How do plants react to electricity? Electric vegetables, electric garden, plant growth stimulator, high garden, electric garden, garden without worries, atmospheric electricity, free electricity, electrical stimulation of plant growth

Our Earth and other planets have both magnetic and electric fields. The fact that the Earth has an electric field was known about 150 years ago. The electric charge of the planets in the solar system is created by the Sun due to the effects of electrostatic induction and ionization of the matter of the planets. The magnetic field is formed due to the axial rotation of the charged planets. The average magnetic field of the Earth and planets depends on the average surface density of the negative electric charge, the angular velocity of the axial rotation and the radius of the planet. Therefore, the Earth (and other planets), by analogy with the passage of light through a lens, should be considered as an electric lens, and not a source of an electric field.

This means that the Earth is connected with the Sun with the help of an electrical force, the Sun itself is connected with the center of the Galaxy with the help of a magnetic force, and the center of the Galaxy is connected with the central cluster of galaxies with the help of an electric force.

Our planet is electrically like a spherical capacitor charged to about 300,000 volts. The inner sphere - the surface of the Earth - is negatively charged, the outer sphere - the ionosphere - is positively charged. Earth's atmosphere serves as an insulator.

Ionic and convective capacitor leakage currents constantly flow through the atmosphere, which reach many thousands of amperes. But, despite this, the potential difference between the capacitor plates does not decrease.

This means that in nature there is a generator (G), which constantly replenishes the leakage of charges from the capacitor plates. Such a generator is the Earth's magnetic field, which rotates together with our planet in the flow of the solar wind.

As in any charged capacitor, there is an electric field in the earth's capacitor. The intensity of this field is distributed very unevenly along the height: it is maximum at the Earth's surface and is approximately 150 V/m. With height, it decreases approximately according to the exponential law and at a height of 10 km is about 3% of the value at the Earth's surface.

Thus, almost the entire electric field is concentrated in the lower layer of the atmosphere, near the surface of the Earth. The Earth's electric field strength vector E is generally directed downward. The Earth's electric field, like any electric field, acts on charges with a certain force F, which pushes positive charges down to the ground, and negative charges up into the clouds.

All this can be seen in natural phenomena. Hurricanes, tropical storms and many cyclones constantly rage on Earth. For example, the rise of air during a hurricane occurs mainly due to the difference in air density at the periphery of the hurricane and in its center - the thermal tower, but not only. Part of the lifting force (about one third) is provided by the Earth's electric field, according to Coulomb's law.

The ocean during a storm is a huge field strewn with spikes and ribs, on which negative charges and the intensity of the Earth's electric field are concentrated. Evaporating water molecules under such conditions easily capture negative charges and carry them away with them. And the Earth's electric field, in full accordance with Coulomb's law, moves these charges upward, adding lift to the air.

Thus, the Earth's global electric generator spends part of its power on strengthening atmospheric vortices on the planet - hurricanes, storms, cyclones, etc. In addition, such power consumption does not affect the magnitude of the Earth's electric field in any way.

The electric field of the Earth is subject to fluctuations: it is stronger in winter than in summer, it reaches a maximum daily at 19 hours GMT, and also depends on the state of the weather. But these fluctuations do not exceed 30% of its average value. In some rare cases, under certain weather conditions, the strength of this field can increase several times.

During a thunderstorm, the electric field varies widely and can reverse direction, but this occurs over a small area, directly below the thunderstorm cell, and for a short time.

PHYSICS

BIOLOGY

Plants and their electrical potential.

Completed by: Markevich V.V.

GBOU secondary school No. 740 Moscow

Grade 9

Head: Kozlova Violetta Vladimirovna

physics and mathematics teacher

Moscow 2013

Content

Introduction

Relevance
Goals and objectives of the work
Research methods
Significance of work

Analysis of the studied literature on the topic "Electricity in life

plants"

Research methodology and technique

Study of damage currents in various plants
1. Experiment #1 (with lemons)
  Experiment #2 (with an apple)
  Experiment #3 (with a plant leaf)

Study of the influence of an electric field on seed germination

Experiments to observe the effect of ionized air on the germination of pea seeds
Experiments to observe the effect of ionized air on the germination of bean seeds

conclusions

Conclusion

Literature

Chapter 1Introduction

"Surprising as electrical phenomena are,

inherent in inorganic matter, they do not go

in no way comparable to those associated with

life processes."

Michael Faraday

In this paper, we turn to one of the most interesting and promising areas of research - the effect of physical conditions on plants.

Studying the literature on this issue, I learned that Professor P.P. Gulyaev, using highly sensitive equipment, managed to establish that a weak bioelectric field surrounds any living thing and it is still known for sure: every living cell has its own power plant. And cellular potentials are not so small. For example, in some algae they reach 0.15 V.

“If 500 pairs of halves of peas are assembled in a certain order in a series, then the final electrical voltage will be 500 volts ... It is good that the cook does not know about the danger that threatens him when he prepares this special dish, and fortunately for him, the peas do not connect in ordered series. This statement of the Indian researcher J. Boss is based on a rigorous scientific experiment. He connected the inner and outer parts of the pea with a galvanometer and heated up to 60°C. The device at the same time showed a potential difference of 0.5 V.

How does this happen? On what principle do living generators and batteries work? Eduard Trukhan, Deputy Head of the Department of Living Systems of the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology, Candidate of Physical and Mathematical Sciences, believes that one of the most important processes occurring in a plant cell is the process of assimilation of solar energy, the process of photosynthesis.

So, if at that moment scientists manage to “pull apart” positively and negatively charged particles in different directions, then, in theory, we will have at our disposal a wonderful living generator, the fuel for which would be water and sunlight, and besides energy, it would also produce pure oxygen.

Perhaps in the future such a generator will be created. But to realize this dream, scientists will have to work hard: they need to select the most suitable plants, and maybe even learn how to make chlorophyll grains artificially, create some kind of membrane that would allow them to separate charges. It turns out that a living cell, storing electrical energy in natural capacitors - intracellular membranes of special cell formations, mitochondria, then uses it to perform a lot of work: building new molecules, drawing nutrients into the cell, regulating its own temperature ... And that's not all. With the help of electricity, the plant itself performs many operations: it breathes, moves, grows.

Relevance

Already today it can be argued that the study of the electrical life of plants is beneficial to agriculture. I. V. Michurin also conducted experiments on the effect of electric current on the germination of hybrid seedlings.

