MadSci Network: Botany
Query:

Re: How does magnetism affect plant growth?

Date: Mon Mar 19 18:26:52 2001
Posted By: John Moulder, Faculty, Radiation Biology, Medical College of Wisconsin
Area of science: Botany
ID: 980725214.Bt
Message:

MadSci The questions:

It is very difficult to answer these questions, because it is not clear what they mean.

What do you mean when you say you "magnetized the seeds"?
As far as I know, there is no way to make seeds magnetic. You can expose them to magnetic fields, but that does not make them magnetic.

What do you mean by a "magnetic field emitted from the seeds".
First, magnetic fields are not "emitted", they just exist around magnetic material and around wires carrying electric currents.
Second, I cannot imagine how you would could cause seeds to have magnetic fields.

I would guess that you exposed the seeds to some type of magnetic field and then planted them. If so, then I need information about the exposure:

  1. What kind of magnetic fields? Static? Power-frequency?
  2. How intense was the field?
  3. How long was the exposure?
  4. Did the exposure involve anything else that could affect the seeds? Temperature? Humidity? Direct exposure to an electric current?
  5. Were the control (unexposed) seeds handled exactly the same as the exposed seeds except for the magnetic field?
  6. What differences in plant growth were observed?
John Moulder
Radiation Biologist


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