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Can a Tesla Coil provide radiant energy for plants?

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LAN_403

radiotech

Sat Aug 14 2010, 07:00AM

Registered Member #2463 Joined: Wed Nov 11 2009, 03:49AM
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If some grass seeds were planted in a darkened box with no light and just a copper wire running over the top connected to the high end of a tesla coil operated on a dinrunal cycle, would the grass grow and what would be the color? Another control seed plot close by would have a plexiglass top.

Mads Barnkob

Sat Aug 14 2010, 07:22AM

Registered Member #1403 Joined: Tue Mar 18 2008, 06:05PM
Location: Denmark, Odense C
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I remember reading a article about plants growing faster when exposed or conducting high voltage, but right now I can not find it again on google... I get too many hits with cannabis growing lamps :)

Avi

Sat Aug 14 2010, 09:22AM

Registered Member #580 Joined: Mon Mar 12 2007, 03:17PM
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Posts: 410

ozone is will probably kill cells

radiotech

Sat Aug 14 2010, 01:43PM

Registered Member #2463 Joined: Wed Nov 11 2009, 03:49AM
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In a patent, one of the preambles was an observation that a radio aerial connected to a metal plate above plants seemed to allow them to grow in the dark.

The circuit from the TC could be attenuated below the ozone producing point.

803

Sat Aug 14 2010, 02:29PM

Registered Member #2807 Joined: Fri Apr 16 2010, 08:10PM
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I read in I book on Ben Franklin, and there was a part when a man connected a electrostatic machine to plants and they grew better. I would think the same affect would work with AC

Conundrum

Sat Aug 14 2010, 10:34PM

Registered Member #96 Joined: Thu Feb 09 2006, 05:37PM
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should work, enough infrared and red light is emitted by a corona discharge to have an effect.

btw plants will grow from seed for a while in the total absence of light, we did this in biology class...

Chris Russell

Sun Aug 15 2010, 02:22AM

... not Russel!
Registered Member #1 Joined: Thu Jan 26 2006, 12:18AM
Location: Tempe, Arizona
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radiotech wrote ...

If some grass seeds were planted in a darkened box with no light and just a copper wire running over the top connected to the high end of a tesla coil operated on a dinrunal cycle, would the grass grow and what would be the color? Another control seed plot close by would have a plexiglass top.

Chlorophyll has an absorption spectrum that is pretty specifically tuned to the visible spectrum:

Depending on your build, a small amount of corona discharge may be present, but that faint light is not very ideal for growing plants. Compare the spectrum of a corona discharge here:

to the absorption spectrum of chlorophyll, above, and the problem should become clear. If you design the box such that a large amount of discharge is present, such as arcs, nitrates and ozone will build up in the air and kill the plants rather quickly, unless a large amount of fresh air is provided.

In any case, a box with a clear top is not a control. You'll want to use a darkened box without a Tesla coil as a control, one that has the same amount of air circulation as the Tesla coil box. Otherwise, there will be too many variables for your experiment to be meaningful.

radiotech

Sun Aug 15 2010, 02:53AM

Registered Member #2463 Joined: Wed Nov 11 2009, 03:49AM
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Yes , I re-read the file and the plants grown with the antenna were green and chlorophyll was present. Dark ones were white.

Marko

Tue Aug 17 2010, 11:54PM

Registered Member #89 Joined: Thu Feb 09 2006, 02:40PM
Location: Zadar, Croatia
Posts: 3145

Hi guys

As far as I know, in photosynthesis process chlorophyll absorbs a photon and releases an electron - basically it gets ionized. The photon absorbed has a particular energy which has to be spent in the process - visible and infrared light as well have an ionizing potential for specific chemical compounds, despite they are not normally considered ionizing. As far as I know ionization is essential in order for electromagnetic radiation to be able to induce any chemical changes.

Radiation in tesla coil range is many orders of magnitude far from this, and if it could affect any organism's chemistry in any way, other than heating them to temperatures far too high to sustain life and pyrolyzing them. it would have to occur through an unknown mechanism. I would be very pleased to find out if such means exist.

An electrode connected to a tc inside a box with a plant could also hardly be called a source of ''radiant energy'', due to large wavelength of radiation at TC frequencies. It would simply be a source of AC current which would flow through the plant, which I'm even more clueless about how would this provide energy to the plant, or affect it at all other than by heating. I suspect DC current is much more likely to produce some sort of effects, likely non-beneficial though.

Marko

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