how to heat wood if trying to convert it into liquid at home??

Dear Student,

Please find below the solution to the asked query:

Firstly wood never melts. The intermolecular forces operating in the lignin molecules(which constitute the hard part of wood) are very high and these need a lot of energy to break and when heat is supplied to wood the bonds breaks it converts directly into a black ash sort of residue.

However if pyrolysis i.e heating of wood is done in the absence of oxygen, we get a liquid tarry sticky cellulose kind of thing which may be said to be the liquid portion of wood.

Hope this information will clear your doubts about the topic.
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The problem with melting wood revolves around what combustion is, and what temperature the combustion of wood happens at. Combustion, also known as burning, is simply a chemical reaction that takes place where the combustible material (in this case wood) in the presence of an oxidizer (usually the air around the fire) changes its chemical composition and decomposes the material into other chemicals. The process is one that’s exothermic. As such, light and heat can be released.

Wood is mostly made up of things like cellulose, lignin, and water. As wood combusts, it’s broken down into products like charcoal, water, methanol, and carbon dioxide. Unlike water turning back into ice, if you cooled down the resulting products of burning wood, it obviously does not change back to its original composition. Thus, all of the ash left in your fireplace after evening.

All materials that combust will have a natural temperature at which the process will begin taking place. The higher the temperature, the quicker the process becomes (usually). If that temperature is lower than the temperature at which the material will melt, that material will never (naturally) melt because it just turns into other chemicals.

As for wood, it will begin a process known as pyrolysis at temperatures around 500-600 degrees Fahrenheit. Pyrolysis is also an exothermic reaction that tends to be self sustaining. At these temperatures, wood will begin giving off up to 100 chemicals, including methane and methanol (the same stuff they put as additives in gasoline), that will begin to burn. Once those chemicals begin burning, they will increase the temperature and the remaining char (the burned black bits present after the fire goes out) left behind will begin to further decompose, things like calcium, potassium and magnesium. Finally, the chemicals present in wood oozes out and the wood no longer remains a wood because all its components are drawn away.