Pre-sowing seed treatment is the most important element of agricultural technology that allows you to increase their germination, and ultimately the yield of plants. And this is especially important in our not very long and warm summer.

Goals and objectives of the work

The aim of the work is to study the presence of bioelectric potentials in plants and to study the effect of an electric field on seed germination.

To achieve the goal of the study, it is necessary to solve the following tasks :

The study of the main provisions concerning the doctrine of bioelectric potentials and the influence of an electric field on the vital activity of plants.

Conducting experiments to detect and observe damage currents in various plants.

Conducting experiments to observe the effect of an electric field on seed germination.

Research methods

To fulfill the objectives of the study, theoretical and practical methods are used. Theoretical method: search, study and analysis of scientific and popular science literature on this issue. Of the practical research methods used: observation, measurement, experimentation.

Significance of work

The material of this work can be used in the lessons of physics and biology, since this important issue is not covered in textbooks. And the methodology for conducting experiments is as a material for practical classes of an elective course.

Chapter 2 Literature Analysis

History of the study of the electrical properties of plants

One of the characteristic features of living organisms is the ability to be irritated.

Charles Darwinattached great importance to the irritability of plants. He studied in detail the biological characteristics of the insectivorous representatives of the plant world, which are highly sensitive, and outlined the results of the research in the remarkable book On Insectivorous Plants, which was published in 1875. In addition, the attention of the great naturalist was attracted by various movements of plants. Taken together, all the studies suggested that the plant organism is remarkably similar to the animal.

The widespread use of electrophysiological methods has allowed animal physiologists to achieve significant progress in this field of knowledge. It was found that electric currents (biocurrents) constantly arise in animal organisms, the distribution of which leads to motor reactions. C. Darwin suggested that similar electrical phenomena also take place in the leaves of insectivorous plants, which have a rather pronounced ability to move. However, he himself did not test this hypothesis. At his request, experiments with the Venus flytrap plant were carried out in 1874 by an Oxford University physiologist.Burdan Sanderson. Connecting the leaf of this plant to a galvanometer, the scientist noted that the arrow immediately deviated. This means that electrical impulses arise in the living leaf of this insectivorous plant. When the researcher irritated the leaves by touching the bristles located on their surface, the galvanometer needle deviated in the opposite direction, as in the experiment with the muscle of an animal.

German physiologistHermann Munch, who continued the experiments, in 1876 came to the conclusion that the leaves of the Venus flytrap are electrically similar to the nerves, muscles and electrical organs of some animals.

In Russia, electrophysiological methods have been usedN. K. Levakovskyto study the phenomena of irritability in bashful mimosa. In 1867 he published a book called "On the Movement of the Irritable Organs of Plants". In the experiments of N. K. Levakovsky, the strongest electrical signals were observed in those specimensmimosa , which most energetically responded to external stimuli. If a mimosa is quickly killed by heating, then the dead parts of the plant do not produce electrical signals. The author also observed the emergence of electrical impulses in the stamensthistle and thistle, in petioles of sundew leaves. Subsequently, it was found that

Bioelectric potentials in plant cells

Plant life is dependent on moisture. Therefore, the electrical processes in them are most fully manifested in the normal mode of moistening and fade when withering. This is due to the exchange of charges between the liquid and the walls of capillary vessels during the flow of nutrient solutions through the capillaries of plants, as well as to the processes of ion exchange between cells and the environment. The most important for life electric fields are excited in the cells.

So, we know that...

Wind-blown pollen has a negative charge. ‚ approaching in magnitude the charge of dust particles during dust storms. Near pollen-losing plants, the ratio between positive and negative light ions changes dramatically, which favorably affects the further development of plants.

In the practice of spraying pesticides in agriculture, it has been found thatchemicals with a positive charge are deposited on the beet and apple tree to a greater extent, on the lilac - with a negative charge.

One-sided illumination of a leaf excites an electrical potential difference between its illuminated and unilluminated areas and the petiole, stem and root. This potential difference expresses the plant's response to changes in its body associated with the start or stop of the process of photosynthesis.

Germination of seeds in a strong electric field (e.g. near the corona electrode)leads to change stem height and thickness and crown density of developing plants. this occurs mainly due to the redistribution in the plant body under the influence of an external electric field of the space charge.

A damaged place in plant tissues is always negatively charged. relatively undamaged areas, and the dying areas of plants acquire a negative charge in relation to areas growing under normal conditions.

Charged seeds of cultivated plants have a relatively high electrical conductivity and therefore quickly lose their charge. Weed seeds are closer in their properties to dielectrics and can retain a charge for a long time. This is used to separate crop seeds from weeds on the conveyor.

Significant potential differences in the plant organism cannot be excited Because plants do not have a specialized electrical organ. Therefore, among plants there is no "tree of death" that could kill living beings with its electrical power.

Effect of atmospheric electricity on plants

One of the characteristic features of our planet is the presence of a constant electric field in the atmosphere. The person does not notice it. But the electrical state of the atmosphere is not indifferent to him and other living beings inhabiting our planet, including plants. Above the Earth at an altitude of 100-200 km, there is a layer of positively charged particles - the ionosphere.
So, when you walk across a field, street, square, you move in an electric field, you inhale electric charges..

The effect of atmospheric electricity on plants has been studied since 1748 by many authors. This year Abbe Nolet reported experiments in which he electrified plants by placing them under charged electrodes. He observed the acceleration of germination and growth. Grandieu (1879) observed that plants that were not affected by atmospheric electricity, as they were placed in a grounded wire mesh box, showed a weight reduction of 30 to 50% compared to control plants.

Lemström (1902) exposed plants to the action of air ions, placing them under a wire equipped with spikes and connected to a high voltage source (1 m above ground level, ion current 10-11 - 10 -12 A / cm 2 ), and he found an increase in weight and length of more than 45% (for example, carrots, peas, cabbage).

The fact that plant growth was accelerated in an atmosphere with an artificially increased concentration of positive and negative small ions was recently confirmed by Krueger and his collaborators. They found that oat seeds responded to positive as well as negative ions (a concentration of about 10 4 ions/cm3 ) increase by 60% in total length and increase in fresh and dry weight by 25-73%. Chemical analysis of the aerial parts of plants revealed an increase in the content of protein, nitrogen and sugar. In the case of barley, there was an even greater increase (about 100%) in total elongation; the increase in fresh weight was not large, but there was a noticeable increase in dry weight, which was accompanied by a corresponding increase in protein, nitrogen and sugar content.

