Trees ‘can electrify air’: Study

Believe it or not, trees can also electrify the air.

Scientists have for long suspected an association between trees and electricity. Now, a team, led by Queensland University of Technology in Australia, claims to have finally discovered the link.

For their study, researchers conducted experiments in six locations around Brisbane, including the Brisbane Forest Park, Daisy Hill and Mt Coot—tha in Australia. They found positive and negative ion concentrations in the air were twice as high in heavily wooded areas than in grassy areas, such as parks.

Dr Rohan Jayaratne, who led the team, said that natural ions in the air were mainly created by ionisation due to two processes —— radiation from the trace gas radon in air and cosmic radiation from space.

Radon is a by-product of the radioactive decay of radium which is present in minute quantities in rocks. “Because radium is found in rocks and radon is soluble in water, ground water is particularly rich in radon.

“Trees act as radon pumps, bringing the gas to the surface and releasing it to atmosphere through transpiration —— a process where water absorbed by root system is evaporated into atmosphere from leaves. This is especially prevalent for trees with deep root systems, such as eucalyptus,” he said.

The researchers said the findings, published in the ’Environmental Science and Technology’ journal, have important implications for the atmosphere, climate and human health.

“We do know that approximately one-half of the particles that we inhale during normal breathing are retained in our respiratory system and it has been shown charged particles were more likely to be deposited in the lungs than uncharged particles,” Dr Jayaratne said in a release.

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