two garages were turned into Super Fund Hazardous waste clean up sites, I would call this experiment a resounding success
What “eco friendly alternative” would be complete without hypocrisy, proprietary methodology, and a thinly veiled cash grab that is in the long run demonstrably worse for the environment.
I think it is great that you let everyone see all the times your experiments do not work out as planned. That is an invaluable way you learn. As an inventor it is part of my daily process. It gets easier after a while. You have to venture out far from the ordinary to create anything unique which sets one up for small setbacks on the way to successful projects. But it makes the successful outcomes all the more special. It always brings me a smile when I see a new video by you!!! Keep up the incredible videos!!
Glad you didn't quit, even though I don't know the point of encasing wood in epoxy except to demonstrate you can make transparent wood. So be it, great channel. I learned some organic chemistry along the way, and that was very useful. Thank you!
I love the UA-cam Peer Review Process... I'm not sure the original paper's authors would feel quite so positive about the comments, but the fact that you're able to reproduce and refine their work _for everyone to see_ is brilliant!
soooo, if I understand that correctly: you break away parts of the wood molecules and replace it with clear epoxy which then is sort of transparent... so basically, you could as well just use 100% epoxy in a mold... where is the environmental friendly innovation there?! still a cool project :)
Good point. Only thing I can think of is that you a) save a bit of epoxy and b) maybe enhance structural stability compared to an epoxy-only approach. Other than that, you are using extremely toxic chemicals like toluene or xylene. I guess they thought it's a cool idea, but since nowadays you always need an application to get funding, most of the time people just "invent" an application. Research got way too commercialized, meaning you have better chances of funding if you present a marketable product rather than "just" a new piece of knowledge. Instead of the chemicals, I would probably try to use fungal enzymes for breaking up the lignin. May take a bit longer, but you don't need toxic chemicals for it and with the right enzyme mix you might be able to break it up far enough so you can use non-aromatic solvents for washing out the digested chromophores. But I studied molecular biotech, so of course my approach would be a bit different than hers (also genetic engineering and enzyme purification is not suuuuper feasible to do in a garage ;)).
@@floriannadler very well put. two things: 1. if only all conversations on youtube would be that nice and informative 2. I would love seeing that approach - if not already tried out - done in a similar video... well, not in the garage obviously :D
@@thetomster7625 1. Thank you :) guess chances of having a nice and informative conversation are slightly higher under a scientific video, simply attracts a more objective crowd I'd say. 2. A quick google scholar search didn't reveal anything in that direction, most research on lignin depolymerization focuses on the subsequent use of the breakdown products, since lignin is the worlds most abundant aromatic compound (I'll try to put a link to this review here, maybe you'll find it interesting: biotechnologyforbiofuels.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s13068-021-01934-w).
Such a great 'scientific method' adventure! As an old audio/broadcast electronic nerd, I've had plenty of 'bad path' turnarounds---but eventually solved the issue. I am thankful audio doesn't usually require epoxy. Or breathing masks! Hats off to you for all that work!
"Eco friendly windows in the future" Sure. Substitute the process of melting minerals with a whole barrage of dubious chemicals. More to the point: Why not skip the whole "wood" thing and just cast epoxy panes? (Which probably still have a way larger ecological footprint than mineral glass) SMH It sure was fun to attempt it, though.
thank you for posting this first i was just about to to the same in the end this is still just single use plastic with some traces of wood byproduct as a filler. glass is endlessly recyclable, chemically inert and brakes back down into sand in the end. so its better for the environment in every possible way you can mesure.
@@dexdrako "glass is endlessly recyclable (not), chemically inert (isn't) and brakes back down into sand in the end (doesn't). so its better for the environment in every possible way you can mesure." No! But it has some very good aspects, despite it's faults. btw there is no such 'thing' as glass, glassiness is a property; even plastics and metals can be 'glassy'.
Well the idea is that the end product is stronger than just the epoxy, and that bit does work. I'm not sure how the manufcacture and use of the chemicals used for this compare to making glass (I'd expect significant energy usage due to the temperatures involved). Bit of a moot point since it doesn't work nearly well enough to go in windows or really anywhere else we care about being able to see things not pressed up against it of course.
Hi Xyla, I just watched your video and I did some vacuum casting myself. So what I was wondering is that they use is a vacuum bag (they push the epoxy in with 1atm of pressure), and you use a vacuum chamber (to get the air out of the wood). If I wanted to cast something without any air left in the end product (there were very fine air gaps in the things I cast), I first got rid of all the air via a vacuum chamber, covered everything in casting material and then let the air pressure push in the casting material. Better results maybe could be had, if you used a vacuum to pull out the air in the wood, add epoxy (arduino and steppers or something like that) and then put positive pressure on the whole thing in order to push the epoxy in all of the crevices.
saw the videos from NileRed a while back which really really surprised me that you tried that. not to talk down on you but Nile did chemistry in forever and really really struggled with the clear wood. Altho it didn't turn out quiiite as good as you envisioned, I really really think you did super well! Great job Xyla keep it up!