Experiments with plant seeds were also carried out by Vorden. He found that the germination of green beans and green peas became earlier with an increase in the level of ions of either polarity. The final percentage of germinated seeds was lower with negative ionization compared to the control group; germination in the positive ionized group and control was the same. As the seedlings grew, the control and positively ionized plants continued to grow, while the negatively ionized plants mostly withered and died.

Influence in recent years there has been a strong change in the electrical state of the atmosphere; various regions of the Earth began to differ from each other in the ionized state of the air, which is due to its dust content, gas contamination, etc. The electrical conductivity of air is a sensitive indicator of its purity: the more foreign particles in the air, the greater the number of ions settles on them and, consequently, the electrical conductivity of the air becomes less.
So, in Moscow, 1 cm 3 of air contains 4 negative charges, in St. Petersburg - 9 such charges, in Kislovodsk, where the standard of air purity is 1.5 thousand particles, and in the south of Kuzbass in the mixed forests of the foothills, the number of these particles reaches up to 6 thousand. This means that where there are more negative particles, it is easier to breathe, and where there is dust, a person gets less of them, since dust particles settle on them.
It is well known that near fast-flowing water, the air is refreshing and invigorating. It contains many negative ions. Back in the 19th century, it was determined that larger droplets in water splashes are positively charged, while smaller droplets are negatively charged. Since larger droplets settle faster, negatively charged small droplets remain in the air.
On the contrary, the air in cramped rooms with an abundance of various kinds of electromagnetic devices is saturated with positive ions. Even a relatively short stay in such a room leads to lethargy, drowsiness, dizziness and headaches.

Chapter 3 Research methodology

Study of damage currents in various plants.

Tools and materials

3 lemons, apple, tomato, plant leaf;

3 shiny copper coins;

3 galvanized screws;

wires, preferably with clamps at the ends;

small knife;

several sticky leaves;

low voltage LED 300mV;

nail or awl;

multimeter.

Experiments to detect and observe damage currents in plants

Technique for performing experiment No. 1. Current in lemons.

First of all, crushed all the lemons. This is done so that juice appears inside the lemon.

They screwed a galvanized screw into the lemons by about a third of its length. Using a knife, carefully cut a small strip in the lemon - 1/3 of its length. A copper coin was inserted into the slot in the lemon so that half of it remained outside.

We inserted screws and coins in the same way into the other two lemons. Then we connected the wires and clamps, connected the lemons in such a way that the screw of the first lemon was connected to the coin of the second, and so on. We connected the wires to the coin from the first lemon and the screw from the last. The lemon works like a battery: the coin is the positive (+) pole and the screw is the negative (-). Unfortunately, this is a very weak source of energy. But it can be enhanced by combining a few lemons.

Connect the positive pole of the diode to the positive pole of the battery, connect the negative pole. Diode on fire!

Over time, the voltage at the poles of the lemon battery will decrease. We noticed how long the lemon battery lasts. After a while, the lemon darkened near the screw. If you remove the screw and insert it (or a new one) in another place on the lemon, you can partially extend the battery life. You can also try to crush the battery by moving the coins from time to time.

We experimented with a large number of lemons. The diode began to glow brighter. The battery now lasts longer.

Larger pieces of zinc and copper were used.

Take a multimeter and measure the battery voltage.

Technique for performing experiment No. 2. Current in apples.

The apple was cut in half, the core was removed.

If both electrodes assigned to the multimeter are applied to the outer side of the apple (peel), the multimeter will not record the potential difference.

One electrode has been moved to the inside of the pulp, and the multimeter will note the occurrence of a fault current.

Let's experiment with vegetables - tomatoes.

The measurement results were placed in a table.

One electrode on the peel,

the other is in the pulp of an apple

0.21V

Electrodes in the pulp of a cut apple

0.05 V

Electrodes in tomato pulp

0.02 V

Technique for performing experiment No. 3. Current in a cut stem.

Cut off the leaf of the plant with the stem.

We measured the damage currents in the cut stem at different distances between the electrodes.

The measurement results were placed in a table.

RESULTS OF THE STUDY

In any plant, the occurrence of electrical potentials can be detected.

Study of the effect of an electric field on seed germination.

Tools and materials

pea seeds, beans;

Petri dishes;

air ionizer;

watch;

water.

Experiments to observe the effect of ionized air on seed germination

Experiment Technique #1

The ionizer was switched on daily for 10 minutes.

Germination of 8 seeds

(5 did not germinate)

10.03.09

Sprout growth

at 10 seeds (3 did not germinate)

Sprout growth

11.03.09

Sprout growth

at 10 seeds (3 did not germinate)

Sprout growth

12.03.09

Sprout growth

Germination of 3 seeds

(4 did not germinate)

11.03.09

Increasing seed sprouts

Germination of 2 seeds

(2 did not germinate)

12.03.09

Increasing seed sprouts

Research results

The results of the experiment indicate that seed germination is faster and more successful under the influence of the electric field of the ionizer.

Order of execution of experiment No. 2

For the experiment, we took the seeds of peas and beans, soaked them in Petri dishes and placed them in different rooms with the same illumination and room temperature. In one of the rooms, an air ionizer was installed - a device for artificial air ionization.

The ionizer was switched on daily for 20 minutes.

Every day we moistened the seeds of peas, beans and watched when the seeds hatched.

Germination of 6 seeds

Germination of 9 seeds

(3 did not germinate)

19.03.09

Germination of 2 seeds

(4 did not germinate)

Increasing seed sprouts

20.03.09

Increasing seed sprouts

21.03.09

Increasing seed sprouts

Experimental cup

(with treated seeds)

control cup

15.03.09

seed soaking

16.03.09

seed swelling

17.03.09

Without changes

18.03.09

Germination of 3 seeds

(5 did not germinate)

Germination of 4 seeds

(4 did not germinate)

19.03.09

Germination of 3 seeds

(2 did not germinate)

Germination of 2 seeds

(2 did not germinate)

20.03.09

Sprout growth

Germination of 1 seed

(1 did not germinate)

21.03.09

Sprout growth

Research results

The results of the experiment indicate that a longer exposure to an electric field had a negative effect on seed germination. They sprouted later and not so successfully.

