Engineering a Fertilizer to Remedy Lightning-Affected Soil by Using a Tesla Coil to Replicate a Lightning Strike

Daniel Streeter

When doing research for another experiment online, a post by a blogger by the username of Aman was found. He reported that he had observed enormous circles free of vegetation left by lightning strikes in cornfields, which completely annihilated the plants they struck. When the fields were replanted, though, a plant-free circle would remain for several years [1], suggesting that the soil had been altered as well. In addition, due to the fact that the plants on the edge of the circle grew oddly [1], it is possible, if not probable, that one of the three major nutrients or possibly pH, was affected by the strike.

Research revealed a complete lack of research done in this area. Although some scientists had observed that there appears to be a drop in levels of Phosphorus in soil or sand that has been turned into a fulgurite (a glass tube formed by lightning [2])[3], nobody had tested the chemistry of soil that had previously fertile (fulgurites are formed from high-silica soils, such as sandier mixtures [5]).

    Further research revealed how lightning can increase levels of soluble Nitrogen in soils by production of nitrates. The air in our level of Earth’s atmosphere is composed, very roughly, 80% of N2 and 20% of O2. When lightning ionizes the air, a chemical reaction occurs in which these are converted to NO and NO2. These, in turn, are carried down to the soil by rain and within the soil react with other chemicals to form Nitrates (chemicals characterized by the polyatomic ion NO3 [4])[4]. It was surmised from this that perhaps lightning strikes that are cloud-to-ground form such large amounts of NO2 above the affected area of soil so as to poison it until the nitrogen has been diluted by irrigation and time.

To replicate lightning, a device called a Tesla coil was used. A Tesla coil is an electrical transformer- a device that uses two coils of wire to wirelessly multiply the input voltage and then emits it through a hollow metal shape in the form of an electric arc similar to a bolt of lightning. Like lightning, it is at such a high voltage so as to travel at near outside of a conductor, the ionized gas is at a frequency that gives it a violet tinge, and, despite popular belief, is capable of carbonizing organic material. After two years of experimentation, it seemed that there were no consistent chemical changes in the composition of the soil other than the pH, which, during the second year of study, was consistently greater after extended exposure to the electric arc. No explanation for this was known.

More recent research revealed that lightning produces Ozone (O3) and, as previously mentioned, nitrogen dioxide, and both are harmful [5]. Some emittance of gas from samples of soil exposed to the arc had been noted, and these gases were looked at as possible causes. However, both gases are oxidants [6],[7], and thus would not cause soil to be more alkaline. The most likely cause currently expected is the extreme heat produced by lightning strikes.

The greatest obstacle in obtaining research for this project is the monumental lack of information given concerning the effects of lightning on the soil rather than the crops planted therein. The most instructive source uncovered stated little more on the subject than the fact that a lightning strike would not be beneficial to the fertility of soil, stating such things as “I have not seen or heard any investigations about electrically processing soil to make the soil more productive in growing plants. Neither have I heard of lightning strikes improving the agricultural productivity of soil. If that were true then vegetation around radio and TV antenna towers would be extraordinary in size and amount [5].” and “There is no data that lightning directly enriches the soil it has struck. While there are many forms of lightning, the ones that do strike the ground will usually superheat the area. Beneficial effects, if any, would come from heating, and since heating soil does not necessarily enrich it, direct lightning strikes should have no growth benefits. In fact, sandy soil may even become fused (forming silica glass called fulgurites) and may planting less viable [6].”

References:

[1] Aman. “The Effects of Electricity on Plants.” scienceforums.net. Science Forums. 24 Oct. 2003. Web. 15 Oct. 2011.

[2] Hile, K. The Handy Weather Answer Book: Your Smart Reference. 2nd ed. Canton, MI: Visible Ink Press, 2009. Print.

[3] “Lightning-induced Reduction of Phosphorus in Soil.” www.nature.com. Web. Feb. 2012.

[4] “Nitrate in Soils and Plants.” Missouri.edu. University of Missouri Extension. Oct. 1993. Web. 28 Nov. 2011

[5] “Lightning and Soil.” http://www.newton.dep.anl.gov/askasci/env99/env99439.htm. Web. 4 Oct. 2013

[6] “Ozone.” Wikipedia.org. Web. 4 Oct. 2013

[7] “Nitrogen dioxide.” Wikipedia.org. Web. 4 Oct. 2013

SRP-4: Background Research Paper-Sources

Aman. “The Effects of Electricity on Plants.” scienceforums.net. Science Forums.    24 Oct. 2003. Web. 15 Oct. 2011.

Hile, K. The Handy Weather Answer Book: Your Smart Reference. 2^nd ed. Canton,   MI: Visible Ink Press, 2009. Print.

“Lightning Induced Reduction of Phosphorus in Soil.” www.nature.com. Web.        Feb. 2012.

