Reasons I love the internet.

[dtl@8bitorbust.info]

Reasons I love the internet.

I was looking at a wall earlier, there was some yellow lichen on it. I wondered what compound made it yellow.

Just now I typed "yellow flat lichen" into google. It took me to the wikipedia page for the common lichen

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xanthoria_parietina

And that lead directly to the compound that makes it yellow.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parietin

Just the sort of info I was looking for!

#LichenSubscribe

[dtl@8bitorbust.info]

Now I need to see if it really does turn red when treated with KOH.

[dtl@8bitorbust.info]

More info on the chemistry than you could want.
https://web.archive.org/web/20080514152828/http://www.mbari.org/staff/conn/botany/lichens/chemistry.htm

[dtl@8bitorbust.info]

To the laboratory!
*swishes cloak*

[theplaguedoc@glitterkitten.co.uk]

@dtl Cloaks in the lab? Hey, that's my look you're stealing.

[dtl@8bitorbust.info]

This post did not contain any content.

[dtl@8bitorbust.info]

Add a drop of water.
See if we can extract any of the yellow compound into it. Or just as a solvent for the KOH we'll soon add.

[srdas@mastodon.online]

@theplaguedoc @dtl unbuttoned lab coat is sometimes indistinguishable from a cloak.

[dtl@8bitorbust.info]

IT GOES RED!

Some of the Parietin must have got into the water, as there are filamants of red in the water close to the KOH pril. The bulk of the lichen fragment has turned a deep red too.

The internet didn't lie to me.

[faithfulljohn@mastodon.scot]

@dtl *excited*....

[dtl@8bitorbust.info]

I really didn't expect that to work as well as it did.

I don't want to take any more lichen from the same spot, else I'd try different bases to see if that changes anything or see if acid changes the colour.

[faithfulljohn@mastodon.scot]

@dtl Hurray! 💃 🕺 🎉

[kianryan@oldbytes.space]

@dtl

*swishes cloak*
(be honest)

[andypiper@macaw.social]

@dtl and I am giving this a like for the whimsical hashtag usage