Naked Science Forum
Life Sciences => The Environment => Topic started by: Vanessa212 on 21/09/2008 15:02:11
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Hello.
We're trying to figure out a mechanism for moving water to top (canopy) for a genetically engineered tree, that is able to grow on a comet and which is able to extract water from the comet and becuase of the lack of gravity can grow to a VERY large height. Can any of you make a suggestion on how water could be transferred to the top. (NOTE: light would be captured from a near by sun)
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The water on a comet would be ice (at below -200 oC)
Trees, even genetically engineered ones, need liquid water (above 0 oC) and lots of it (http://forestry.about.com/od/treephysiology/p/tree_water.htm).
Even assuming vegetation could be grown on a comet, the oxygen produced by the plants would escape into space,
as even a very large comet does not have sufficient gravity to hold onto an atmosphere.
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Ye I totally agree with you, but in this situation one has to assume that the tree would be able to obtain water. The main question is how would it be able to deliver the water to the canopy at the top; because it is soo huge, a new mechanism is needed.
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Why does this have to work on a comet?
Comets spend most of their time out on the fringes of the Solar System and only a small part of the time near enough the Sun for living things to survive.
Just a burst of life every hundred years or so doesn't seem very good value.