Order of execution of experiment No. 3

The ionizer was switched on daily for 40 minutes.

Every day we moistened the seeds of peas, beans and watched when the seeds hatched.

The timing of the experiments was placed in tables

Germination of 8 seeds

(4 did not germinate)

05.04.09

Without changes

Sprout growth

06.04.09

Germination of 2 seeds

(10 did not germinate)

Sprout growth

07.04.09

Sprout growth

Without changes

Germination of 3 seeds

(4 did not germinate)

06.04.09

Germination of 2 seeds

(5 did not germinate)

Germination of 2 seeds

(2 did not germinate)

07.04.09

Sprout growth

Research results

The results of the experiment indicate that a longer exposure to an electric field had a negative effect on seed germination. Their germination has noticeably decreased.

CONCLUSIONS

In any plant, the occurrence of electrical potentials can be detected.

The electrical potential depends on the type and size of plants, on the distance between the electrodes.

Treatment of seeds with an electric field within reasonable limits leads to an acceleration of the process of seed germination and more successful germination..

After processing and analyzing the experimental and control samples, a preliminary conclusion can be drawn - an increase in the time of exposure to an electrostatic field has a depressing effect, since the quality of seed germination is lower with an increase in the ionization time.

Chapter 4 Conclusion

Currently, numerous studies of scientists are devoted to the issues of the influence of electric currents on plants. The effect of electric fields on plants is still being carefully studied.

Research carried out at the Institute of Plant Physiology made it possible to establish the relationship between the intensity of photosynthesis and the value of the difference in electrical potentials between the earth and the atmosphere. However, the mechanism underlying these phenomena has not yet been studied.

When starting the study, we set ourselves the goal of determining the effect of the electric field on plant seeds.

After processing and analysis of experimental and control samples, a preliminary conclusion can be drawn - an increase in the time of exposure to an electrostatic field has a depressing effect. We believe that this work is not finished, since only the first results have been obtained.

Further research on this issue can be continued in the following areas:

influenced whether the treatment of seeds with an electric field on the further growth of plants?

Chapter 5 LITERATURE

Bogdanov K. Yu. A physicist visiting a biologist. - M.: Nauka, 1986. 144 p.

Vorotnikov A.A. Physics for the young. - M: Harvest, 1995-121s.

Katz Ts.B. Biophysics at physics lessons. - M: Enlightenment, 1971-158s.

Perelman Ya.I. Entertaining physics. - M: Science, 1976-432s.

Artamonov V.I. Interesting plant physiology. – M.: Agropromizdat, 1991.

Arabadzhi V.I. Riddles of plain water.- M .: "Knowledge", 1973.

http://www.pereplet.ru/obrazovanie/stsoros/163.html

http://www.npl-rez.ru/litra/bios.htm

http:// www.ionization.ru

Let's start with the fact that the agricultural industry is destroyed to the ground. What's next? Is it time to collect stones? Isn't it time to unite all creative forces in order to give the villagers and summer residents those novelties that will allow them to dramatically increase productivity, reduce manual labor, find new ways in genetics ... I would suggest that the readers of the magazine be the authors of the column "For the Village and Summer Residents". I'll start with the old work "Electric field and productivity."

In 1954, when I was a student at the Military Communications Academy in Leningrad, I became passionately interested in the process of photosynthesis and carried out an interesting test with growing onions on a windowsill. The windows of the room in which I lived faced the north, and therefore the bulbs could not receive the sun. I planted in two elongated boxes of five bulbs. He took the earth in the same place for both boxes. I didn’t have any fertilizers, i.e. were created, as it were, the same conditions for growing. Above one box from above, at a distance of half a meter (Fig. 1), he placed a metal plate, to which he attached a wire from a high-voltage rectifier +10,000 V, and stuck a nail into the ground of this box, to which he connected the "-" wire from the rectifier.

I did this so that, according to my theory of catalysis, the creation of a high potential in the plant zone will lead to an increase in the dipole moment of the molecules involved in the photosynthesis reaction, and the days of testing dragged on. Already after two weeks, I discovered that in a box with an electric field, plants develop more efficiently than in a box without a "field"! Fifteen years later, this experiment was repeated at the institute, when it was necessary to grow plants in a spacecraft. There, being closed from magnetic and electric fields, plants could not develop. It was necessary to create an artificial electric field, and now plants survive on spaceships. And if you live in a reinforced concrete house, and even on the top floor, don't your plants in the house suffer from the absence of an electric (and magnetic) field? Stick a nail into the ground of a flower pot, and connect the wiring from it to a heating battery that has been cleaned of paint or rust. In this case, your plant will approach the conditions of life in the open space, which is very important for plants and for humans too!

But my trials didn't end there. Living in Kirovograd, I decided to plant tomatoes on the windowsill. However, winter came so quickly that I did not have time to dig up tomato bushes in the garden to transplant them into flower pots. I came across a frozen bush with a small living process. I brought it home, put it in the water and... Oh, joy! After 4 days, white roots grew from the bottom of the process. I transplanted it into a pot, and when it grew with shoots, I began to receive new seedlings in the same way. All winter I ate fresh tomatoes grown on the windowsill. But I was haunted by the question: is such cloning possible in nature? Perhaps, old-timers in this city confirmed to me. Possibly, but...

I moved to Kyiv and tried to get tomato seedlings in the same way. I didn't succeed. And I realized that in Kirovograd I succeeded in this method because there, at the time when I lived, water was supplied to the water supply network from wells, and not from the Dnieper, as in Kyiv. Groundwater in Kirovograd has a small amount of radioactivity. This is what played the role of a growth stimulator of the root system! Then I applied +1.5 V from the battery to the top of the tomato sprout, and "-" brought the vessel where the sprout stood to the water (Fig. 2), and after 4 days a thick "beard" grew on the sprout in the water! So I managed to clone the offshoots of a tomato.

Recently, I got tired of watching the watering of plants on the windowsill, I stuck a strip of foil fiberglass and a large nail into the ground. I connected wires from a microammeter to them (Fig. 3). The arrow immediately deviated, because the earth in the pot was damp, and the copper-iron galvanic pair worked. A week later I saw how the current began to fall. So, it was time for watering ... In addition, the plant threw out new leaves! This is how plants respond to electricity.