@@xylafoxlin Nigel gave up on transparent wood quicker than you did in his first video, even though it was his field of study. His version is more professional from it being his major and being a full time UA-camr longer. Would he be as determined with a electromechanical challenge as you were with this chemistry conundrum outside your field? Or perhaps him being on the full time UA-cam treadmill for so long might also be why he's so quick to drop a challenge and move on to the next project to keep the content flowing?
I think it'd be super fun and interesting to see a video of just you and NileRed basically talking about ideas for projects and brainstorming new ideas!
I'm not sure whether you are crazy or brilliant, but have decided it is both. Well done for the tenacity and enthusiasm in the face of so many setbacks. That is how progress is made. x
Your explanation at 10:57 is iconic. He’s like a little chemistry hamburglar. And your clear wood is AMAZING!! 🤯 One minute you’re downplaying your chemistry knowledge and the next you pull out a perfectly transparent block of wood. 🧊
@@xylafoxlin You should know that across town Bryan Cranston ran the same experiment and produced much thicker pieces of wood that were transparent. However they did have a bluish tint to them.
It was excellent of you to persist at this and to show your incremental failures and successes on this video. One thing I learned early on is that researchers, particularly students, are anxious to talk about their work to people who are interested. If you called the principal investigator at U. Maryland, I am certain he would be very happy to have you talk with his students and you will likely be able to hear all their stories of their own incremental failures and successes. Research papers are truly meant to contain the barest minimum of detail to the reader. I bet they would love to hear from you and they would benefit from it, too, even if you aren’t interested in further investigating this subject yourself.
considering that one of the main ones is literally banned in california and they all require serious PPE, I think I agree that they're definitely toxic.
IDK, it does take a lot of heat to create glass, so a lot of combustion. If the whole process is done in a sealed space and all the chemicals get reused, maybe it can be not that bad.
Not to make you stress more, but I wonder what balsa wood would do? Or whatever wood has the finest grains. Seems that the grain size is a huge portion of it. Also to anyone criticizing your energy and "happiness"... I say you are infectious and amazing! I love the energy. Pure joy and excitement of discovery. Too many people lose that and I hope you never do! Stay you, stay exited, stay wonderous! 😊
I will say, a woman who knows her way with tools and hardware is incredibly good to see. I feel there's a stigma in society against women being handy or interested in such things, and it's really a shame. Plus, your enthusiasm for these projects is really inspiring. Thanks for the great video!
The problem with modern academia is that they are so focused on possible patents that they obfuscate the process deliberately. It hurts the entire academic community as well as independent researchers
Sorry, but that's simply not true. Patenting something doesn't stop you from describing it perfectly. On the contrary, once it's patented you are free to disclose it, since it's already protected. And if you publish before patenting, you even get a grace period of one year after publication in which you can still file for a patent (in the US).
Cool "just because I can" project but considering the properties of the materials being used it has no advantage over glass or acrylic window material.
Three things that you might consider trying: First, end grain cut wood (but this will make it more brittle and harder to do). Consider vacuum cycling for the Xyline stage to get more of that process deeper. Lastly, You mention "Oak" wood; however, red oak and white oak are very different for porousness. If I recall, "red oak doesn't make good boats" because it is porous.
I watch and read a lot of horror, thrillers, crime stuff, but there was more tension and excitement here that in any Hollywood blockbuster. Wonderful to see it all come together.
I like how this went from "Maybe we can make environmentally friendly windows out of wood!" to "We're using an incredibly toxic mix of banned cancer-causing chemicals!" Love it.
As person who worked a lot in chem lab with low pressure systems and with epoxy as a hobby it made me smile every time you made mistake obvious to me and then found out, haha. In general evaporating all of the xylene or acetone should take longer than you leave them. You should also be wary of solvent vapours inside the pump as it can accumulate and dilute oil or foul the seals. We usually leave samples (much much smaller ones) in vacuum oven over night.
Thank you for not quitting in this (and other) adventures of the sciences and maths. Good job in your accomplishment in that way as well as your video production for us... 👍
I've seen at least one other video showing transparent wood using the same paper here on UA-cam. Your video, however, is so much more in depth. Explaining a lot more of the science behind the process and what each step in the process does. I also enjoyed your energy which made watching the science parts both interesting and fun. Well done and thank you. You've just gained a subscriber.
"eco friendly". Glass itself is "eco friendly", but there's more to it that just being transparent. Is it scratch resistant? Shatter proof? Will it hold up to rock? Branch? A bullet? This is neat, but no one would install it on their house.
@Steve Gracy Not really all the chemicals and epoxy made it way more environment unfriendly then glass. Yes glass needs a lot of energy but at least you can recycle it quit easy if it breaks and if it does not break it last for ever, there are church windows hundreds of years old
When trying to get those epoxy bubbles to pop you could use your heat gun, or a blow torch to pull the bubbles to the surface and out. (If you didn't already know that.) Alternatively you can put your total boat epoxy mixing cup in the original vacuum (pressure) pot and pull the bubbles out of the epoxy before you ever pour it.
