Re: Plants? + Tesla Coils

["Tesla list" <tesla-at-pupman-dot-com>]

Original poster: "by way of Terry Fritz <teslalist-at-qwest-dot-net>" <Mddeming-at-aol-dot-com>

In a message dated 5/3/03 10:55:46 PM Eastern Daylight Time, 
tesla-at-pupman-dot-com writes:




>Original poster: "David Sharpe by way of Terry Fritz 
><teslalist-at-qwest-dot-net>" <sccr4us-at-erols-dot-com>
>
>Nolan
>My Mom used to raise house plants, mostly African Violets, which are somewhat
>picky about their environment to grow successfully.  She gave me on that had
>been
>transplanted, but had not recovered, and looked as if she might lose it.  I
>watered
>lightly and placed next to my TC (Big TC from Popular Electronics mid
>60's).  Ran
>unit for about a minute with plant within 6 feet of TC.  Next day was 
>vibrantly
>green and recovered magnificently.  Nitrous oxides and direct transpiration
>through
>leaves fertilized the hel.. out of the plant, and with e-field stimulus the
>plant took
>off like crazy.
>
>In a very similar experiment, with my younger son in mid-school, planted
>two identical
>tomato plants, one we did nothing, other ran an electric grid over plant
>using a 5 mA, 6 kV
>DC PS out of a copier.  Plant with e-field treatment was significantly
>bigger (25-30%)
>then non treated plant, same controls (sunlight, water, plant food etc.)
>Lots of experimental work has been performed about effects of e-fields to
>plant growth...
>
>Regards,
>Dave Sharpe, TCBOR/HEAS
>Chesterfield, VA. USA


Hi Dave, Nolan, All,

Several observations:

1) To the best of my knowledge, direct transpiration of nitrous oxides has 
been conjectured, but never confirmed. The negative effects of ozone have 
been well-documented.

2) Even with a totally unbiased, double blind test, with a sample size of 
two, the probability of your outcome being totally random is 50-50. The 
best you can say is that your observations DID NOT contradict the 
hypothesis that TC proximity was somehow beneficial.

3) The earliest experiments in "electrohorticulture" date to about 1746 in 
Scotland. Beneficial claims for the application of high-voltage DC grids to 
growing plants were first published by Lemstrom in 1904, who reported yield 
increases of 10-50%. Similar results with HV/HF (TC-Based) equipment were 
reported by Kenneth Golden in 1934 (US Pat 1,952,588) and by Georges 
Lakhovsky, Mark Clement, et. al. in the 1930s and 1940s. However, carefully 
controlled, double-blind experiments observed by "nonbelievers" over the 
last 60-70 years have failed to produce statistically significant 
corroboration.

4) There is a lot more math in the proper design of experiments and 
interpretation of scientific data than most amateurs and some 
"professionals" want to bother with. As a result, statistical methods in 
science are subject to more abuse by well-intentioned but untrained 
investigators. (Remember cold fusion and the CIA's "PSI Project"?)

5) That said, the field is still open for careful research, but few 
researchers get recognized (or paid) for publishing negative results. 
(Michelson & Morely being the most notable exception)

Good Luck,

Matt D.