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Scientists Discover Link Between Trees and Electricity

Posted by samzenpus on from the lightning-leaf dept.

An anonymous reader writes "Everyone knows trees give us all oxygen so we can breathe, but according to Australian scientists, they also affect the concentration of positive and negative ions in the air. A team from the Queensland University of Technology's International Laboratory for Air Quality and Health ran experiments in six locations all over Brisbane and found that positive and negative ion concentrations in the air were two times higher in heavily wooded areas than in open grassy areas, such as parks."

3 of 173 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Seems kind of obvious that this should be true by reverseengineer · · Score: 5, Informative

    That isn't the mechanism the paper is proposing. What the authors suggest is that trees uptake radon dissolved in groundwater, transpire it into the air, and that it is the radioactive decay of radon that would be responsible for the ions released by trees.

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    "FDA staff reviewers expressed concern about the number of patients who were left out of the study because they died."
  2. This has been known by Kagetsuki · · Score: 5, Informative

    This has been known for a very long time and it's very much common knowledge. Ambient negative ion levels can even be obtained through weather services in my country. My Daikin air conditioner even claims to keep ambient ion levels at "lush forest" levels and it's not near new. Just do a google search for "forest negative ion" and you'll find tons of products and articles on the subject. Why is this at all news?

  3. Some interesting numbers by pigwiggle · · Score: 5, Informative

    http://www.fia.fs.fed.us/library/briefings-summaries-overviews/docs/ForestFacts.pdf

    "It is estimated that—at the beginning of European settlement—
    in 1630 the area of forest land that would become
    the United States was 1,045 million acres or about 46
    percent of the total land area. By 1907, the area of forest
    land had declined to an estimated 759 million acres or
    34 percent of the total land area. Forest area has been relatively
    stable since 1907. In 1997, 747 million acres—or
    33 percent of the total land area of the United States—
    was in forest land. Today’s forest land area amounts to
    about 70 percent of the area that was forested in 1630.
    Since 1630, about 297 million acres of forest land have
    been converted to other uses—mainly agricultural. More
    than 75 percent of the net conversion to other uses
    occurred in the 19th century."

    And it does go on to describe the kinds of differences - one of which you mention - between historical and contemporary forest composition.

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    46 & 2