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Space Forum / Space Flight / December 2003Artificial sunlight?
In several experiments conducted by NASA and by the Russians plants were grown indoors using an artificial light. What type of light was used that produces light on the same wave lengths as the suns does? Christopher +++++++++++++++++++++++++ "Kites rise highest against the wind - not with it." Winston Churchill > In several experiments conducted by NASA and by the Russians plants > were grown indoors using an artificial light. What type of light was > used that produces light on the same wave lengths as the suns does? Are you sure the lights produced the same wave length as the sun? On TV documentaries, various forms of fluorescent lights seem to be the popular light sources for hydroponics experiments. AFAIK, those tend to be UV-heavy and a bit 'bluish' compared to natural sunlight. >> In several experiments conducted by NASA and by the Russians plants >> were grown indoors using an artificial light. What type of light was [quoted text clipped - 5 lines] > the popular light sources for hydroponics experiments. AFAIK, those > tend to be UV-heavy and a bit 'bluish' compared to natural sunlight. there are also high pressure sodiums and others. there may well be a section in your local garden store stocking 'growlights'. plants do not make use of all spectrum of sun, so using something that imitated sun wold be wasteful. much better to give plants the spectrum where they would use 95%+ of it.  SignatureSander +++ Out of cheese error +++ > In several experiments conducted by NASA and by the Russians plants > were grown indoors using an artificial light. What type of light was > used that produces light on the same wave lengths as the suns does? Standard lights used for lighting homes/offices/stadia work just fine. The basic problem is that they emit relatively little light. Sunlight is around a kilowatt a square meter (in most latitudes). One 12W compact fluorescent light generates as much light as a window around 5-6cm square. I'm currently growing some water plants under 2*12W CF lights, probably producing around 2000 lumens. Over maybe .1 square meter, for around a sixth of sunlights intensity. However, plants generally don't exploit all sunlight. >From my (sparse) knowledge of biology, photosynthesis tops out at some fraction of the brightest sunlight. |
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