What have i grown in neat bleach?

A rather random question i admit, and i hope i've stuck it in the right place.....

About three or four days ago i was trying out an experiment, nothing scientific mind, just a bleaching technique on a piece of wood i am using for a gift.

I filled a pyrex cooking dish about 3/4 full of neat bleach, straight out of the bottle. The bleach was a lemon scented one. I dunked the piece of wood in the bleach for an hour, then took it out.

Thinking i may use the bleach again, i left the bowl of neat bleach on the kitchen worktop and forgot about it.

Yesterday i went into the kitchen and found this....



A blurry close up.....the pics not blurry, thats the bleach colour....its kind of misty now...



The only way i can describe it is some kind of growth. You know when you leave a cup for a while and it grows mould or some kind of bacteria, its like that. I'd say the growth is about 4in x 4in in size.

I just tried using a fork to hook a piece out, but it just breaks apart in the bleach, almost like an egg yolk would. There's no "material feel" to it if that makes sense. I thought it could have been a piece of cotton wool, thats why i tried forking it out.

Now i know i haven't been near it since i dunked the wood in it a few days ago. Nothing to my knowledge has dropped into it, and the kids haven't been here. So i am guessing it is some kind of bacteria.

However, this is where i am slightly baffled. Being a prepper, i know that one way of getting rid of nasties in your water is to add a litle bleach to it. It supposedly kills everything. So how come in a few days, i have a growth this size in a bowl of pure bleach?

I'm not really bothered about it, more curious.

Maybe it could be something from the piece of wood i bleached, but nothing came off in the bleach, and even if some kind of bug or fungus came off, why did it not die? If it matters, the wood was a small piece of smooth planed pine from the hardware store.

Any help would be most welcome.

Thanks,

CX.

Hmm...weird. Maybe the wood had a light coating of some kind of shellac or varnish on it that coagulated after a while in the bleach.

Looks nasty though.

Originally posted by StinkFist
Hmm...weird. Maybe the wood had a light coating of some kind of shellac or varnish on it that coagulated after a while in the bleach.

Looks nasty though.

Thanks for the reply.

Nope, the wood was totaly bare. Taken from a pack of planed wood, cut to small size, sanded very smooth and wiped clean of dust....thats before it went into the bleach. So there was definately no varnish, stain or any kind of finish on it.

Certainly weird.

CX.

Hey CX,

that is some weird stuff! Promise me you'll leave it for a few days more and see what becomes of it, I'm intrigued.

The formation is very interesting, maybe it is something from the wood as suggested. If not, something in the air in your kitchen might have settled on it, but I'm surprised at the size in so little time.

Maybe you could try another bowl of neat bleach, without the wood, and see what happens?

Don't wanna fill your kitchen with bleach or anything, but...

I'm in the UK too, can you tell me the brand of the bleach?

Goldenchild

I would have to guess desolved pine sap.

Are you sure the kids didn't stick a slice of emmental in there?

I'll take biology for 10 points.

Fuligo Septica
Common name "dog vomit"

It's a slime mold.

en.wikipedia.org...

reply to post by CX


Very curious !

The only thing that comes to mind is there may have been some kind of residue on the bottom of the bowl ... maybe a slightly greasy film (invisible to the naked eye) ... or even from washing-up liquid ... and rather than this being some kind of bacterial growth (as you say that should be impossible in bleach) ... maybe it's a chemical reaction from the residue (whatever that might be) ?

Only other idea is ... if the wood was in the bleach for a time maybe it's a slow reaction between the bleach and small amount of pine resin ?

I'm definately going with the chemical reaction theory as opposed to the bacterial growth idea ... either way weird !

I honestly can't think of anything else that it could be.

I'm going to keep a watch on this thread to see what suggestions come up ... thanks for sharing

Woody

Originally posted by GoldenChild

I'm in the UK too, can you tell me the brand of the bleach?

Sure....it was this bottle of Tesco's thick bleach....



"Kills germs dead!" lol.....except the crap growing in a bowl of the stuff!

I'll leave this out for a while in the same place, maybe a week or so, see what happens and report back here with pics, in the meantime, i'll go and put a fresh bowl of bleach out minus the wood and see if i get the same thing happen.

CX.

It could possibly be a preservative (treatment for rot) from the mill.
I hope the misses don't find out you swiped her bowl.

Thanks for the replies everyone, the slime mold and pine resin theory sound pretty good.

Ok i've set a new bowl of the same bleach on my worktop. I did this at about 0208hrs 30/10/10.

I've used another pyrex dish, so as to use the same material for the container. Although i am sure the other bowl was clean (it had just come straight from my cupboards where i keep all my cooking stuff clean), i made sure with this second bowl. I washed it as per normal with washing up liquid and hot water, then after it was rinsed, i rinsed it again with boiling water from the kettle.

Added the bleach and here it is....



Now we wait.

CX.

PS: I hadn't set my camera clock/date settings before, so i've done it now to show the time on this new test. If anything similar grows, it can then show how long it took.

reply to post by CX


Bleaching wood breaks down the lignin - the hard substance, solid wood - for cellulose, in turn, used to make paper. The purpose of bleaching is to remove lignin impurities, dark colored paper pulp and thereby achieve a certain level of quality. This process leaves many organic compounds as by-products of chlorine, including dioxins and furans.

