BIOPHYSICS OF PLANT GROWTH IN AN ELECTROSTATIC FIELD
L. E. MURR · 1965
Plants showed measurable responses to electrostatic fields in 1965, establishing early evidence that electromagnetic environments affect living systems.
Plain English Summary
This 1965 study examined how electrostatic fields affect plant growth, focusing on grass plants and grain sorghum. The research investigated the biophysical mechanisms behind electric field effects on vegetation, including potential damage from electrical exposure. This early work helped establish that living organisms respond measurably to electromagnetic environments.
Why This Matters
This pioneering research from 1965 represents some of the earliest scientific investigation into how electromagnetic fields affect living systems. While focused on plants rather than humans, the study's findings about electrostatic field effects on biological growth processes helped establish that electromagnetic environments have measurable impacts on living organisms. The reality is that plants and humans share fundamental cellular processes, making plant research relevant to understanding EMF bioeffects. What this means for you is that even in 1965, scientists recognized that electromagnetic fields could alter normal biological function. Today's EMF environment is exponentially more complex than the simple electrostatic fields studied here, yet we often dismiss biological effects that researchers were documenting decades ago. The science demonstrates that electromagnetic sensitivity isn't a modern invention but a fundamental property of living systems.
Figures from the Original Paper
Diagrams extracted from the original research document.
Exposure Information
Specific exposure levels were not quantified in this study.
Study Details
To investigate the biophysical effects of electrostatic fields on plant growth, specifically examining how electric fields affect grass plant development and damage mechanisms.
Investigations on orchard grass and grain sorghum were undertaken in an electrostatic environment ge...
The damage response for grain sorghum was early identical to that reported for seedling orchard gras...
The physical and electrical properties of the electrostatic system can be significantly related to the biological damage observed in grass plants. Leaf damage is indeed associated with direct field or corona-type stresses induced in the leaf epidermis. This phenomenon is further enhanced by polarization actions of plant bio-substances. There seems to be no need for a physiological response to accompany the field stress since the dynamic field intensities calculated at the time leaf damage was observed are more than sufficient to cause epidermal deterioration by a type of field evaporation of organic molecules composing the outer cells.
Show BibTeX
@article{biophysics_of_plant_growth_in_an_electrostatic_field_g3764,
author = {L. E. MURR},
title = {BIOPHYSICS OF PLANT GROWTH IN AN ELECTROSTATIC FIELD},
year = {1965},
}