Plants respond not only to the sound waves of music, but also to electromagnetic waves from the earth, the moon, planets, space and a variety of artificial devices. It remains only to determine exactly which waves are useful and which are harmful.

One evening in the late 1720s, French writer and astronomer Jean-Jacques Dertous de Mairan was watering Mimosa pudica indoor mimosas in his Paris studio. Suddenly, he was surprised to find that after sunset, a sensitive plant folds its leaves in exactly the same way as if they were touched by a hand. Meran was distinguished by an inquisitive mind and won the respect of such prominent contemporaries as Voltaire. He did not jump to conclusions that his plants simply "fall asleep" after dark. Instead, after waiting for the sun to rise, Meran placed the two mimosas in a completely dark closet. At noon, the scientist saw that the mimosa leaves in the closet had fully opened, but after sunset they folded as quickly as those of the mimosa in his studio. Then he concluded that plants must "feel" the sun even in complete darkness.

Meran was interested in everything - from the movement of the moon in its orbit and the physical properties of the northern lights to the causes of the glow of phosphorus and the features of the number 9, but he could not explain the mimosa phenomenon. In his report to the French Academy of Sciences, he timidly suggested that some unknown force must be acting on his plants. Meran here drew parallels with hospital patients who experience an extreme breakdown at certain times of the day: maybe they feel this power too?

Two and a half centuries later, Dr. John Ott, director of the Research Institute for Environmental and Light Effects on Human Health in Sarasota, Florida, was stunned by Meran's observations. Ott repeated his experiments and wondered if this "unknown energy" could penetrate the vast thickness of the earth - the only known barrier capable of blocking the so-called "cosmic radiation".

At noon, Ott lowered six mimosa plants into the shaft to a depth of 220 meters. But unlike Meran's mimosas, placed in a dark pantry, Otta's mimosas immediately closed their leaves without waiting for the sun to set. Moreover, they covered the leaves even when the mine was illuminated by the bright light of electric lamps. Ott related this phenomenon to electromagnetism, about which little was known in Meran's time. Otherwise, however, Ott was as puzzled as his French predecessor, who lived in the 17th century.

Meran's contemporaries knew about electricity only what they inherited from the ancient Hellenes. The ancient Greeks knew the unusual properties of amber (or, as they called it, electron) which, if rubbed well, attracted a feather or a straw to itself. Even before Aristotle, it was known that the magnet, black iron oxide, also had the inexplicable ability to attract iron filings. In one of the regions of Asia Minor, called Magnesia, rich deposits of this mineral were discovered, so it was called magnes lithos, or magnesian stone. Then in Latin this name was shortened to magnes, and in English and other languages to a magnet.

Scientist William Gilbert, who lived in the 16th century, was the first to connect the phenomena of electricity and magnetism. Thanks to his deep knowledge of medicine and philosophy, Gilbert became the personal physician of Queen Elizabeth I. He argued that the planet is nothing more than a spherical magnet, and therefore the magnetic stone, which is part of the animate Mother Earth, also has a "soul". Gilbert also discovered that besides amber, there are other materials that, if rubbed, can attract light objects to themselves. He called them "electricians" and also coined the term "electric force".

For centuries, people believed that the reason for the attraction of amber and the magnet is the "all-pervading ethereal fluids" emitted by these materials. True, few could explain what it is. Even 50 years after Meran's experiments, Joseph Priestley, mostly known as the discoverer of oxygen, wrote in his popular textbook on electricity: philosophers called "electrician". If the body contains fluids more or less than its natural rate, a remarkable phenomenon occurs. The body becomes electrified and able to influence other bodies, which is associated with the effect of electricity.

Another hundred years passed, but the nature of magnetism remained a mystery. As Professor Sylvanus Thompson said shortly before the outbreak of the First World War, “the mysterious properties of magnetism, which for centuries have fascinated all mankind, have remained unexplained. It is necessary to study this phenomenon on an experimental basis, the origin of which is still unknown. A paper published shortly after the end of World War II by the Chicago Museum of Science and Industry stated that man still does not know why the earth is a magnet; how an attractive material reacts to other magnets at a distance; why electric currents have a magnetic field around them; why the smallest atoms of matter occupy huge volumes of empty space filled with energy.

In the three hundred and fifty years that have passed since the publication of Gilbert's famous work "Magnet" (De Magnete), many theories have been created to explain the nature of geomagnetism, but none of them is exhaustive.

The same applies to modern physicists who have simply replaced the theory of "ethereal fluids" with wave "electromagnetic radiation". Its spectrum ranges from huge macropulsations lasting several hundred thousand years with wavelengths of millions of kilometers to ultrashort energy pulsations with a frequency of 10,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 cycles per second and with an infinitesimal length of one ten billionth of a centimeter. The first type of pulsation is observed during phenomena such as a change in the Earth's magnetic field, and the second - during the collision of atoms, usually helium and hydrogen, moving at great speed. In this case, radiation is emitted, which was given the name "cosmic rays". Between these two extremes there are an infinite number of other waves, including gamma rays originating in the nucleus of an atom; x-rays emanating from the shells of atoms; a series of rays visible to the eye, called light; waves used in radio, television, radar and other fields - from space exploration to microwave cooking.

Electromagnetic waves differ from sound waves in that they can pass not only through matter, but also through nothing. They move at a tremendous speed of 300 million kilometers per second through the vast expanses of space, filled, as previously thought, with ether, and now with almost absolute vacuum. But no one has yet really explained how these waves propagate. One eminent physicist complained that "we simply cannot explain the mechanism of this damned magnetism."

In 1747, a German physicist from Wittenberg told the Dauphin French abbot and physics teacher Jean Antoine Nollet about an interesting phenomenon: if you pump water into the thinnest tube and let it flow freely, it will flow out of the tube slowly, drop by drop. But if the tube is electrified, then the water will flow out immediately, in a continuous stream. After repeating the German's experiments and setting up a number of his own, Nolle "began to believe that the properties of electricity, if properly used, can have a remarkable effect on structured bodies, which in a sense can be considered as hydraulic machines created by nature itself." Nollet placed several plants in metal pots next to the conductor and noticed with excitement that the plants began to evaporate moisture faster. Then Nolle conducted many experiments in which he meticulously weighed not only daffodils, but also sparrows, pigeons and cats. As a result, he found that electrified plants and animals lose weight faster.

