[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index][Thread Index]

Re: Substrate heating



I think this has been proven. It has been shown that terrestrial plants 
grow faster when there is a strong electrostatic field present. I have read 
about this being tried before, and the article was saying something about 
greater quantities of larger fruit etc. etc.. Back in the mid to late 
1800's there was a *lot* of research into electostatics with wimshurst 
machines, leyden jars, and a very beefy static generator called a Lemstrom 
(sp?) machine -- which was patented in the US. They would set up grids of 
wire over planted fields and keep the wire charged at severel tens of 
thousands of volts DC. I have a lot of info about this in a book that I 
have. The expieriments are old but they are interesting.

I don't think you could successfully generate any real electrostatic field 
*in* an aquarium. No problem on top, but electrostatic fields don't work in 
conductive mediums -- you end up with electromagnetic (EM) fields. Heating 
cables will provuce a small EM field, but it would be below the plants 
rather than above with the other expieriments.

I can see APD readers now looking under the big transmissions lines (230+ 
thousand volts) on the towers measuring grass heights to use in the 
discussion ;-)

         -Bill

>Of course, if the ambient electrical energy is too high, the
>molecules electrolicize and break down (you're cooking them.)
>The substrate heating in discussion here is too low an energy
>level for that.
>
>My supporting observations come from HAM radio operators
>that conclude plants grow better around a working radio
>antenna.  In marginal climates for ivy, when the antenna is
>used, ivy grows up the antenna.  If you don't use the antenna
>for a year, the ivy dies.  When you use the antenna again,
>the ivy comes back.
>
>If this is true, then it's not (entirely) the "micro-currents"
>in the substrate from heat coils, but the electric field generated
>by the heat coils.  Further, it would suggest that a non-coil
>(non-electric field producing solution) solution like heated water
>wouldn't provide the full growth benefits achieved with coils.