Dioxins can be degraded by aerobic bacteria of the genus of Sphingomonas, Pseudomonas and Burkholderia.
guess there is strong lignin presence of the bleaching of the wood.
I think this bacteria is your winner

Originally posted by Mad dog
I hope the misses don't find out you swiped her bowl

Two bowls now lol.

Nah i'm safe, she's a crafter.....if i wasn't using it for this she'd be using it to store clay in or something.

CX.

Originally posted by CX


It supposedly kills everything. So how come in a few days, i have a growth this size in a bowl of pure bleach?

It seems that scented bleaches are not considered "pure bleach".

Standard Bleach Vs. Lemon Fresh Bleach

The biggest difference, aside from the scent, is that this isn’t a true germ killer. It has the same cleaning power as the standard bleach from Clorox however it isn’t sold as a disinfectant. If you use bleach to kill germs, prevent the spread of bacteria or to sanitize then this isn’t the product for you. While I have no doubt in my mind that this will work just as well, the manufacturers couldn’t label this as an approved product for these tasks. Why? Well, the scent is part of the reason and another is that the products need to be registered with the EPA [Environmental Protection Agency] in order to be qualified, evaluated and listed as an EPA approved germ fighting agent. When I called Clorox to get a straight answer I got the run around, was asked “Why do you want to know” and when I told them it was for a product review they passed me around to a bunch of people that wanted to send me coupons but offered no real solid explanation.
www.epinions.com...

It is always a good idea to dilute your bleach. There is always a danger of a bowl of full strength bleach being knocked over, splashed, or drank by a pet. Also, you may find that the integrity of your bowl will be damaged (weakened) by this prolonged exposure.

I have always heard it said that one should not add other chemicals to bleach. So, it seems the industry is not taking its own advice what with adding these chemical scents. I find the label on your product amusing. I don't think I have seen any previous ads concerning "flying germs". Surely this is a new term in the foreign language of scientific legalese.

reply to post by zaper


Very interesting, thank you for that info.

It does seem to have dried the wood out somewhat, almost like a driftwood effect but without the greying.

Looks like the bleach drained all of the goodness out of the wood.

CX.

reply to post by Alethea


Yes i've heard this about scented bleaches before. If i add bleach to water for prepping purposes, i never use scented.

Definately not a great idea to add chemicals to bleach, seen this done many a time and the results were rarely good.

Thanks for the safety concern, the kids have been told and are old enough and sensible enough not to go near it.



CX.

Originally posted by CX
reply to post by zaper

 

Very interesting, thank you for that info.

It does seem to have dried the wood out somewhat, almost like a driftwood effect but without the greying.

Looks like the bleach drained all of the goodness out of the wood.

CX.

what i found about bleaching wood furniture was this...

Before you use bleach on any piece of furniture, make sure the wood is suitable for bleaching. Some woods don't accept bleach well -- cherry and satinwood, for instance, should never be bleached. Some woods, such as bass, cedar, chestnut, elm, redwood, and rosewood, are very difficult to bleach, and some -- notably pine and poplar--are so light that bleaching makes them look lifeless.

i think its was strongly digested some lignin of surface of your wood (even if it doesnt seem to our eyes) , it was pine not?

there is several ways to use the correct bleach accord to the guidelines...

Choosing a Bleach Not all bleaching jobs call for the same type of bleach. Depending on the problem you want to correct, you may need a very strong bleaching agent or a relatively mild one. Below are some common bleach options you might want to consider. Laundry Bleach: This mild bleach can solve most refinishing color problems, from stain or filler not removed in stripping to ink stains and water spots. It works well for blotchy areas and for slight overall lightening, but it won't change the color of the wood drastically. Before you use a stronger bleach on any piece of furniture, try laundry bleach; it usually does the trick. Oxalic Acid: Oxalic acid, sold in powder or crystal form, is used to remove black water marks from wood. It is also effective in restoring chemically darkened wood to its natural color. You're not likely to encounter this problem unless you have a piece of furniture commercially stripped because lye and ammonia, the chemicals that discolor wood, are not recommended for nonprofessional use. Oxalic acid must be used on the entire surface of the wood, because in most cases it also bleaches out old stain. You may have to bleach the entire piece of furniture to get an even color. Oxalic acid is more effective in lightening open-grained wood than close-grained. Two-Part Bleaches: The two-part commercial wood bleaches are used to lighten or remove the natural color of wood. If you want a dark old piece to fit in with a roomful of blond furniture, this is the bleach to use. Two-part bleach is very strong and must be used carefully; wear rubber gloves and safety goggles. This type of bleach is also expensive. Several brands are available.

well nice info heh i know now how to bleach wood

Originally posted by zaper

well nice info heh i know now how to bleach wood

Me too now!

Cheers for that.

CX.

Biology for 25 points

Bacteria is microscopic - bacteria it is not.

The wiki link I gave above has a picture of the dog vomit slime mold.

It's that size and larger when wandering around your yard.

It's not a fungus, nor bacteria. It's slime mold.

Feed the first bowl some wood chips (it seems to like the 'flavor' of wood you used) and in time it will grow a curved-peaked cap.

Also, bleach makes clothes whiter. Bleach is NOT for decontaminating water in a survival situation. Chlorine is for that. Chlorine tablets are best or "100% chlorine bleach" - check Clorox brand. Drinking bleach should make you blind.

Apologies...should have mentioned its Chlorine bleach for water.

Thanks for the biology lesson, much appreciated.



CX.