Which has a higher melting point

[Stevo]

I'm not going to eat in a vacuum chamber...

[The Spanish Inquisition]

In vacuum chamber, corn fork eats you!

[Torven]

Corn forks are not actually made out of corn; they are made from a corn byproduct that melts at a temperature between 350 and 450 degrees fahrenheit. The problem with them is that they can become plastic at about 125 degrees, so if you are eating something hot with them, you probably won't get melted fork in your food (unless you are trying to serve something fresh out of the oven), but you will end up with a bent fork and a small pile of food in your lap. Also, never try to drink hot tea out of a corn cup.

If you want something disposable, but with a little more physical integrity, you could always look at disposable wooden cutlery; I think there are a few companies doing that now.

[Stevo]

Yeah I think Dan originally said "fell apart" but Jim wrote "melt" because he is Jim.

[Torven]

Only place I can find in the US that sells Pic Woody's cutlery is Fairway Market in NY. Fortunately, they have an online store:

http://fairwaymarket.com/shop/product.p ... 257&page=4

They also have wooden knives and spoons (all in the specialty items section).

[prometheus]

Melting points really only apply to homogeneous compounds, not living, very inhomogenous things like corn/bone. What's more, in most cases some of the organic compounds don't melt (change physically) but decompose (change chemically) before they ever melt.

"Corn" flatware is typically made out of polylactic acid (PLA), which can be derived from corn, or any other cheap source of lactic acid. The lactic acid is dimerized to remove water, then polymerized to produce the plastic. Plastics don't have very specific melting points (like simple compounds, e.g. water or carbon), but slowly transition. Because PLA can soften in hot water, using PLA flatware to eat hot soup or cups to hold coffee is doomed to failure. At my work cafeteria, they use some other biodegradable silverware for to-go, something tan colored and tastes like flour when you eat oatmeal with it.

Bone can withstand much higher temperatures, and the point of failure would likely be where the proteins that hold all the calcium phosphate decompose (probably 200-300 C).

If you want very eco-friendly flatware, buy steel. Steel is one of the most recycled materials on the planet, plus it's just about infinitely reusable, unlike wood.

[MrBlah]