Pre-pour degassing is pretty standard, not sure why she didn't do it... Also, using the universal solvent (DI water) to wash things inbeween these processes would help alot, much of the discoloration is just contaminates. Also the slower the cure time and the thinner the epoxy the better time you'll have with all the above. Not sure if total boat has anything that thin, but, water-thin epoxy does exist and this would be a great application for it.
C'mon, clear wood is easy. Get some wood, soak it in stuff for like some hours, call it names, dip it in resin or whatever, and wham. The wham is the important part.
This is probably the best video I've seen xD I mean I'm a very technical guy but still a video this long on such a topic filled with reputations would be seriously boring but I love how u kept me engaged and loving every bit of the content and I know everyone says it but so full of energy too! Wish you all the best for the future~
I'm so glad you love C-Thru things! I too, love C-Thru things, and wrote a story about featherless chickens and transparent cows, so I'm with you on the transparent wood! Or aluminum. I love C-Thru metals.
I suggest vacuum infusion in a bag. Seal the wood in a bag with flow mesh and affix two tubes. on opposite sides. One goes into a vat of degassed epoxy and one goes into your vacuum chamber. It'll suck the epoxy through like a straw and infiltrate all the empty spaces in the wood, without leaving a thick excess layer of resin.
As an organic/materials/green chemist I can 100% confirm that replicating literature procedures in your own lab is often a huge pain, and there's always an element of cookery and witchcraft to getting good results... that's part of what makes org chem fun, but also why so many of my colleagues have so little hair. The stories I could tell you about reactions that only work if there's a tiny bit of water in your solvent but not too much, and the original author got lucky and didn't mention any of that....
Nothing like repeated failure to make you an expert. Just stumbled on your video and I was on the edge of my seat. It was like a science drama film. Great work!
I've been following a few other people attempting the same process and yours is brilliantly detailed. Your eloquence and energy is inspiring. You've got a new subscriber.
Tenacity is what you need in science and engineering. Those who give up after a few failures achieve nothing. Of course this had very little practical use, but that isn't the point at all. Good job sticking with it. I think if you'd been able to use xylene from the start you'd have been less frustrated, but that wouldn't have been as useful an excercise in showing resilience. You set a great example for kids that are interested in achieving things.
Xyla, you created the wood version of frosted glass. Step 1, sand with increasingly fine grades of sandpaper, taking care to not get any skin oils on the wood. Think of it like preparing the surface of a flat lens :) good luck!
Really, though, this channel rocks because Xyla tries amazing things. Amazing things don't always work out, and therefore, if Xyla attempts something amazing, I (or we) should not be judgemental if something is less than stellar. Xlya's spirit is stellar, and that is what counts!
Join me on Wren and start offsetting your carbon footprint today! We'll protect 5 extra acres of rainforest for the first 100 people who sign up! www.wren.co/join/xylafoxlin
What did you think of my first voyage into the world of organic chemistry? I edited this comment out of the video since it broke the flow, but I was quite disappointed at the paper for being what I believe is unreplicatable. I am not an academic, but I don't think it was written such that someone could follow the measly Fabrication paragraph and achieve clear wood without adding a significant amount of their own chemistry knowledge. What do you think? I've linked the full paper in the description.
PS. I am SO CLOSE to 100k! I think I'll do a celebratory livestream that week so be sure to keep that bell turned on so you don't miss it!
Ok.. dis cool
we worked with this before. Replacing glass with chemicals and some fibers just to say it is "transparent wood" and not "Nasty Resin with wood fibers" is not only totally wrong, but we cannot find world for it.
As a fun project, yes. But anything else, no! no way.
little tip for quicker vacuuming vacuum chambers. Get some objects to help fill empty volumes in the chamber, and they should not off gas.
Your animated o-chem structure diagram with the mask wearing xylene molecule made my evening. Thanks for rep'ing authentic dork on the UA-cams Xyla. 👩🔬
I think you did better that NileRed and AvE. They both had problems and kind of got it working but they used end grain wood.
Well done 👍😃
Good job! It was fun to see your transparent wood adventure. It brought back some trauma 😢
I was just thinking when you were gonna comment.
We should unionize against transparent wood
hahaha, your struggle was epic!
Nice to see you here
I was thinking of your video while watching Xylas video. I would be interested in how the paper actually did it or if there was some funny science documentation going on there.
My son tried to do this exact experiment for his science fair project and he got stuck on the epoxy part. Seeing this video was so eye opening and we’ve realized there are no details in that paper!!!! Thank you Xyla!
