CLINOSTATS: Clockwork, Electric motor

CLINOSTATS: Clockwork, Electric motor

•  Two types of Clinostats for geotropism and phototropism experiments on seedlings and cut shoots etc.

(Wikipedia excerpt: .."...A clinostat [C] is a device which uses rotation to negate the effects of gravitational pull on plant growth (gravitropism) and development (gravimorphism). It has also been used to study the effects of microgravity on cell cultures, animal embryos and spider webs....   A single axis (or horizontal) [C] consists of a disc attached to a motor. They were originally clockwork but nowadays an electric motor is used. The disc is held vertically and the motor rotates it slowly at rates in the order of one revolution per minute. A plant is attached to the disc so that it is held horizontally.

The slow rotation means that the plant experiences a gravitational pull that is averaged over 360 degrees, thus approximating a weightless environment. [C] have also been used to cancel out effects of sunlight and other stimuli besides gravity. This type of [C] must be exactly horizontal to simulate absence of gravity. If the [C] is at an angle from horizontal, a net gravity vector is perceived, the magnitude of which depends on the angle. This can be used to simulate lunar gravity (ca. 1/6 g) which requires an angle from the horizontal of ca. 10 deg., i.e. sin−1(1/6). ...")

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