MUSIC AND PLANTS: Do Plants like Music?
Music is the wine that fills the cup of silence.
The plants are living organisms and they can feel and sense, as the ‘touch me not’ plant recoils and folds its leaves at a slight touch. Some plants jolt in pain on plucking the leaf, while some tremble in anticipation of being axed. Playing music for the plants may seems a strange thing to do, but different plants responds differently in different types of music. Plants cannot hear the music, but they can feel the vibrations of the sound wave.
The Indian scientist, Sir Jagdish Chandra Bose, proposed a vital theory in 1927 that plants do respond against light, darkness, cold, heat, sound and the nurturing attitude. According to the vital theory, the electrical and mechanical pulses of living cells cause the ascent of sap in plants. In 1995, Canny confirmed that the music increases and the noise decrease the plant growth. He revolutionized biophysics by proving that it is not the chemical but the electrical conduction which causes plant stimuli. Further, many theories came into existence confirming that the plants understand pain and affection. The musical sounds influence the plant growth in different forms and shapes. Specific sound frequencies activate certain genes and create resonance thereby triggering the plant growth. The sound waves of music helps the stomata of the leaf cells to remain widely open for a longer time to escalate the intake of foliage nutrients and water. Playing of Music to increase the nutrients intake has been implemented in SONIC BLOOM. The sound pressure could be felt by placing the hands on the speaker. The compression and rarefaction of sound create a wave which travels in the medium by creating higher and lower pressure areas. Different vibrating patterns create a high or low pitch. The plant cells feel the pressure of different vibrations and the variations and exposure time of which stimulate growth, diffusion, and stirring of liquid or air molecules in cells. Sound waves vibrate the leaves and increase this movement which increases the growth of healthy plants by increasing the synthesis of food and nutrients.
The loud wrable music doubled the growth of dwarf plants. The plant hormone called gibberellic acid responds to sound and causes shoot elongation or seed germination. Besides all these, sound also effects the protein biosynthesis in plants. This theory was given by the French physicist and Musician Joel Sternheimer. The effect of sound on plants appears after several weeks. The plants thrive in intermittent tone, while the continuous music kills them. The ideal dose of music for three hours a day doubles the growth of