Rule number 1 is never trust a paper. EVER. I've honestly lost count how many I've tried to replicate that either don't work or they left out some key detail or they were waaaaaaay over generous with how easy the method is. My lab notebook usually looks insane from all the stuff crossed out and rewritten after trying protocols dozens of times until they work. What was supposed to be a simple protocol for getting DNA into yeast took like... a year? to get it working. Totally know the feeling of being unable to sleep until I solve a problem. Was dangerous having a lab in my house for a while cause it was hard to not work. Good on you for sticking with it till the end. The end result looked great! Congrats!
So basically, most researchers are trolls?
@@baikia777 There are a lot of factors, sometimes the process depends on things the original researchers didn't realize were important or not even measured, some labs don't want to give away all the details since that more readily enables people to do the same thing and possibly scoop you on future papers, journal articles tend to be concise and even in the supplemental you might not extensively document all the details, usually the primary experimental people write the methods and don't have someone try to follow them as written to make sure they work so you might have missed something or just oversimplified since you are so familiar with it. In the end its quite frustrating to try to replicate other people's papers even when you are working in a well funded and equipped lab you still can really struggle getting stuff to work.
But, isn't that the scientific process? Other people present results, and other people try to replicate, as long as the process continues the more closer to the truth we get. One paper isn't the end all be all truth, just as one test of a paper that contradict it isn't.
@@janikarkkainen3904 this almost... Never happens the way its "supposed too". Most pier review is just "does this make sense". For reasons of cost, time, equipment etc. If you do a test on a large hadron collider nobody outside your lab can replicate it. If you make clear wood it's not that scientifically important so nobody tries to replicate it.
It's always worth reaching out to the paper's author(s) wherever possible. Papers are intended to focus on the parts most relevant to the intended audience, which may not be "someone trying to replicate the methodology."
When your vacuum chamber or pressure chamber is too large, consider filling it most of the way with non-porous, incompressable material like rocks just to take up much of the volume.
+
Congrats Xyla! Now make a whole canoe out of transparent wood 😈
NO!
You are no longer invited canoeing 😒
@@xylafoxlin holy shit it worked!
Whole canoe? How about a whole house?
@@xylafoxlin >>> How about _"transparent aluminum?"_ 😉
The idea that this is process could be more "environmentally friendly" than standard glass is hilarious. Silica is one of the most abundant resources on the planet, and all you require is heat to create glass. This requires a bunch of petroleum-based distillates (plastic epoxy) and chemicals that are harmful.
That being said, it's pretty cool.
Yeah, I though the same. I mean, if I have to use resin for this, why even bother with the wood? (honest question because I never worked with resin, does the wood in there provide something?)
As a science student, I will put anything on my report if it sounds even remotely feasible just to satisfy the “what does this paper bring to the area that’s new fun and fresh” criteria lmao. But also, I heard that we were running low on the specific type needed to make glass? Probably not a problem anytime soon but if we don’t up our recycling game it might be. Don’t have any references and can’t remember where I heard it from though, so it’s entirely possible I dreamed the whole thing up
Entirely this.
@@sirpoopdi3420 Not sure about glass, but we're using more sand for cement than the Earth is replacing.
@@hearmerant dang, didn’t know that, thanks for sharing
Xyla: you've finally met and recognized your evil twin sister, Xylene.
And they both ganged up and did terrible things to their cousin, Xylem.
haha
@@shoutykat and their other cousin, xylophone
@@MichaelHarto - That's what they use to communicate.
Xylene Foxlene
Honestly, watching a process unfold with failure and re-evaluation is much more instructive than seeing a one off successful run. This sort of video teaches people who to go about things- anything, it doesn't matter. Writing a novel, for example. You work yourself into an untenable position, you back up and evaluate and try something new. You keep working until you get success or you understand why success isn't possible. Then, for the rest of your life, you KNOW that thing.
Xyla: "This is gonna be easy!"
Me, having watched Nigel give himself ulcers over the course of several videos: "Ha"
👀
In my defense only one had come out when I did this 😅
@@xylafoxlin You thought of using other woods to get a better result. I have not seen that before.
@@xylafoxlin did you see AvE's video on transparent wood before starting this project? IIRC he had some unique insights into his own failings at making it.
@@h3yw00d now i just want to see all the youtubers collab on a huge transparent wood project
@@h3yw00d exactly, AvE did this years ago...
I'm an old woodturner and just thought you might want to try this with Red Oak as it is known for being very porous (so much so you can blow air through the end grain). Also orienting this so you had a flat section of end grain would really help with removing bubbles and saturating with epoxy. Just my thoughts I have no idea if they would help and if you want to give it another shot.
Yeah 4:45 actually shows how porous it really is
Seems like using end-grain would kind of defeat the purpose. The only reason the wood is in there is to improve the tensile strength of the resin (this is really just wood-reinforced resin, not transparent wood), and a slab of end-grain isn't going to add much tensile strength.
Such an awesome experiment and execution! The moment you saw that it became clear was so exciting!!!
Thanks so much! And thank you as always for all the project support 💜
Botal Toat! (21:21)
@@xylafoxlin You can always count on Botal Toat!!!
@@TotalBoat Totes!
"I forgot that Petco has pets".
The best line.
