New Age fairy dust or scientific fact?
A gardener I know reckons that rain falling during a thunderstorm will
carry an electrical charge that's especially beneficial to the plants it falls on, even waking them from a kind of dormancy. Sounds like rubbish to me but I'm no scientist. Are there any facts for or against the notion? Roger |
New Age fairy dust or scientific fact?
It's not the electricity that makes plants so green after a good
thunderstorm. The lightning ionizes nitrogen into a form that is very readily taken up by plants once it's washed into the soil. M. REed Roger Whitehead wrote: A gardener I know reckons that rain falling during a thunderstorm will carry an electrical charge that's especially beneficial to the plants it falls on, even waking them from a kind of dormancy. Sounds like rubbish to me but I'm no scientist. Are there any facts for or against the notion? Roger |
New Age fairy dust or scientific fact?
In article ,
Roger Whitehead wrote: A gardener I know reckons that rain falling during a thunderstorm will carry an electrical charge that's especially beneficial to the plants it falls on, even waking them from a kind of dormancy. Sounds like rubbish to me but I'm no scientist. Are there any facts for or against the notion? I'm not a scientist either, and it sounds like rubbish to me, too, FWIW. However, it may be a garbled remnant of the true situation -- lightning discharges produce nitrogen oxides which are a significant natural source of nitrates when they are washed out of the atmosphere by rain. I've seen calculations of the annual amounts for agricultural areas and they are not insignificant -- i.e. not enough for corn, but plenty for forest and grassland. It's one of the ways the nitrogen cycle is closed. |
New Age fairy dust or scientific fact?
In article , wrote:
However, it may be a garbled remnant of the true situation... Thanks for that explanation. Roger |
New Age fairy dust or scientific fact?
In article , Monique wrote:
It's not the electricity that makes plants so green after a good thunderstorm. The lightning ionizes nitrogen into a form that is very readily taken up by plants once it's washed into the soil. Thanks, Monique. Nice to hear from you again. 8-) Roger |
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