News for hackers. Stuff that matters.

A comment on A sealed bottle garden thriving after 40 years without fresh air or water. Parent comment

Re:A sealed bottle garden thriving after 40 years without fr... by CapitalistCartr on Friday June 06, 2014 @10:54AM (#7858202)
The Daily Fail version claims so, but that doesn't seem sufficient. Nonetheless, its clearly working. It'd be interesting to insert a probe through the cork and run a real-time analysis of the air composition.
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:A sealed bottle garden thriving after 40 years without fr... by darkxanthos on Friday June 06, 2014 @11:13AM (#7858334)
I don't think we can say it's clearly working... This seems like an extraordinary claim and it's hard to know if there's any truth fudging.
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:A sealed bottle garden thriving after 40 years without fr... by droopyEyelids on Friday June 06, 2014 @11:23AM (#7858411)
Another puzzling factor is the clarity of the glass. When I've seen bottle gardens, they all develop a thick scum from minerals in condensation, algae, and bacterial plaques.
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:A sealed bottle garden thriving after 40 years without fr... by bronson on Friday June 06, 2014 @01:44PM (#7859307)
This is a great GREAT point.

It would be nice to hear an explanation.

[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:A sealed bottle garden thriving after 40 years without fr... by ceejayoz on Friday June 06, 2014 @04:10PM (#7860052)
Magnetic scrubbing brushes. They're commonly used in aquariums.
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:A sealed bottle garden thriving after 40 years without fr... by gnufied on Friday June 06, 2014 @12:31PM (#7858886)
There is also, Cellular respiration in night within the plant itself, which release some CO2 in the atmosphere. So may be combined with CO2 released by Bacteria and Cellular respiration in plant, it can survive.
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:A sealed bottle garden thriving after 40 years without fr... by minikites on Friday June 06, 2014 @11:08AM (#7858298)
Hmm. So over time the soil mass will decrease into nothing as the plant expands?
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:A sealed bottle garden thriving after 40 years without fr... by kordless on Friday June 06, 2014 @11:14AM (#7858347)
Bits of the plant are going to decay back into soil.
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:A sealed bottle garden thriving after 40 years without fr... by saalweachter on Friday June 06, 2014 @08:56PM (#7860907)
Most of the mass of plants comes from the atmosphere, not the soil. 95%+ of a given plant is oxygen, hydrogen, and carbon. The soil provides trace elements and a place from which to absorb water.
[ Parent | on HN ]