Beautiful!
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I think that’s the holy grail. Ultimately if you were able to accomplish this with the level of refinement static can offer I probably wouldn’t even press it personally? Seems like a crime 
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This is some rather remarkable phenomenology!
Could it possibly be that “due to their chemistry” the capitate heads have a natural endogenous charge?
Placing “semi dry”- trichomes in a polyethylene tube and just touching the side of the tube while observing under a microscope…gives rise to considerable movement.
We have previously discussed this subject , and I am just throwing it out to the forum, hoping to attract some additional discussion of your process. Just plain curiousity on my part.
The pectin polymers in the cell wall carry a glacturonic acid moiety, which interestingly has a pKa almost identical to cannabinoic acids~3. Depending on the local pH environment, all of these carboxylic acids would either be neutral or anionic. The anionic forms would be expected in normal physiological solutions. But we have to realize the capitate area has plastids about. Now if Ca++ concentration were such that the carboxylates are ion paired, one might expect that an induced surface charge (negative) might obtain in a cold plasma field.
If you could send one of your best samples of trichome heads out for ICP-MS analysis of common metallic ions it might help a bit.
quote: “For All these properties originate from the tight binding of calcium ions to the pectins present in the cell walls . The factor most important for controlling wall behaviour is the density of non-diffusible charges and, due to its high affinity, calcium can significantly affect this factor.“
So if there is enough Ca++ for all the galacto-uronic acid moieties, the plastids may well supply enough for Counter ions for the cannabinoate anions as well.
Salicylate anion is known to chelate Ca”” in a 2:1 ratio (2, carboxylate: 1 Ca++). Interestingly Calcium Salicylate is not readily soluble in water. Here I am just trying to clarify the chemistry aspect of “due to their chemistry”. But I have to admit that Cold Plasma and Triboelectric charging have a certain “black box” aspect to them.
Regards
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The plasma field does not induce the charge on the particles. We have been unsuccessful in inducing a charge other than through friction (triboelectric effect). (Doing more research on alternate methods.)
The plasma field separates the polarized particles. I believe the acidic form of cannabinoids are what charges. Professor Alex tested this on pure cannabinoids and they only charge in their acidic form.
Marcus Bubbleman posted a video of rosin that is polarized. I would suppose this supports Alex’s research. It would also suggest that the shells of the trichome do not play a major role in this process.
If anyone is interested in digging deeper into this research, I am happy to sponsor it.
@moronnabis I appreciate this kind of comment. I Love the science!
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Have you noticed any difference in terps between running the kief through your static machine vs just separating it manually. Does your machine preserve them more or are any lost by charging the heads with plasma. Love to see the same material separated both ways and coa’s ran on them.
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We did run complete COA on before and after the Plasma. I think I spoke about that in episode 18 on YouTube.
The COA of the feed was similar to the COA of the heads. I would say there is no change. Theoretically there is no reason for a change since the process is so fast and there is no temperature or chemical modification of the particle.
That being said it’s a difficult question to answer with limits of detection and sampling error.
I would say manual sift is probably marginally worse simply because of the exposure to heat and the posibility of breaking heads. All this is debatable.
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