Nolle decided to test how the phenomenon of electricity affects the seeds. He planted several dozen mustard seeds in two tin boxes and electrified one of them from 7 to 10 am and from 3 to 8 pm for seven consecutive days. By the end of the week, all the seeds in the electrified container had germinated and reached an average height of 3.5 cm. In the non-electric container, only three seeds hatched, growing only to 0.5 cm. Although Nolle could not explain the reasons for the observed phenomenon, in in his voluminous report to the French Academy of Sciences, he noted that electricity has a huge impact on the growth of living things.

Nolle made his conclusion a few years before the new sensation that swept through Europe. Benjamin Franklin was able to capture the electricity from a lightning strike with a kite he flew during a thunderstorm. When lightning hit the metal tip of the kite frame, the charge traveled down the wet string and hit the Leyden jar - the accumulator of electricity. This device was developed at the University of Leiden and was used to store electrical charge in an aquatic environment; the discharge took place in the form of a single electric spark. Until now, it was believed that only static electricity produced by a static electricity generator could be stored in a Leiden jar.

While Franklin was collecting electricity from the clouds, the brilliant astronomer Pierre Charles Lemonnier, admitted to the French Academy of Sciences at the age of 21 and later making a sensational discovery about the inclination of the ecliptic, determined that there was a constant electrical activity in the Earth's atmosphere even at sunny cloudless weather. But how exactly this ubiquitous electricity interacts with plants remains a mystery.

The next attempt to use atmospheric electricity to increase the fruiting of plants was made in Italy. In 1770, Professor Gardini strung several wires over the garden of a monastery in Turin. Soon, many plants began to wither and die. But as soon as the monks removed the wires over their garden, the plants immediately revived. Gardini suggested that either the plants stopped receiving the dose of electricity needed for growth, or the dose of electricity received was excessive. One day, Gardini learned that in France, the brothers Joseph-Michel and Jacques-Etienne Montgolfier (Joseph-Michel, Jacques-Et-ienne Montgolfier) built a huge balloon filled with warm air and sent it on an air trip over Paris with two passengers on board. Then the balloon flew a distance of 10 km in 25 minutes. Gardini proposed to apply this new invention in horticulture. To do this, you need to attach a long wire to the ball, through which electricity from a height will go down to the ground, to garden plants.

Scientists of that time did not pay any attention to the events in Italy and France: even then they were more interested in the effect of electricity on inanimate objects than on living organisms. Scientists were also not interested in the work of Abbé Bertholon, who in 1783 wrote the voluminous treatise "Electricity of Plants" (De l "Electricite des Vegetaux). Bertolon was a professor of experimental physics at French and Spanish universities and fully supported Nollet's idea that that, by changing the viscosity, or hydraulic resistance, of the liquid medium in a living organism, electricity thereby affects

On the process of its growth. He also referred to the report of the Italian physicist Giuseppe Toaldo, who described the effect of electricity on plants. Toaldo noticed that in the planted row of jasmine bushes, two of them were next to the lightning rod. It was these two bushes that grew 10 meters in height, while the rest of the bushes were only 1.5 meters.

Bertolon, reputed to be almost a sorcerer, asked the gardener to stand on something that did not conduct electricity before watering the plants from an electrified watering can. He reported that his salads had grown to an incredible size. He also invented the so-called "electrovegetometer" to collect atmospheric electricity with an antenna and pass it through the plants growing in the fields. “This tool,” he wrote, “affects the process of growth and development of plants, it can be used in any conditions, in any weather. Only cowardly and cowardly people, who, hiding behind the mask of prudence, can doubt its effectiveness and usefulness, are panicky afraid of everything new. In conclusion, the abbot explicitly stated that in the future the best fertilizers in the form of electricity would be delivered free of charge to plants "straight from heaven."

The remarkable idea that electricity interacts with and even permeates all living things was developed in November 1780. The wife of a scientist from Bologna, Luigi Galvani, accidentally noticed that a static electricity generator causes convulsive contractions in a severed frog leg. When she told her husband about this, he was very surprised and immediately assumed that electricity was of animal origin. On Christmas Eve, he decided that this was the case, and wrote in his work diary: “Most likely, electricity is the causative agent of neuromuscular activity.”

Over the next six years, Galvani studied the effect of electricity on muscle function, and one day accidentally discovered that frog legs twitch with the same success and without the use of electricity, when a copper wire with suspended legs touches an iron rod when the wind blows. For Galvani, it became obvious that in this closed electrical circuit, either metals or frogs could be the source of electricity. Considering that electricity has an animal nature, he concluded that the observed phenomenon is associated with animal tissue and such a reaction is a consequence of the circulation of the vital fluid (energy) of the bodies of frogs. Galvani dubbed this fluid "animal electricity".

Galvani's discovery was initially supported by his compatriot Alessandro Volta, a physicist at the University of Pavia in the Duchy of Milan. But by repeating Galvani's experiments, Volta was able to produce the effect of electricity with just two kinds of metals. He wrote to Abbé Tommaselli that apparently the electricity did not come from the legs of a frog, but simply "the result of the use of two metals with different properties." Having delved into the study of the electrical properties of metals, in 1800 Volta created the first electric battery. It was a stack of alternating zinc and copper discs with pieces of damp paper between them. It was instantly charged and could be used as a source of current countless times, and not just once, like a Leyden jar. So researchers for the first time ceased to depend on static and natural electricity. As a result of the invention of this progenitor of the modern battery, artificial dynamic or kinetic electricity was discovered. The idea of Galvani about the existence of a special vital energy in the tissues of living organisms was almost forgotten.

At first, Volta supported Galvani's discoveries, but later he wrote: “Galvani's experiments are certainly spectacular. But if we discard his beautiful ideas and assume that the organs of animals are devoid of their own electrical activity, then they can be regarded as just the latest supersensitive electrometers. Shortly before his death, Galvani made a prophetic statement that one day an analysis of all the necessary physiological aspects of his experiments "will help to better understand the nature of the vital forces and their differences depending on sex, age, temperament, diseases and even the composition of the atmosphere." But scientists reacted to him with distrust and considered his ideas untenable.

