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Plasma accelerator for plants

23.02.2016

Gardeners, and even agricultural enterprises, often practice a kind of domestic magic, for example, soak seeds in highly diluted solutions of various development accelerators, and do this taking into account the phases of the moon. It is believed that such treatment not only improves germination (which is not surprising - there are fewer infections on treated seeds), but also leads to long-term consequences - it improves the quantity and quality of fruits.

There is no theory that connects the sugar content of tomatoes with a drop of the active solution added to a jug of water to soak the seeds at moonrise in Aries or Cancer, but it is believed that the method works. Researchers, on the other hand, come up with new magical methods.

For example, Koga Katsunori and colleagues from the University of Kyushu studied the effect of plasma on Arabidopsis seeds. They received plasma in the so-called partial discharge, when one of the electrodes is covered with a dielectric. The discharge voltage was 9,2 kV, the current was 0,2 A, and in addition to ions and electrons, active forms of oxygen and nitrogen were obtained in it. The seeds were placed in a flow of such plasma for three minutes, and then they were sown in a mineral wool substrate. And they succeeded: the time to harvest of new seeds fell by 7%, from 71 to 66,5 days, the weight of the seeds increased by 12%, and the size of the first leaf turned out to be a third larger. In addition, the harvested seeds contained more glucose.

Plasma treatment is technically very simple, and if it can bring such significant results, it would be useful for agronomists to think about its application. Koga himself notes that no mutations have been identified in plants, but his group will have to seriously work on the answer to the question of what kind of mechanisms they managed to wake up with such processing.

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Mathematicians have developed the perfect espresso coffee 21.01.2020

Scientists have created a mathematical model for making espresso, which showed the optimal values of parameters that allow you to achieve repeatability of taste, while saving coffee. The key recommendation is to grind the beans to a certain size that is coarser than what is used today in most cases.

Espresso is one of the most popular ways to brew coffee. To obtain this drink, hot water under pressure is passed through ground roasted grains. Despite the prevalence of this method, the result of its application often differs from time to time. As a rule, this is attributed to the human factor, although there was no full evidence of this.

There are official guidelines for brewing espresso. According to them, the final volume of the drink should be from 25 to 35 milliliters, while water should be supplied under a pressure of 9 bar, at a temperature of 92 to 95 degrees Celsius and for 20-30 seconds, and the required mass of grains for one cup should be in range from 7 to 9 grams. However, many coffee shops deviate from these rules, as modern coffee machines allow you to adjust not only these parameters, but many others.

The final taste of coffee is determined by the ratio of concentrations of approximately two thousand chemical compounds contained in the beans. It is generally believed that the smaller the grind, the better the drink will be, as this increases the area of \uXNUMXb\uXNUMXbcontact between coffee and water. However, in reality, it is very difficult to brew the same tasting espresso several times in a row.

Jamie Foster of the University of Portsmouth and colleagues have developed a new mathematical model for espresso brewing that offers an ingenious explanation for quality variability. According to the results of the work, the amount of brewed coffee depends non-linearly on the degree of grinding: as the grain size decreases, the dissolution productivity increases, but after a certain value it starts to fall.

The authors did not use direct modeling of all physical and chemical processes during the flow of water through coffee, but modified well-developed methods for simulating the movement of charged particles in lithium-ion batteries. It turned out that too fine grinding leads to partial clogging of the filter and a decrease in the proportion of the dissolving substrate.

Ultimately, the authors suggest using not the finest grind, adding slightly fewer grains and using less water. According to the researchers, this strategy results in saving money and resources, and ensures the reproducibility of the taste of the drink. However, this does not mean that there is only one parameter setting that produces the best coffee, as taste preferences vary from person to person. In some cases, it may be necessary to mix several brews in an optimized way to reproduce the preferred taste.

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