Evan and Katelyn had similar frustrations when they tried to do this project. I was just watching their video the other day & remember seeing their several failed attempts before they got it.
She's so wonderfull. Curious, full of joy, smarter than most combined with her smile. FANTASTIC
The relentless problem solving, particularly with a modest array of tools/resources, is probably the biggest gift in this video. Not to mention the introduction to organic chemistry! Fantastic effort, remarkable result, well put together!
"Nothing to shake a stick at" that's INCREDIBLE! FANTASTIC!
I admire your determination to solve the problems and stay with it to get the result. It's a great example for young people to see. Thank you Xyla!
Helpful tip: when you said your pressure pot was too large for pulling a good vacuum using your pump, you just need to fill the unneeded space in the pressure pot with something. Bricks, marbles, packed greensand, whatever it takes.
Good suggestion... I'd be paranoid about unexpected materials changing the experiment, but that probably shows how much I don't know about these processes.
"With something" is much too non-specific. Many materials will off-gas when exposed to vacuum, which would make drawing a vacuum even *more* difficult.
@@JosephHarner "with something" is exactly as specific as it needs to be. All makers are not privy to perfect solutions at any given time and they can use their own judgment to make their choice of what to use.
0:28 - "alternative for eco-friendly windows" - uses a shipload of chemical stuff and the energy consumption of a small town to finally make a little square covered in chemical waste :D
Economy of scale would solve most of these, the problem really is epoxy, it's not really eco-friendly anymore
@@0Arcoverde solve is a very strong word.
@@JD-wf2hu it is accurate. Solve is the right word. Once the process is narrowed down any difficulty derived from not knowing what works best is gone. As well as the reduction of cost and materials.
@@orielsy reduction doesn't equal elimination. To 'solve' the issue of vast energy costs and the use of highly toxic chemicals. They would need to be entirely removed. So no, solve isn't the right word.
These are the types of videos that are worth watching all the way through without skipping
17:30 "Look! What you don't see is a transparent piece of wood."
Also, this was really interesting, and the trial and error approach made for an engaging story.
Wow! So impressed, it’s the best transparent wood attempt I’ve seen AND I understand the science more so THANK YOU! Can we talk about how cute your neighbours dog is?!
I love Darcy more than anything 😭😍
@@xylafoxlin When you first showed Darcy, I thought it was Simone's dog Scraps, until I counted the legs.
After seeing the NileRed video, the intro was exactly what I was expecting. Making clear wood is like some sort of magic youtube maker trap!
Died at the toluene solvent animation.
Omg I'm no animator but I was SO PROUD of that 😂😂😂
@@xylafoxlin It was pretty excellent and you should be proud
I LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE your happiness. If anyone ever hates on you for that or calls you “inauthentic” please remember...
jealousy makes people say terrible things.
In an effort to create eco friendly windows one car, an apartment, and two garages were turned into Super Fund Hazardous waste clean up sites, I would call this experiment a resounding success
What “eco friendly alternative” would be complete without hypocrisy, proprietary methodology, and a thinly veiled cash grab that is in the long run demonstrably worse for the environment.
Glass is eco friendlier than epoxy
@@rubberduck2078 it's much tougher to cast
@@tryscience "it's much tougher to cast" But, would it be for a glass producer?
@@fewwiggle yes it would be very difficult to put all that grain in a pane of glass
If more of us could be so bright and persistant, I think humanity's problems would be so transparent. Solving them has a learning curve too.
21:40 I'm sure Botal Toat appreciates the shout-out.
I think it is great that you let everyone see all the times your experiments do not work out as planned. That is an invaluable way you learn. As an inventor it is part of my daily process. It gets easier after a while. You have to venture out far from the ordinary to create anything unique which sets one up for small setbacks on the way to successful projects. But it makes the successful outcomes all the more special. It always brings me a smile when I see a new video by you!!! Keep up the incredible videos!!
Nile red made a good video about transparent wood, he had to modify a few of the methods in the paper he followed
Glad you didn't quit, even though I don't know the point of encasing wood in epoxy except to demonstrate you can make transparent wood. So be it, great channel. I learned some organic chemistry along the way, and that was very useful. Thank you!
I'm impressed by your persistence, Xyla! Awesome video!
I love the UA-cam Peer Review Process... I'm not sure the original paper's authors would feel quite so positive about the comments, but the fact that you're able to reproduce and refine their work _for everyone to see_ is brilliant!
Surprised the link from Insta worked, good to see the video finally here after watching the progression over months in stories!
