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Originally Posted by danlisa
From what I can see, when wood is heated enough in a vacuum, it will not even display the usual signs of melting. i.e Solid, partial solid, liquid.
Instead it will just 'evaporate' and the only substance left would be carbon powder. Which as you might know has a much higher thermal threshold.
Of course, you must know this from school. How do you think fossil fuels are created? LOL, what we are talking about here is charcoal. (or just a bit further on from that.)
I can show you a picture of carbon in a powder form if you like.:p
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If you heat wood like that, it will release volatile components (water, light hydrocarbons), and turn into charcoal. You may be able to get carbon powder (and ash) if you heat it for a very long time, but the normal result when heating until the outgassing becomes low, is a block of charcoal with the same shape as the wood you put in (but more brittle, therefore easy to turn into powder if desired).
(the difference between charcoal and carbon is that charcoal still contains some of the heavier hydrocarbons, and some ash)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charcoal