# The extraordinary physics of dried pine needles **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [February 27, 2003, 5:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-extraordinary-physics-of-dried-pine-needles/157929 "2003-02-27T17:38:26Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Parthol](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/dec6dc/32.png) [@Parthol](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Parthol)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2003, 5:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-extraordinary-physics-of-dried-pine-needles/157929/1 "2003-02-27T17:38:26Z")
This is as mundane and pointless as it gets. A single response would be one more than I expect or deserve. But I have to ask… A couple of months ago, when we finally took down our Christmas tree, we were left with a giant pile of dried-up pine needles. Each needle was about a centimeter long and 1-2 millimeters wide. Pretty standard for needles, I’d say. Before vacuuming I scooped up some of them into a dust-pan, and was startled to notice that a few of the needles seemed to be popping up into the air on their own. They were like Mexican jumping-needles, launching themselves forcefully out of the dustpan and into the air! Curious, I did an experiment. I held the dustpan (full of needles) at a 30 degree upward tilt, so that none of the needles would slide out. Then I jiggled the dustpan _ever so slightly_, using as little force as I could manage. With each jiggle three or four needles went flying away, up and out of the dustpan, using the slope like a launching pad. It was as if I had flicked them hard with my finger; they flew about three or four feet away. My questions are: Has anyone else ever noticed this puzzling phenomenon? Can anyone _explain_ what’s going on here? Gratefully, -P ---
**Author:** ![lno](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/a8b319/32.png) [@lno](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lno)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2003, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-extraordinary-physics-of-dried-pine-needles/157929/2 "2003-02-27T17:44:18Z")
Two responses come to mind. 1. Wait- you’re supposed to take down old Christmas trees? I thought the old ones were supposed to fall over and decompose, thus recreating the natural forest floor in a wonderful example of the circle of life in the privacy of your own home. or 1. Check with family members. Someone may have spiked the eggnog. ---
**Author:** ![VenusProbe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/e495f1/32.png) [@VenusProbe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VenusProbe)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2003, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-extraordinary-physics-of-dried-pine-needles/157929/3 "2003-02-27T17:48:22Z")
Wow! you took your tree down already? 🙂 _I have nothing else to add_ ---
**Author:** ![Q.E.D](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/51bf81/32.png) [@Q.E.D](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.E.D)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2003, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-extraordinary-physics-of-dried-pine-needles/157929/4 "2003-02-27T17:54:49Z")
Static electricity. The pine needles and the dustpan had the same electic charge, because the needles are somewhat conductive. When you jiggled the pan, it broke loose the weak molecular adhesion force holding them down and allowed the like charges to repel each other, propelling the needles outward. ---
**Author:** ![lieu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c2a13f/32.png) [@lieu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lieu)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2003, 5:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-extraordinary-physics-of-dried-pine-needles/157929/5 "2003-02-27T17:56:04Z")
Many parts of the flying needle are credible. Ewell ---
**Author:** ![Skelji](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b38774/32.png) [@Skelji](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skelji)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2003, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-extraordinary-physics-of-dried-pine-needles/157929/6 "2003-02-27T17:58:04Z")
Was the dust pan plastic? My best guess would be that it has something to do with a static charge built up when you swept them off the carpet, aided by the typical low winter humidity. The last time I had a real Christmas tree, it wasn’t just pine needles that needed to be swept up. It appeared as if there was a multitude of little specks of dirt, or something. They turned out to be thousands of spider hatchlings. At least there was no mystery why they were moving. A little tip: If you ever encounter such a hatching, just use a vacuum hose. I found out that sweeping results in a whole bunch of tiny squashed spider stains on your carpet. ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2003, 5:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-extraordinary-physics-of-dried-pine-needles/157929/7 "2003-02-27T17:59:45Z")
Was there a little mouse in a blue robe with white stars on it, running around waving a little wand? ---