Xyla is Brilliant. She is so impressive and i loved watching her go though her scientific process problem solving issue after issue.
soooo, if I understand that correctly: you break away parts of the wood molecules and replace it with clear epoxy which then is sort of transparent... so basically, you could as well just use 100% epoxy in a mold... where is the environmental friendly innovation there?!
still a cool project :)
Good point. Only thing I can think of is that you a) save a bit of epoxy and b) maybe enhance structural stability compared to an epoxy-only approach. Other than that, you are using extremely toxic chemicals like toluene or xylene. I guess they thought it's a cool idea, but since nowadays you always need an application to get funding, most of the time people just "invent" an application. Research got way too commercialized, meaning you have better chances of funding if you present a marketable product rather than "just" a new piece of knowledge. Instead of the chemicals, I would probably try to use fungal enzymes for breaking up the lignin. May take a bit longer, but you don't need toxic chemicals for it and with the right enzyme mix you might be able to break it up far enough so you can use non-aromatic solvents for washing out the digested chromophores. But I studied molecular biotech, so of course my approach would be a bit different than hers (also genetic engineering and enzyme purification is not suuuuper feasible to do in a garage ;)).
@@floriannadler very well put. two things:
1. if only all conversations on youtube would be that nice and informative
2. I would love seeing that approach - if not already tried out - done in a similar video... well, not in the garage obviously :D
@@thetomster7625 1. Thank you :) guess chances of having a nice and informative conversation are slightly higher under a scientific video, simply attracts a more objective crowd I'd say.
2. A quick google scholar search didn't reveal anything in that direction, most research on lignin depolymerization focuses on the subsequent use of the breakdown products, since lignin is the worlds most abundant aromatic compound (I'll try to put a link to this review here, maybe you'll find it interesting: biotechnologyforbiofuels.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s13068-021-01934-w).
I was going to say that!'
Such a great 'scientific method' adventure! As an old audio/broadcast electronic nerd, I've had plenty of 'bad path' turnarounds---but eventually solved the issue. I am thankful audio doesn't usually require epoxy. Or breathing masks! Hats off to you for all that work!
"Don't know when to quit"...obviously you do, the answer is NEVER! 😄 It's been a fun project to follow through the stories!
She did quit before making a corset out of it.
Projects are never finished, only abandoned.
"Eco friendly windows in the future"
Sure. Substitute the process of melting minerals with a whole barrage of dubious chemicals. More to the point: Why not skip the whole "wood" thing and just cast epoxy panes? (Which probably still have a way larger ecological footprint than mineral glass)
SMH
It sure was fun to attempt it, though.
thank you for posting this first i was just about to to the same
in the end this is still just single use plastic with some traces of wood byproduct as a filler. glass is endlessly recyclable, chemically inert and brakes back down into sand in the end. so its better for the environment in every possible way you can mesure.
@@dexdrako "glass is endlessly recyclable (not), chemically inert (isn't) and brakes back down into sand in the end (doesn't). so its better for the environment in every possible way you can mesure." No! But it has some very good aspects, despite it's faults. btw there is no such 'thing' as glass, glassiness is a property; even plastics and metals can be 'glassy'.
@@bikerfirefarter7280 *its
Yeah the ecological part is to send money to the sponsor so that they can save the amazon 😂
Well the idea is that the end product is stronger than just the epoxy, and that bit does work. I'm not sure how the manufcacture and use of the chemicals used for this compare to making glass (I'd expect significant energy usage due to the temperatures involved).
Bit of a moot point since it doesn't work nearly well enough to go in windows or really anywhere else we care about being able to see things not pressed up against it of course.
Xyla, you're a freaking legend. So much work into this. Really admire your tenacity. Awesome job!
Xyla , I love how you don't give up on a project. Keep it up as your brilliant.
Fun Trivia: Xylin is short for Xyla Foxlin.
Hi Xyla, I just watched your video and I did some vacuum casting myself. So what I was wondering is that they use is a vacuum bag (they push the epoxy in with 1atm of pressure), and you use a vacuum chamber (to get the air out of the wood). If I wanted to cast something without any air left in the end product (there were very fine air gaps in the things I cast), I first got rid of all the air via a vacuum chamber, covered everything in casting material and then let the air pressure push in the casting material. Better results maybe could be had, if you used a vacuum to pull out the air in the wood, add epoxy (arduino and steppers or something like that) and then put positive pressure on the whole thing in order to push the epoxy in all of the crevices.
saw the videos from NileRed a while back which really really surprised me that you tried that. not to talk down on you but Nile did chemistry in forever and really really struggled with the clear wood. Altho it didn't turn out quiiite as good as you envisioned, I really really think you did super well! Great job Xyla keep it up!
Nigel is brilliant! My version is much less professional but hopefully shows everyone can do anything with enough bullheaded determination :)
HIS NAME IS NIGEL??????? WHAT?
@@xgh1000 his last name isn't Red, either. 🤯
@@xgh1000 Didn't you know about the plans for Nigel? Nigel just needs that helping hand.
@@xylafoxlin Nigel gave up on transparent wood quicker than you did in his first video, even though it was his field of study. His version is more professional from it being his major and being a full time UA-camr longer. Would he be as determined with a electromechanical challenge as you were with this chemistry conundrum outside your field? Or perhaps him being on the full time UA-cam treadmill for so long might also be why he's so quick to drop a challenge and move on to the next project to keep the content flowing?
