Plants and Music? Who Knew?

January 22, 2014
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Plants and Music? Who Knew?

                It’s always been a wonder, if plants had a preference or even listened to it. Many rumors had sprung in the 1950's that they did, but it was never really proved or scientifically looked at, until one day a man named Mr. George Smith preformed the first actual scientific experiment. He planted some beans in one greenhouse, and some more in the other. The temperature and the humidity index was kept the same in both greenhouses, but the only difference was that he played "Rhapsody in Blue" twenty-four hours a day in one greenhouse, while the other was kept silent. As the days went by, Mr. Smith actually noticed that the plants that were exposed to the music actually grew taller and produced forty percent more produce than the ones that were not exposed to the music. People were fascinated by this discovery of course, but that wasn’t the end of it. About ten years later, a woman named Dorothy Retallack did similar experiments as well as with beans, but also with marigolds. She did things a little more differently though. This time, she used a variety of music. She exposed the first group to some soft, sweet classical music, the second group to twentieth century music (such as Led Zeppelin, Vanilla Fudge, etc.), and the third group was kept silent. But, as the days went on, she noticed something drastic: the plants listening to classical music leaned towards the speakers, while the ones listening to the twentieth century music leaned away! This was an astonishing discovery. Further tests proved that the plants did not like the steel drums in the twentieth century music, but they enjoyed the soft wood ones. This shows that plants of course have a clear preference. But, although when most plants listen to music they grew taller and produce more, there are types of plants that don't. Though they do grow taller, their roots get stringy, and they need a significant amount more of water. But though some of the setbacks, these experiments show that plants do listen to music.

 

 

 

Image taken from:  http://www.ascap.com/playback/2012/05/wecreatemusic/mental-floss.aspx

 

HERE'S A FUN VIDEO FOR YOU! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4KZrb9RSQn8