Fungus on Scotch-Brite pad?

rjlittlefield · Post by **rjlittlefield** » Fri Mar 24, 2006 1:31 am

When I first saw these white flecks on a green Scotch-Brite pad next to my sink, I thought they were some chemical re-crystalizing.

But they got bigger and bigger.

Eventually I looked at them with a magnifying glass. Wow!

I have no idea what this stuff is, but it sure looks interesting.

Canon 300D, Luminar 16mm f/2.5 at f/5 on 150mm extension, stacked with CombineZ5, 59 frames stepping focus by 0.001".

--Rik

wtrfall · Post by **wtrfall** » Fri Mar 24, 2006 7:10 pm

wow very interesting.
that is really weird.
I hope someone cn tell us what it is?
fungus?

Lynne

Ken Ramos · Post by **Ken Ramos** » Sat Mar 25, 2006 3:29 am

Kind of reminds me of a cactus Rik

Never seen anything like it though, don't know what it is. A real good shot of it though.

wtrfall · Post by **wtrfall** » Sat Mar 25, 2006 4:08 pm

It makes mr want to go and bleach my sponge!

rjlittlefield · Post by **rjlittlefield** » Sun Mar 26, 2006 2:26 am

Ken, whatever else this stuff is, it's one hellishly challenging photomacrography subject.

It's so small that individual frames don't really show the structure, and all of the current extended depth of field software has a lot of trouble with the interleaved spikes.

Fortunately the stuff also seems to be fairly durable. As far as I can tell, it has quit growing and has been stable for several weeks. Maybe I can hack off a piece of the pad and use the white stuff to test new technology for years to come. (Hhmm, this is sounding familiar. Does this remind you too of those Amphipleura pellucida dots?)

--Rik

acerola · Post by **acerola** » Sun Mar 26, 2006 2:55 am

Hi Rik, I vote for chemical.

Sortvind · Post by **Sortvind** » Sun Mar 26, 2006 11:15 am

I dont know what that is..
But it indeed looks cool..
It looks like some sort of fungus

rjlittlefield · Post by **rjlittlefield** » Sun Mar 26, 2006 1:26 pm

Definitely chemical. The more solid lumps are hard and brittle. The white stuff blackens, chars, and loses its strength when exposed to flame, but it also dissolves quickly and completely in CLR, a household cleaner composed mostly of lactic and gluconic acids designed to remove calcium and iron stains. And, um, it also dissolves rapidly and completely in plain water, which I suppose I ought to have tried first.

So now the mystery changes. What chemical would I have had near that sink? Could this stuff in fact be recrystalized CLR?

--Rik

biawak · Post by **biawak** » Sun Mar 26, 2006 11:45 pm

Rik,
58 frames?? Now that's what I call dedication....

Frank

MikeBinOKlahoma · Post by **MikeBinOKlahoma** » Mon Mar 27, 2006 1:02 am

Is your water hard? Do you have to use a lot of soap to bathe or wash dishes? Especially if it comes from wells (either your own well, or a public drinking water supply well, it could just be the "normal" minerals and dissolved solids found in most groundwater.

nzmacro · Post by **nzmacro** » Mon Mar 27, 2006 2:18 am

I'm amazed Rik

That is some ratio you have pulled out there. Incredible what you can find.

All the best Rik and BTW, I will work on the other ratios and specs as well. Need time though and decent light.

Danny.

rjlittlefield · Post by **rjlittlefield** » Mon Mar 27, 2006 8:47 am

MikeBinOKlahoma wrote:Is your water hard? Do you have to use a lot of soap to bathe or wash dishes? Especially if it comes from wells (either your own well, or a public drinking water supply well, it could just be the "normal" minerals and dissolved solids found in most groundwater.

No, doesn't fit. The water here is pretty soft, I've never seen anything like these crystals before, and hard water scale does not quickly dissolve in plain water as these do.

Thinking more about the problem, I'm betting on them being dried organic acids from the CLR, which I do use regularly around that sink. (It's actually a project room sink, not a kitchen sink.) That would explain both the rapid dissolving and the decomposition with heat.

I have an experiment underway right now, trying to reproduce the crystals using a fresh pad and a bit of CLR in a small container. I'll let you know how it turns out.

--Rik