A few years earlier, the Hungarian Jesuit Maximilian Hell, unfamiliar with Galvani, picked up Gilbert's ideas about the animation of the magnet, which conveys this quality to other metal-containing materials. Armed with this idea, he made an unusual device from magnetized steel plates, with the help of which he was cured of chronic rheumatism. Hell's success in healing sick people made a great impression on his friend, the Viennese physician Franz Anton Mesmer, who became interested in magnetism after reading the works of Paracelsus. Then Mesmer took up the experimental verification of Hell's work and became convinced that living matter is indeed influenced by "terrestrial and celestial magnetic forces." In 1779, he called these forces "animal magnetism" and devoted his doctoral dissertation to them, "The Influence of the Planets on the Human Body." One day, Mesmer learned of a Swiss priest, J. Gassner, who healed his patients by the laying on of hands. Mesmer successfully adopted Gassner's technique and explained the effectiveness of this method of healing by the fact that some people, including himself, are endowed with more "magnetic" power than others.

It would seem that such amazing discoveries of bioelectrical and biomagnetic energy could mark a new era of research that combines physics, medicine and physiology. But the new era had to wait at least another hundred years. Mesmer's success in healing against the backdrop of the failure of everyone else aroused the black envy of his Viennese colleagues. They called Mesmer a demon-possessed sorcerer and organized a commission to investigate his claims. The conclusion of the commission was not in his favor, and then Mesmer was expelled from the teaching staff of the medical faculty and forbidden to treat people.

In 1778 he moved to Paris, where, as he said, he met "people more enlightened and not so indifferent to new discoveries." There, Mesmer found a powerful supporter of his new methods, Charles d "Eslon, the first doctor at the court of Louis XVI's brother, who introduced Mesmer to influential circles. But soon everything happened again: now envy seized the French doctors, as Mesmer's Austrian colleagues once did. They raised such a fuss that the king was forced to appoint a royal commission to investigate Mesmer's statements, and this despite the fact that d "Eslon at a meeting of the medical faculty of the University of Paris called Mesmer's work "one of the greatest scientific achievements of our time." The royal commission included the director of the French Academy of Sciences, who in 1772 solemnly proclaimed that meteorites did not exist; The commission was chaired by the American ambassador Benjamin Franklin. The commission concluded that "animal magnetism does not exist and has no healing effect." Mesmer was exposed to public ridicule, and his great popularity began to fade. He left for Switzerland and in 1815, a year before his death, completed his most important work: “Mesmerism or a system of mutual influences; or Theory and Practice of Animal Magnetism.

In 1820, the Danish scientist Hans Christian Oersted discovered that if you place a compass next to a live wire, the arrow always takes a position perpendicular to the wire. When you change the direction of the current, the arrow turns 180°. From this it followed that around the wire under voltage there is a magnetic field. This led to the most profitable invention in the history of science. Michael Faraday in England and Joseph Henry in the USA independently concluded that the opposite phenomenon must also exist: when a wire moves through a magnetic field, an electric current is generated in the wire. Thus, the “generator” was invented, and with it the whole army of electrical appliances.

Today there are a huge number of books about what a person can do with electricity. In the US Library of Congress, books on this topic occupy seventeen thirty-meter shelves. But the essence of electricity and the principles of its work remain the same mystery as in the days of Priestley. Modern scientists, still unaware of the composition of electromagnetic waves, have cleverly adapted them for use in radio, radar, television, and toasters.

With such a one-sided interest only in the mechanical properties of electromagnetism, very few paid attention to its effects on living beings. Baron Karl von Reichenbach of Tubingen, Germany, was one of the few alternative thinkers. In 1845, he invented various wood tar-based substances, including creosote, which is used to protect above-ground fences and underwater structures made of wood from decay. According to Reichenbach's observations, especially gifted people, whom he called "psychics", could see with their own eyes a strange energy emanating from all living organisms and even from the ends of a magnet. He called this energy odil or od. Reichenbach's works - Researches into the Forces of Magnetism, Electricity, Heat and Light in Relation to the Force of Life - were translated into English by the eminent physician William Gregory appointed in 1844 professor of chemistry at the University of Edinburgh. Despite this, all attempts by Reichenbach to prove the existence of od to his contemporaries-physiologists in England and Europe - from the very beginning failed.

Reichenbach named the reason for such a contemptuous attitude towards his “odic power”: “As soon as I touch this subject, I immediately feel that I am hurting scientists to the quick. They equate od and psychic abilities with so-called "animal magnetism" and "mesmerism". As soon as this happens, all sympathy immediately evaporates. According to Reichenbach, the identification of ods with animal magnetism is completely unfounded, and although the mysterious odic force somewhat resembles animal magnetism, it exists completely independently of the latter.

Wilhelm Reich later argued that “the ancient Greeks and contemporaries, starting with Gilbert, dealt with a completely different kind of energy that they had studied since the time of Volta and Faraday. The second type of energy was obtained by moving wires through magnetic fields, this energy differs from the first type not only in the way it is received, but also in its nature.

Reich believed that the ancient Greeks, using the principle of friction, discovered a mysterious energy, to which he gave the name "orgone". It is very similar to the ode of Reichenbach and the ether of the ancients. Reich argued that orgone fills all space and is the medium in which light, electromagnetic waves, and the force of gravity propagate. Orgone fills the entire cosmos, though not uniformly everywhere, and is present even in a vacuum. Reich considered orgone as the main link connecting inorganic and organic matter. By the 1960s, shortly after Reich's death, there was too much evidence that living organisms were electrical in nature. D. S. Halasi, in his book on orthodox science, put it very simply: “The flow of electrons is the basis of almost all life processes.”

Between the Reichenbach and the Reich, scientists, instead of studying natural phenomena in their entirety, began to disassemble them into small components - and this, in part, became the cause of all the difficulties in science. At the same time, the gap between the so-called life sciences and physics, which believed only in the existence of what can be directly seen with the eyes or measured with instruments, widened. Somewhere in the middle was chemistry, which sought to break matter into molecules. By artificially combining and grouping molecules, chemists have synthesized countless new substances.

In 1828, for the first time, an organic substance, urea, was obtained under laboratory conditions. The artificial synthesis of organic substances seemed to destroy the idea of the existence of any special "life" aspect in living matter. With the discovery of cells, the biological counterparts of classical Greek philosophy's atoms, scientists began to look at plants, animals, and humans as just different combinations of these cells. In other words, a living organism is just a chemical aggregate. In the light of such ideas, few people have the desire to understand electromagnetism and its influence on living matter. Nevertheless, individual "renegades" from science from time to time drew general attention to questions about the influence of space on plants, and thus did not allow the discoveries of Nollet and Bertolon to sink into oblivion.