I like the fact that you're happy in your videos. A little positive energy is a good thing these days. Thanks for the great content😃
Wow, that's an exceptional result! Keep up with the experiments.
I think it'd be super fun and interesting to see a video of just you and NileRed basically talking about ideas for projects and brainstorming new ideas!
Love how you just don't quit. Impressive results, too.
I'm not sure whether you are crazy or brilliant, but have decided it is both. Well done for the tenacity and enthusiasm in the face of so many setbacks. That is how progress is made. x
Your explanation at 10:57 is iconic. He’s like a little chemistry hamburglar.
And your clear wood is AMAZING!! 🤯 One minute you’re downplaying your chemistry knowledge and the next you pull out a perfectly transparent block of wood. 🧊
Chemistry hamburgler!! 💜
@@xylafoxlin You should know that across town Bryan Cranston ran the same experiment and produced much thicker pieces of wood that were transparent. However they did have a bluish tint to them.
You know how they make Holy Water???
They just boil the hell out of it.
ba dumm tss
They cook kidneys by boiling the piss out of them.
Do you work for Portapotti or are you just taking the piss?
It was excellent of you to persist at this and to show your incremental failures and successes on this video. One thing I learned early on is that researchers, particularly students, are anxious to talk about their work to people who are interested. If you called the principal investigator at U. Maryland, I am certain he would be very happy to have you talk with his students and you will likely be able to hear all their stories of their own incremental failures and successes. Research papers are truly meant to contain the barest minimum of detail to the reader. I bet they would love to hear from you and they would benefit from it, too, even if you aren’t interested in further investigating this subject yourself.
I don't think the chemicals used in this are eco friendly. Glass seems like a much more eco friendly alternative.
considering that one of the main ones is literally banned in california and they all require serious PPE, I think I agree that they're definitely toxic.
or just the epoxy on its own 🤔
IDK, it does take a lot of heat to create glass, so a lot of combustion.
If the whole process is done in a sealed space and all the chemicals get reused, maybe it can be not that bad.
wow production value of those photoshop animations is legit through the roof. so impressed!
"as the girl who likes wood and who likes making things clear that shouldn't be clear".
That's certainly a.. unique set of interests.😂
Thank Thor I wasn't the only one with perverted adolescent humour!
Never thought I'd hear a physicist/engineer squeal in delight at the results of using Xylene! My world is now more complete!
Your "Hey everyone" gives me jump scares.
Not to make you stress more, but I wonder what balsa wood would do? Or whatever wood has the finest grains. Seems that the grain size is a huge portion of it. Also to anyone criticizing your energy and "happiness"... I say you are infectious and amazing! I love the energy. Pure joy and excitement of discovery. Too many people lose that and I hope you never do! Stay you, stay exited, stay wonderous! 😊
0:25 Yeah, the whole process seems very eco-friendly indeed...
I will say, a woman who knows her way with tools and hardware is incredibly good to see. I feel there's a stigma in society against women being handy or interested in such things, and it's really a shame. Plus, your enthusiasm for these projects is really inspiring. Thanks for the great video!
The problem with modern academia is that they are so focused on possible patents that they obfuscate the process deliberately. It hurts the entire academic community as well as independent researchers
Sorry, but that's simply not true. Patenting something doesn't stop you from describing it perfectly. On the contrary, once it's patented you are free to disclose it, since it's already protected. And if you publish before patenting, you even get a grace period of one year after publication in which you can still file for a patent (in the US).
May my daughters and grand daughters have the passion you have for science. Thank you for inspiring others!
Cool "just because I can" project but considering the properties of the materials being used it has no advantage over glass or acrylic window material.
i love your neighbor he is so sweet and eager to help 😭😭
AvE could add one thing to this video: "I know when to give up because the paper is so wimbley wombley".
Today we're working with ridgid carbon foam, they kill trees for that stuff, the sick bastards.
Three things that you might consider trying: First, end grain cut wood (but this will make it more brittle and harder to do). Consider vacuum cycling for the Xyline stage to get more of that process deeper. Lastly, You mention "Oak" wood; however, red oak and white oak are very different for porousness. If I recall, "red oak doesn't make good boats" because it is porous.
Some academic research is impossible to replicate, which is a problem with the whole system...
I watch and read a lot of horror, thrillers, crime stuff, but there was more tension and excitement here that in any Hollywood blockbuster. Wonderful to see it all come together.
I like how this went from "Maybe we can make environmentally friendly windows out of wood!" to "We're using an incredibly toxic mix of banned cancer-causing chemicals!"
Love it.
As person who worked a lot in chem lab with low pressure systems and with epoxy as a hobby it made me smile every time you made mistake obvious to me and then found out, haha.
In general evaporating all of the xylene or acetone should take longer than you leave them. You should also be wary of solvent vapours inside the pump as it can accumulate and dilute oil or foul the seals. We usually leave samples (much much smaller ones) in vacuum oven over night.