“Nitrate in Soils and Plants.” Missouri.edu. University of Missouri Extension. Oct.         1993. Web. 28 Nov. 2011

“What is Fertilizer and Why Do Plants Need It?” howstuffworks.com. Web. Feb.        2012.

Science Current Event Summary-4

For audio summary: (Not yet available)

Purpose:

Knowing how to modify soil composition is always important in gardening and agriculture because even subtle changes in soil chemistry can do such things as cause the crop to grow immensely more healthily or cause it to put all its energy into growth and neglect producing fruit. The purpose here was to find soil mixes that affect levels of Copper (Cu), Chromium (Cr) and Arsenic (As).


Hypothesis:

No hypothesis was mentioned in the abstract; it seems as if the researcher(s) involved simply conducted the experiment and collected data.

Procedure:

Set up nine samples of soil that have been contaminated with "chromated copper arsenate". Incorporate different substances into said samples and observe how the CCA levels change. Data was collected using sequential extraction and "modified solvent" extraction (I believe that the latter method is the one that was used to determine levels of Phosphorus (P), Nitrogen (N) and Potassium (K) in the project I conducted last year). Some soils used were peat, kaolinite, and highly organic or mineral mixes. The abstract does not establish what the nine samples were specifically.


Results:

Peat seemed to have a very strong influence (whether positive or negative was unestablished), kaoline seemed to have very little effect, and mineral soils seemed to retain very little of the three metals, whereas organic soils seemed to retain large amounts.

Conclusion:

In more mineral soils, copper and chromium see to be more available to plants for use, making it healthier, but organic soils seem to have more conducive levels of arsenic. Also, in organic soils, some reduction occurred, modifying arsenate to form arsenite.

Questions:

1. Which of the three metals mentioned is thought to be most critical to the health of plants?
2. What inspired this project?
3. Is there a way to more naturally produce a soil that has the most desirable levels of the three metals?

Sources:

Balasoiu, Cristina F., Deschênes, Louise, & Zagury, Gérald J. (2001). Partitioning and speciation of chromium, copper, and arsenic in CCA-contaminated soils: influence of soil composition [Abstract]. Science of the Total Environment, 239-255. Abstract retrieved from http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0048969701008336.


Pictures: http://www.periodictable.com

Annotated Article: 

This study focused on the influence of soil composition and physicochemical characteristics on the retention and partitioning of Cu, Cr and As in nine chromated copper arsenate (CCA) artificially contaminated soils. A statistical mixture design was used to set up the number of soils and their respective composition. Sequential extraction and modified solvent extraction were used to assess Cu and Cr partitioning and As speciation [As(III) or As(V)]. It was found that peat had a strong influence on CEC (232 meq/100 g), on buffer capacity and on Cu and Cr retention, whereas kaolinite's contribution to the CEC was minor (38 meq/100 g). Average metal retention in mineral soils was low (58% for Cu and 23% for Cr) but increased dramatically in highly organic soils (96% for Cu and 78% for Cr). However, both organic and mineral soils demonstrated a very high sorption of added As (71–81%). Levels of Cu and Cr in a soluble or exchangeable form (F1) in highly organic soils were very low, whereas the levels strongly bound to organic matter were much higher. Conversely, in mineral soils, 47% of Cu and 18% of Cr were found in F1. As a result, Cr and Cu in moderately and highly organic contaminated soils were present in less mobile and less bioavailable forms, whereas in mineral soils, the labile fraction was higher. The modified method used for selective determination of mineral As species in CCA-contaminated soils was found to be quantitative and reliable. Results revealed that arsenic was principally in the pentavalent state. Nevertheless, in organic soils, arsenite was found in significant proportions (average value of 29% in highly organic soils). This indicates that some reduction of arsenate to arsenite occurred since the original species in CCA is As(V).

Science Current Event Summary-2

Now, this article does NOT have a hypothesis, an experiment or any other portion of the scientific method, but it is an article created by a U of A faculty member (A. Elizabeth Arnold). It contains a lot of higher-level language, and thus took some effort to decipher, but I believe that I've captured the gist of it. Anyways...

Summary:

This article was about fungal endophytes (endo- within, phyt- of or relating to plants), organisms that have a symbiotic relationship with plants. In fact, the article says that they "are found in... tissues of all major lineages of land plants". The article continues, saying that, although it is known that these organisms are almost omnipresent, scientists still know little (or, at least as of 2007) about what diversities exist among them, or where they are spread out across the globe. In an effort to learn more concerning this, those involved did a study ranging from the Arctic to Panama, observing the presence of these organisms in relation to latitude. They were able to show through molecular sequencing how the diversity, presence, and "host breadth" of endophytes increases the closer one gets to the equator, meaning that tropical plants show a higher quality of biodiversity of fungal endophytes. However, the further north one goes, the fewer species they exist within. The scientists involved found that certain species of these organisms appear only in plants in tropical areas.

