Tree tomography

2001/10/29 Elhuyar Zientzia

• Biologia

Tomography is used in medicine to see inside the body, but also for many other things. The tomography is applied to meteorites, fossils, animals, plants and now also to tree trunks.

Researchers at the Technical University of Munich have researched oak logs using tomography. They wanted to see how they carry water in the trunk rings. To do this, first an entomography of a new cut sheet was made. Then the blade was dried and a second tomography was done to compare. It has been concluded that oak logs carry more water than expected and that transport is carried through outer rings. Thus, favorable evidence has been obtained that in oaks the channels are only found in the outer rings. Now the test will be done on other species.