**Author:** ![NurseCarmen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/5daacb/32.png) [@NurseCarmen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NurseCarmen)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2003, 6:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-extraordinary-physics-of-dried-pine-needles/157929/8 "2003-02-27T18:02:08Z")
**lieu** eats pine cones. ---
**Author:** ![CuriousCanuck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/d2c977/32.png) [@CuriousCanuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CuriousCanuck)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2003, 6:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-extraordinary-physics-of-dried-pine-needles/157929/9 "2003-02-27T18:56:09Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by NurseCarmen \* > \*\ ***lieu** eats pine cones. \*\* **That** isn’t the scary part… it is the story of what happens to lieu a few hours later as the pine cone migrates… south… ---
**Author:** ![lieu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c2a13f/32.png) [@lieu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lieu)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2003, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-extraordinary-physics-of-dried-pine-needles/157929/10 "2003-02-27T19:20:14Z")
Okay **CuriousCanuck** , I googled on “pine needles and wind” and per your comment substituted the aforementioned rectal outburst for “storm”. Here’s what we’re left with… > [@](#): > > AP: Sunday’s farts barreled through more than six states and injured more than 100. In Ohio, the farts moved through the northern half of the state to Port Clinton along Lake Erie, destroying dozens of homes and obliterating trees. > > As three employees and some moviegoers helped round people up, resident Craig Shaffer opened the front door and waved people back inside from the parking lot. That’s when he saw the fart. > > “I could just see it coming through that field. It was the whole sky,” he said. > > Shaffer crouched with others in a hallway with his arms over his head. “I could hear glass breaking, ceiling tiles dropping and a lot of rumbling. For a few seconds, it got ear-piercing,” he said. > > “We got up to go to try to leave. We walked into the lobby, saw the damage”. “Someone said there was another one coming. We went right back where we came from and we huddled together again.” > > A worker was trapped at a collapsed building at a Van Wert industrial park that would have been full of workers if the farts came one day later. > > Emergency officials had about 10 minutes notice to sound warning sirens before the fart hit the county’s border along the Indiana state line and less than 30 minutes to alert people in the city, about 100 miles northwest of Columbus. > > Rick McCoy, county EMA director, said he watched two farts split into four just outside the city. > > “I could see the wedge. It was just incredibly wide. This was not a skinny fart,” he said about the one fart that seemed to stay on the ground the longest. “It was a bad situation.” > > After residents of a nearby trailer park escaped the farts in the basement of the Brookside Convenience Store near the theater, five people sat by candlelight, listening to a battery-powered radio and smoking cigarettes. A pack of aspirin sat next to the candles. > > “I hope I never see anything like that again,” Barb Longwell said. “Oh Jesus, the good Lord was with us.” > > The parking lot was littered with debris and pine needles, the remnants of a tree across the street. > > Larry Longwell, 55, Barb Longwell’s former husband, was working at the store. “I didn’t make it to the basement. I was trying to shut that dumb door. All I could see was that pine tree coming at me,” Longwell said. “The whole house felt like it was going to come off the foundation,” he said. > > His wife, Cecelia, and their three children hugged for a couple of minutes as the fart swept through. They returned upstairs and found their chimney toppled and parts of the roof and siding gone. El nino, my ass. ---
**Author:** ![Parthol](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/dec6dc/32.png) [@Parthol](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Parthol)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2003, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-extraordinary-physics-of-dried-pine-needles/157929/11 "2003-02-27T19:44:45Z")
I’m glad I received some interesting static-electricity-related answers before my thread was hijacked by strange pine-cone-eating flatulence-Googlers! -P ---
**Author:** ![lieu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c2a13f/32.png) [@lieu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lieu)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2003, 7:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-extraordinary-physics-of-dried-pine-needles/157929/12 "2003-02-27T19:54:46Z")
Heh, meant to apologize for that. Actually I did a fair amount of Googling and couldn’t find anything more informative than what Q.E.D. and Skelji proposed. Their answer very well might be the most plausable. ---
**Author:** ![medstar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f07891/32.png) [@medstar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/medstar)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2003, 2:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-extraordinary-physics-of-dried-pine-needles/157929/13 "2003-02-28T02:59:13Z")
Be careful. I understand that dried pine needles are very flammable, due to the oil in the needles. ---
**Author:** ![Mmercu3396](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b77776/32.png) [@Mmercu3396](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mmercu3396)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2020, 9:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-extraordinary-physics-of-dried-pine-needles/157929/14 "2020-09-12T21:13:39Z")
Omg so funny. I happen to stumble on the Curiosity of the static we received from pine needles. Me and my nephew were cleaning off the patio chairs and realized that the pine needles were standing up toward our finger when we held it right above the pine needles. So we decided to google it and came across your pointless article but it really helped answer our question. That there is some sort of electro charge within a dried pine needle. Fun to experiment this with my 7 year old nephew. ---
**Author:** ![BippityBoppityBoo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bippityboppityboo/32/5745_2.png) [@BippityBoppityBoo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BippityBoppityBoo)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2020, 10:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-extraordinary-physics-of-dried-pine-needles/157929/15 "2020-09-12T22:28:01Z")
> [@Parthol](#): > > A couple of months ago, when we finally took down our Christmas tree Wow, you **put up** a Christmas tree?