Thank you for not quitting in this (and other) adventures of the sciences and maths. Good job in your accomplishment in that way as well as your video production for us... 👍
If I ever need to defend my country against the world's most powerful army, I'm recruiting Xyla.
I've seen at least one other video showing transparent wood using the same paper here on UA-cam.
Your video, however, is so much more in depth. Explaining a lot more of the science behind the process and what each step in the process does.
I also enjoyed your energy which made watching the science parts both interesting and fun.
Well done and thank you.
You've just gained a subscriber.
Just realizing that Xyla Foxlin shortened is literally Xylin, Xylene
Dammit you beat me to it.
Super excited for the Corset v2 video now!
"eco friendly". Glass itself is "eco friendly", but there's more to it that just being transparent. Is it scratch resistant? Shatter proof? Will it hold up to rock? Branch? A bullet? This is neat, but no one would install it on their house.
@Steve Gracy Not really all the chemicals and epoxy made it way more environment unfriendly then glass. Yes glass needs a lot of energy but at least you can recycle it quit easy if it breaks and if it does not break it last for ever, there are church windows hundreds of years old
When trying to get those epoxy bubbles to pop you could use your heat gun, or a blow torch to pull the bubbles to the surface and out. (If you didn't already know that.) Alternatively you can put your total boat epoxy mixing cup in the original vacuum (pressure) pot and pull the bubbles out of the epoxy before you ever pour it.
Pre-pour degassing is pretty standard, not sure why she didn't do it... Also, using the universal solvent (DI water) to wash things inbeween these processes would help alot, much of the discoloration is just contaminates. Also the slower the cure time and the thinner the epoxy the better time you'll have with all the above. Not sure if total boat has anything that thin, but, water-thin epoxy does exist and this would be a great application for it.
C'mon, clear wood is easy. Get some wood, soak it in stuff for like some hours, call it names, dip it in resin or whatever, and wham. The wham is the important part.
This is probably the best video I've seen xD I mean I'm a very technical guy but still a video this long on such a topic filled with reputations would be seriously boring but I love how u kept me engaged and loving every bit of the content and I know everyone says it but so full of energy too! Wish you all the best for the future~
There's a reason laboratories have hoods.
NileRed really struggled with this and he is a real chemist. Great job!
I'm so glad you love C-Thru things!
I too, love C-Thru things, and wrote a story about featherless chickens and transparent cows, so I'm with you on the transparent wood! Or aluminum. I love C-Thru metals.
I suggest vacuum infusion in a bag. Seal the wood in a bag with flow mesh and affix two tubes. on opposite sides. One goes into a vat of degassed epoxy and one goes into your vacuum chamber. It'll suck the epoxy through like a straw and infiltrate all the empty spaces in the wood, without leaving a thick excess layer of resin.
I’m glad you were so transparent about your failures and frustrations. 😁
Don't let ANYONE take away that happiness, Xyla -- THAT is why I clicked the Subscribe button about 4 seconds into this video.
Super super smart and beautiful. Great work Xyla!!
As an organic/materials/green chemist I can 100% confirm that replicating literature procedures in your own lab is often a huge pain, and there's always an element of cookery and witchcraft to getting good results... that's part of what makes org chem fun, but also why so many of my colleagues have so little hair. The stories I could tell you about reactions that only work if there's a tiny bit of water in your solvent but not too much, and the original author got lucky and didn't mention any of that....
This was way more interesting than I expected when I clicked the thumbnail!
Great video!
You should get an award for the *cutest* *youtuber* *in* *existance*
The pain. The enthusiasm. It's so natural. I feel this. This was fun 🤣
I want my own little transparent wood piece.
You have so much energy & enthusiasm I wish I lived next door and could pop my head in to look at your latest projects regularly.
Nothing like repeated failure to make you an expert. Just stumbled on your video and I was on the edge of my seat. It was like a science drama film. Great work!
I followed this process on Instagram throughout most of it, it's so COOL to see it all together now!
I can't help smiling whenever i watch Xyla !
Love the energy and how you pushed through the problem solving process. I also found myself singing ‘Come On Xylene’ while watching!
I've been following a few other people attempting the same process and yours is brilliantly detailed. Your eloquence and energy is inspiring. You've got a new subscriber.
Tenacity is what you need in science and engineering. Those who give up after a few failures achieve nothing. Of course this had very little practical use, but that isn't the point at all. Good job sticking with it. I think if you'd been able to use xylene from the start you'd have been less frustrated, but that wouldn't have been as useful an excercise in showing resilience. You set a great example for kids that are interested in achieving things.
Xyla, you created the wood version of frosted glass. Step 1, sand with increasingly fine grades of sandpaper, taking care to not get any skin oils on the wood. Think of it like preparing the surface of a flat lens :) good luck!
Really, though, this channel rocks because Xyla tries amazing things. Amazing things don't always work out, and therefore, if Xyla attempts something amazing, I (or we) should not be judgemental if something is less than stellar. Xlya's spirit is stellar, and that is what counts!