Effects of Electricity on Vegetation

[Tooz]

Hello. I am doing a required High School level Science Fair exhibit. I am planning on using this subject as the main focus. The problem is that I do not know whether electricity has any adverse effects on vegetation, and therefore I am not going to take any chances to see if it does anything or if it just sits there. So I am wondering whether anyone knows if electricity does anything to vegetation. I looked on google, and I am having a hard time sifting through the results. If no one can give me an answer, can someone please give me another reccomendation for a High-School Difficulty project? Thank you.

[insane_alien]

pickles will light up if you connect them to the mains.

[Tooz]

I would like to research the effect of magnetism on plants, which does have a proven effect, but there is no explanation of why this happens. Also, the idea of Solar Light vs Artificial Light is a good area to reaseach also...but I am not sure how either will turn out.

[Corellon]

Some of my friends have come with an idea that they are presently testing, but they belive that if you run a low-charge pulsing current through a plant for a couple of days, possibly a week, that the electrical impulses will eccelerate the growth of the cells.

[Guest026]

my 6th grade science teacher ms. sawyer invented the "what is the effect of IV on DV" thing

 

wut grade r u in tooz? btw u could start by researching capitol punishment or the electric chair and find out how it effects humans then use common sense from there

[iNow]

my 6th grade science teacher ms. sawyer invented the "what is the effect of IV on DV" thing

I presume Ms. Sawyer is referring to the Independent Variable and the Dependent Variable, respectively? If so, she may have invented it in terms of sharing it with you and your classmates for the first time, but the concepts themselves existed well before you or your teacher.

[pioneer]

The affects of electric fields were studied on plants as far back as about 1900. The strawberry plants, in these original studies increased sugar levels by about 20%. They used high DC voltage and very low current. The plant pot would sit on a negative metal plate and they would suspend a positive plate above. One had to be careful not to allow the plants to complete the circuit or they would get electrocuted.

 

An EE friend of mine, built me a simple electric field device. It was about 5000 volts at about 1 milli-amp. The rule the thunb was about 1in arch for every 10,000 volts, and this baby could arch/spark 1 cm with ease. It was fun jumping sparks and/or watching small circuits freak out.

 

My first experient with plants, used two aluminum foil plates. The plant pot sat on one, i.e., the negative, and the other plate, i.e., positive, above the plant, was hanging from a shoelace I duct taped to the ceiling. It was very low tech, mostly to play/experiment. My experiment, started as a curiosity attraction and then became a dare for some of my college friends to see if they could touch both plates and withstand the electric kick. Being DC and very low amperage it was like touching an electrified fence. The DC current does not affect the heart but will zap muscles. It was actually funny to see them jump and yell, and then encourage others, to do it under the false pretense, it wasn't going to be quite that bad.

 

What ended up happening, the horseplay, loosen my ceiling tape and the top plate fell on the plant and electrocuted it. The plant went from vigorous to limp out almost immediately. It was like it ran out of water. The electricity may have formed bubbles within its capillary action, so it just wilted. After that, with the plant already on decline, we finished it off.

 

The original research discussed how an electric field was beneficial to plants. Their data did show reasonable sugars levels increases in strawberries. My research only showed that direct 5000 volts zaps was too much for small plants. It also showed the some college students try it for fun.