NileRed, a Canadian YouTuber, demonstrates how he turned a small piece of balsa wood transparent. Since it was posted last week, the video has received over 2 million views.
The video is 43 minutes lengthy and somewhat technical (NileRed has a degree in biochemistry). However, he makes an effort to present it in a straightforward manner. Amazon was used to obtain all of the necessary chemicals.
Regular construction glass is relatively expensive and has a number of problems, including low thermal insulation properties. As a result, researchers around the world are looking at new types of transparent materials. Scientists had already succeeded in creating ‘glass’ out of wood a few years ago, albeit mass production of this revolutionary material is still a long way off.
You can watch the full experiment in which a standard piece of wood is transformed into a translucent variant in the video below. The procedure that was employed for this effort is detailed to the nth degree. Please keep in mind that working with various chemicals necessitates specialized knowledge and careful consideration of numerous chemical dangers, so don’t attempt to replicate this experiment on your own.
Since the first publication of transparent wood, a biocomposite that blends transparent qualities with wood’s strength, a lot has happened. Special features, such as thermoregulation and other intelligent properties, have been added to the material since 2016. A new milestone was attained in March of this year: entirely bio-based transparent wood created with green chemistry.