The Effects of Magnetic Forces on Plant Growth

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The Effects of Magnetic Forces on Plant Growth

• Robert Furatero
• Bio 10 (6)

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Question and Hypothesis

• My original question that I originally came up
  for this project was Do magnetic forces affect
  plant growth?
• To answer this question, I hypothesized that
  plant growth would be affected by magnets.
  Furthermore, I hypothesized that the roots would
  be repelled by magnetic forces.

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Background Information

• The influence of the geomagnetic field on the
  growth of plants was first realized in 1862 by
  Louis Pasteur. During his experiments on
  fermentation, he discovered that the Earths
  magnetic field had a stimulating effect on
  plants growth processes.
• Father of modern bio-magnetics Dr. Albert Roy
  Davies received a patent in 1950 for magnetically
  treating seeds to stimulate plant growth.
• Magnetic forces are used in some areas today in
  agriculture (such as Mundimex Inc., or the
  country of Israel) primarily to stimulate and
  enhance plant growth.

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More Background Information
Starch grains can be seen in plant cells as black
dots

• Plant roots contain starch molecules. These
  starch molecules (along with heavy fluid exerted
  in cells there, known as protoplasm) help the
  plant determine which way to grow (they both
  detect gravity).
• Starch molecules can be affected by magnetic
  forces via diamagnetism.
• Diamagnetism is a weak magnetic force present
  when there are other magnetic fields. The weak
  magnetic force repels the other magnetic field.

Magnet focuses a magnetic force which repels
starch. (visual left, conceptual right)
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Experiment Design

• In order to check if my hypothesis was correct, I
  decided to create an experiment in which a plant
  grown under the influence of a magnetic force
  would be compared with the growth of the same
  plant without a magnet.
• I chose to grow string bean seeds for this
  experiment because they grow tall as well as
  quickly.
• In one pot, I placed a bar magnet on a tilt
  against one side facing upward. The other pot was
  left alone. I then placed the soil and planted a
  few seeds in each pot (because not all seeds grow
  perfectly and for periodic data collections).

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Experiment Procedure
After One Week

• To test my hypothesis and gain proper results, I
  made sure that only one variable (the magnet) was
  the only one being changed.
• I maintained a gave both plants reasonable and
  equal amounts of water at the same daily
  intervals.
• I also gave both plants an equal amount of
  sunlight (8 hours) by placing both plants under a
  timed lamp. This would also ensure that the plant
  would grow straight up and not tilted towards the
  light source.

After Two Weeks
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Experiment Results

• After about two weeks of growing both plants,
  significant differences were found.
• Both plants were grown at the same time (Nov.
  22), but the magnet plant germinated one day
  before the control plant. Both plants then grew
  at the same rate for about a week. The magnet
  plant then seemed to stop growing a little while
  before the control plant. In the end, the magnet
  plant was about an inch shorter than the control
  plant.

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Experiment Results

• After measuring its height above the soil, I
  uprooted both plants to check if the magnet
  affected the roots.
• The control plants root was an inch long below
  soil level. The magnet plants root was two and a
  half inches long below soil level.
• The magnet plants root had a bump slightly below
  soil level. The bump was tilted toward the
  magnet. Also, the tiny root hairs were all
  attracted to the magnet. The control plant did
  not have a bump and its root hairs were spread in
  random directions.

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Experiment Results
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Data Analysis

• The data from this experiment shows that the
  magnet attracted the starch molecules found in
  the roots.
• The data from this experiment also shows that the
  magnet stimulated plant growth due to the fact
  that the magnet plant germinated first.

• The plants that I grew both died before they
  could reach this day. This might be due to the
  fact that halfway through the experiment time
  span, they were exposed to varying climates.

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Conclusions

• After conducting this experiment, I can conclude
  that plants are affected by magnetic forces and
  that some of my hypothesis was correct.
• However, I can also conclude that half of my
  hypothesis was incorrect. The plant was attracted
  to the magnet, not repelled by it

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Sources

• Diamagnetism - Wikipedia, the free
  encyclopedia--http//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diamagn
  etism
• Sowing Seeds in a Magnetic Field-http//liftoff.ms
  fc.nasa.gov/news/2003/news-seeds.asp

• Magnetism in Agriculture--http//www.mundi.com/agr
  ieng3.html
• Do magnetic fields have an effect on plant
  growth?--http//www.madsci.org/posts/archives/2006
  -08/1156020024.Cb.r.html