CONTROL OF THE FLUX EQUILIBRIUM OF ELECTROCHEMICAL PROCESSES AND ELECTRIC POLARITY IN THE DOUGLAS FIR BY TEMPERATURE

Abstract

Additional evidence is presented that temp. affects the E.M.F. of a system in flux equilibrium by changing the relative concentrations of the electro-motively active substances which represent the links in the catenary series of reactions in flux equilibrium. The other effect of temp. on such a system is small and proportional to the absolute temp., but is purely imaginary since the system is not reversible and therefore is not in thermodynamic equilibrium. By lowering the temp. equally around an apical segment of the main axis or lateral branch of the Douglas fir, the electric polarity of this segment is diminished. This is due to unequal effect of equal change in temp. on apical and basal regions of the piece, and is related to the difference in the amount of change in the ratios of concentrations of the electromotively active substances in apical and basal levels of the piece. Return of the previously cooled segment to the original temp. results temporarily in what has been called a rebound of the E.M.F. This rebound is relatively greater in apical than in basal regions of the stem, and is a logical consequence of the nature of the effect of temp. on the flux equilibria. The electric polarity of the apex of the Douglas fir may be increased, decreased, reversed, or made equal to zero by means of temp. By inference, the internal correlation currents are therefore changed in a corresponding manner. The possible significance of these phenomena for regulation in growth and other processes is pointed out.