Video:
Follow this link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LmJVWtTBomM&feature=youtu.be

Questions:

1. Are there any agricultural applications that such diverse endophytes may provide?
2. If not, are there any biomedical applications?
3. How much money and effort did this data collection and analysis require?

Sources:
Arnold, A. E., & Lutzoni, F. (March 2007). Diversity and Host Range of Foliar Fungal Endophytes: Are Tropical Leaves Biodiversity Hotspots?. Ecology, 88, 541–549. http://dx.doi.org/10.1890/05-1459

Read More: http://www.esajournals.org/doi/abs/10.1890/05-1459

Image:  http://www.sciencebuzz.org/blog/dont-leaf-me-behind

Original Article With Highlighted Key Points:

Fungal endophytes are found in asymptomatic photosynthetic tissues of all major lineages of land plants. The ubiquity of these cryptic symbionts is clear, but the scale of their diversity, host range, and geographic distributions are unknown. To explore the putative hyperdiversity of tropical leaf endophytes, we compared endophyte communities along a broad latitudinal gradient from the Canadian arctic to the lowland tropical forest of central Panama. Here, we use molecular sequence data from 1403 endophyte strains to show that endophytes increase in incidence, diversity, and host breadth from arctic to tropical sites. Endophyte communities from higher latitudes are characterized by relatively few species from many different classes of Ascomycota, whereas tropical endophyte assemblages are dominated by a small number of classes with a very large number of endophytic species. The most easily cultivated endophytes from tropical plants have wide host ranges, but communities are dominated by a large number of rare species whose host range is unclear. Even when only the most easily cultured species are considered, leaves of tropical trees represent hotspots of fungal species diversity, containing numerous species not yet recovered from other biomes. The challenge remains to recover and identify those elusive and rarely cultured taxa with narrower host ranges, and to elucidate the ecological roles of these little-known symbionts in tropical forests.


Read More: http://www.esajournals.org/doi/abs/10.1890/05-1459

Science Current Event Summary 1:

This is a truly fascinating article on the results of an experiment from the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. Follow this link to find more details: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/08/130812125331.htm

Purpose:
The researchers involved were exploring a new way to fight the flu.

Hypothesis:
Their new method, the "molecular biocontaminant approach", will be effective in fighting certain types of influenza. This method mimics the way plants fight diseases.

Procedure:
They modify the genetics of a virus (in this case H5N1), "adding a binding site for a miRNA found in human cells", after which it mutates into something similar to an siRNA in plant cells, a molecule that latches onto and destroys viruses. They used an miRNA that exists in lung cells of humans and mice, but not the lung cells of ferrets. They then exposed the virus to mice and ferrets.

Results:
The lung cells of the mice destroyed the virus on contact, but the transmission of the virus remained unchanged in the ferrets.


Conclusion:
The hypothesis was supported by the experiment. One researcher commented, "It is clear that we can apply this technology to any virus. The only requirements are that we need a miRNA that is present in humans, but not in the model system where we want to study the virus, such as in ferrets. We also need a viral genome that permits insertion of miRNA target sites."

Questions:
1. What virus, if any, does the team plan to focus on next?
2. Who discovered the system in plants that this method was based off of?
3. What plans does the team have for the future?

 
Sources:
The Mount Sinai Hospital / Mount Sinai School of Medicine (2013, August 12). Scientists develop method that ensures safe research on deadly flu viruses: Strategy turns molecules in human lung cells into viral scissors that cut H5N1 bird flu and similar bugs into pieces. ScienceDaily. Retrieved August 12, 2013, from http://www.sciencedaily.com­ /releases/2013/08/130812125331.htm

Science Article Annotation & Practice:

First assignment! Partly for practice and partly to explore ideas, I'll be doing reports on science-related articles for my physics class. Today's report is on an experiment done by students of the University of West Georgia (for the article, go to this link: http://www.sciencedaily.com/videos/2006/1012-fighting_fire_with_sound.htm)

Purpose:
To test a possible method for extinguishing flames in zero or low gravity situations, hopefully one worthy of the ISS (International Space Station).

Hypothesis:
Sound waves can extinguish a flame by reducing pressure around it, forcing it to go out.

Procedure:
During free fall (via airplane), speakers were used on a candle flame.

Results:
Although the speaker-candle apparatus was successful in the lab, it did not work in free fall


Conclusion:
Although the apparatus will mot work in zero gravity, it could be used in computer labs where regular extinguishers would be destructive.


Sources:

Siencedaily.com. (2006). Fighting Fire with Sound: Acoustic Waves Could Help  Put Out Flames in Zero-Gravity Environments. Retrieved from http://www.sciencedaily. com/vide os/2006/1012fighting_fire_with_sound.htm

I'm Daniel Streeter, and I'm creating this blog as a electronic companion for my science research project. I've always loved science, particularly concepts involving biology and electricity. I love the science fair, and would be willing to do this for the experience alone. This year, my goal is to conduct enough trials and collect enough data so as to not have the slightest margin of doubt in my conclusion.