Science fair project: sun light vs artificial sun light

Sun light vs articical light One of the main benefits of artificial light is that you can control how many hours of light per day your plants receive. This way, those living in northern or southern latitudes can provide their plants with light for growth and development even when the sun sets early, in essence tricking the plants into believing that it is summertime and that they should continue to grow rather than become dormant or, in the case of annuals, die. In addition, your plants will receive constant direct light for as long as you leave the lights turned on.Read more: http://www. ehow. om/about_6720270_sunlight-artificial-light-plant- growth. html#ixzz2isDOMJQa Incandescent Light Although affordable, incandescent lights provide little of the blue-spectrum light essential to plant growth. They are less efficient than other artificial lights as they produce less illumination while utilizing more energy. To draw the most benefit from an incandescent light, you would have to pla ce it close to your plants, and because incandescent lights produce more heat than other types of bulbs, this would likely result in burning your plants.Incandescent bulbs also have very short lives. High- Intensity Discharge Light High-intensity discharge lights produce far more illumination while using much less electricity than incandescent bulbs. In addition, while they produce a considerable amount of heat, you can hang them twice as far away from your plants as you would an incandescent bulb, so burning of the plants is less likely. High-pressure sodium lamps emit much red-spectrum light and little in the blue spectrum, making them ideal for greenhouse flowers to supplement natural sunlight and encourage blooming.Metal halide bulbs emit more blue-spectrum light, making them perfect or indoor growing operations for plants that will not flower, such as decorative plants and herbs. HPS bulbs last 12 times longer than incandescent bulbs, and MH bulbs can last five times as long. F luorescent Light Fluorescent lights produce less luminosity than high-intensity discharge lights, though far more than do incandescent bulbs. Fluorescents also produce very little heat and can hang very close to your plants.Bulbs rated in the higher Kelvin temperature range (5,000 to 6,500) emit more blue-spectrum light and those in the lower range (2,700 to 3,000) emit more red-spectrum light, although both also provide ull-spectrum light in lower intensities. Compact fluorescent lights will last five times as long as incandescent bulbs, and the straight T-5 full-spectrum fluorescents will last 10 times as long. Read more. nttp://www . enow. com/aoou growth. html#ixzz2isEHgmnp In general, sunlight is better for plant growth as it is intense and contains the full spectrum of electromagnetic radiation required for optimal plant growth.Artificial light, if it is an ordinary room light, will only support low-light tolerant plants. Most artificial light sources (fluorescent and incandes cent) do not provide the full isible light spectrum that is required by plants for optimal growth, this results in plants that are tall and spindly (etiolated) and sometimes discolored. However, there are special lights with a spectrum that is tailored for growing plants. They have to be on for longer hours than sunlight, but as long as a plant is getting enough light-energy to manufacture its food, it will grow well.It doesn't matter whether that light is coming from the sun or from grow lights. The downside to extended exposure to light is the plants metabolic functions operate twice as hard for the same amount of output. Recent studies have also highlighted ome of the negative aspects of extended photosynthetic periods (extended light reactive period and shortened dark reaction period). There are times when artificial light has an advantage. Hydroponic gardening with artificial light makes it possible to grow plants in unreliable climates that are lacking in sunshine – thi nk of the long â€Å"night† periods of areas of the northern hemisphere.In some places in Canada forage for animals is produced indoors during the winter months in artificial conditions. Supplemental lighting is used in horticulture to produce plants in flower outside of their normal flowering period. For instance Christmas cactus, poinsettias, tulips, narcissus, chrysanthemums, etc. Many houseplants grow better under artificial lamps, not because of the lights, but because it keeps them away from drafty windowsills! Plants will grow better under sunlight; artificial light lacks the complete spectrum of light provided by the sun. But a photon is a photon – and light is light – wnetner It comes Trom tne sun or a Tlasnllgnt vastly more energy comes Trom tne sun than from any artificial light. But the light from the sun is different from a street lamp another way: most artificial light doesn't emit as much energy in the red and blue region of the light spectrum as sunlight does. In other words, different ratios of reds, yellows and blues all combine together to make up white sunlight.Researchers can successfully grow plants using only artificial light in growth chambers. But sunlight is best for most plants. It's generally more intense than artificial light, and it's pretty equally distributed among the different wavelengths that earthly plants have evolved to like best. And there's another difference between lamps – even â€Å"grow lamps† – and sunlight. Grow lamps need energy to light up. Sunlight is unlimited and free. http://earthsky. org/human-world/artificial-light-plant- growth