Overseas in North America, William Ross, testing claims that electrified seeds germinate faster, planted cucumbers in a mixture of black manganese oxide, table salt, and pure sand, and watered them with dilute sulfuric acid. When he passed an electric current through the mixture, the seeds germinated much faster than non-electrified ones planted in a similar mixture. A year later, in 1845, in the first issue of the London Journal of the Horticultural Society, a lengthy report entitled "The Effect of Electricity on Plants" was published. The author of the report was agriculturist Edward Solly, who, like Gardini, hung wires over the garden and, like Ross, tried to put them underground. Solli did seventy experiments with various grains, vegetables, and flowers. Of the seventy cases studied, only nineteen showed a positive effect of electricity on plants, and about the same number of cases - a negative one.

Such conflicting results indicated that for each plant species the quantity, quality and duration of electrical stimulation is of great importance. But physicists did not have the necessary equipment to measure the effects of electricity on different species, and they did not yet know how artificial and atmospheric electricity affects plants. Therefore, this area of research was left to the mercy of persistent and curious gardeners or "eccentrics". However, there were more and more observations that plants have electrical properties.

In 1859, in one of the issues of the London "Gardeners" Chronicle, a report was published of light flashes from one scarlet vervain to another. The report mentioned that this phenomenon was especially clearly visible at twilight before a thunderstorm after a long period of dry weather This confirmed Goethe's observations that Oriental poppy flowers glow in the dark.

Only at the end of the nineteenth century in Germany did new data appear that shed light on the nature of atmospheric electricity discovered by Lemonnier. Julius Elster and Hans Geitel (Julius Elster, Hans Geitel), interested in "radioactivity" - the spontaneous emission of inorganic substances - began a large-scale study of atmospheric electricity. In the course of this study, it turned out that the soil of the earth constantly emits electrically charged particles into the air. They were given the name ions (from the Greek present participle ienai, which means "going"), these were atoms, groups of atoms or molecules that, after losing or gaining electrons, had a positive or negative charge. Lemonnier's observation that the atmosphere was constantly filled with electricity finally received at least some material explanation.

In clear, cloudless weather, the Earth has a negative charge, and the atmosphere has a positive one, then the electrons from the soil and plants tend upwards, into the sky. During a thunderstorm, the polarity is reversed: the Earth acquires a positive charge, and the lower layers of clouds a negative charge. At any moment, 3-4 thousand "electric" thunderstorms rage over the surface of the globe, therefore, due to them, the charge lost in the solar regions is restored, and thus the general electrical balance of the Earth is maintained.

As a result of the constant flow of electricity, the electrical voltage increases with distance from the surface of the Earth. Between the head of a person 180 cm tall and the ground, the voltage is 200 volts; from the top of a 100-story skyscraper to the sidewalk, the voltage increases to 40,000 volts, and between the lower ionosphere and the Earth's surface, the voltage is 360,000 volts. It sounds intimidating, but in fact, due to the lack of a strong particle current, these volts do not turn into deadly energy. A person could learn how to use this colossal energy, but the main difficulty here is that he did not understand how and according to what laws this energy functions.

New attempts to investigate the effect of atmospheric electricity on plants have been made by Selim Lemström, a Finnish scientist with varied interests. Lemström was considered an expert on the aurora and terrestrial magnetism, and from 1868 to 1884. made four expeditions to the polar regions of Svalbard and Lapland. He assumed that the luxuriant vegetation of these latitudes, attributed to the long summer days, was in fact due, in his words, to "this intense manifestation of electricity, the northern lights."

It has been known since Franklin's time that atmospheric electricity is best attracted by sharp objects, and it was this observation that led to the creation of the lightning rod. Lemström reasoned that "the sharp tops of plants act as lightning rods for collecting atmospheric electricity and facilitating the exchange of charges between air and earth." He studied the annual rings on the saw cuts of fir trees and found that the amount of annual growth is clearly correlated with periods of increased activity of the sun and the northern lights.

Returning home, the scientist decided to back up his observations with experiments. He connected a row of plants in metal pots to a static electricity generator. To do this, he stretched wires at a height of 40 cm above the plants, from which metal rods descended to the ground in pots. Other plants were left alone. After eight weeks, the electrified plants gained 50% more weight than the non-electrified ones. When Lemström moved his design to the garden, the barley crop grew by a third, and the strawberry crop doubled. Moreover, it turned out to be much sweeter than usual.

Landström carried out a long series of experiments in different parts of Europe, at different latitudes, as far south as Burgundy; the results depended not only on the specific type of vegetable, fruit or cereal, but also on temperature, humidity, natural fertility and fertilization of the soil. In 1902, Landström described his progress in the book "Electro Cultur", published in Berlin. The term was included in Liberty Hyde Bailey's Standard Encyclopedia of Horticulture.

An English translation of Lendström's book, Electricity in Agriculture and Horticulture, went out of print in London two years after the German original. The introduction to the book contained a rather harsh, but as it turned out later, true warning. The subject matter of the book concerns three separate disciplines—physics, botany, and agronomy—and is unlikely to be "particularly attractive" to scientists. However, this warning did not deter one of the readers - Sir Oliver Lodge (Oliver Lodge). He made outstanding progress in physics and later became a member of the London Society for Psychical Research. Wrote a dozen books confirming his belief that there are many more worlds beyond the material world.

To avoid the long and complicated manipulation of moving the wires up as the plants grew, Lodge placed the network of wires on insulators suspended from tall poles, thus allowing people, animals and machinery to move freely through the electrified fields. In one season, Lodge managed to increase the yield of one of the wheat varieties by 40%. Moreover, the bakers noted that the bread made from Lodge flour turned out to be much tastier than the flour that they usually bought.

Lodge's associate John Newman adopted his system and achieved a 20% increase in wheat in England and potatoes in Scotland. Newman's strawberries were not only more prolific, they, like Landstrom's strawberries, were juicier and sweeter than usual. As a result of the tests carried out, the sugar content in Newman's sugar beet exceeded the average norm. By the way, Newman published a report on the results of his research not in a botanical journal, but in the fifth edition of the Standard Book for Electrical Engineers, published in New York by the large and authoritative publishing house McGraw-Hill ). Since then, engineers have become more interested in the effect of electricity on plants than plant growers.