record

Thesis Info

LABS ID
00941
Thesis Title
Exploring the physical side of Botany through Physics and Geography
Author
Claire Mc Dermott
2nd Author
3rd Author
Degree
MA Art and Science
Year
2020
Number of Pages
32
University
Central Saint Martins
Thesis Supervisor
Nathan Cohen
Supervisor e-mail
n.cohen AT csm.arts.ac.uk
Other Supervisor(s)
Language(s) of Thesis
English
Department / Discipline
Art and Science
Copyright Ownership
Claire Mc Dermott
Languages Familiar to Author
English
URL where full thesis can be found
Keywords
plummed seed
Abstract: 200-500 words
The journey of a plumed achene will be used to explore the physical side of Botany. This will incorporate aspects of physics and geography to determine what could happen during wind dispersal. Taking inspiration from the physician Richard Feynman (1918-1988) who famously taught by using images Kemp (2003), I will begin by building up an image in one’s mind to understand the morphology of the plant to determine the design of a plumed achene in relation to its aerodynamics. An understanding of how the achene is housed within the flower head will help to visualise the launch of the achene. The seed head will be observed up close and under a microscope to visually understand the wonderment and secrets of nature. This dissertation will explore how a force of nature can create a motion to enable the achene to become airborne. Isaac Newton’s Laws of motion and gravity will explain why an object moves in the way that it does. This journey will include all the possibilities of what a plumed achene may encounter regarding the forces of nature, the transient phenomena of how an achene encounters airflow and uses its plumes to form an air bubble to stay afloat in thermals, to reach into the biosphere and beyond. There are infinite possibilities of the rise and fall of each achene. For instance, rising on warm air and relying on colder horizonal winds to keep afloat, entering into space to float as space dust while reaching to the star for eternity or becoming a nucleus for a snowflake or hailstone for its descent. Either way the destination of each achene is unknown to us. My research is based on three plumed specimens: • Taraxacum officinale agg. (Dandelion) is the largest of these and was used by scientists to study how it ascends (Cummins, Seale and and Macente, 2018). • Aster amellus (Michaelmas Daisy) is the medium size achene of the three. It is my specialist interest at present and I have had to rely on my own images to illustrate what a spent flower looks like. • Conyza canadensis (horseweed) is the smallest of the three and was used by scientist to study if the achene could ascend into the boundary layer of our lower atmosphere. (Dauer, Mortensen, leschei, lsard, Shields and Van-Gessel, 2008). Plants respond to their environment. They are finely tuned to grow big and strong when the climate is in their favour. Others have the ability to downsize in growth if they do not get the nutrients and food that they would normally receive. From observing these delicate achenes with their tufty heads, I am in wonderment at their design and the extent of their ascent and am fascinated by their survival. The nature of plants is a wide subject. It is not just the appearance as perceived in botanical illustration. There is a living and growing side to plants, which is explored in their biology, but this only explains the function and form of the plants. The three dimensional aspects of the form and function is discussed by Niklas and Spatz (2014) in plant physics. They state that a good understanding of mathematics, quantitative analyses and computational methods are the basis of this subject. The focus of this paper will not be on equations, but an explanation of physics in plants will be discussed. Sculpture and installations of plants will outline what the artists has portrayed by using organic material as a visual form, to capture and incorporate multiple aspects of nature. I find spent flowers more impressive than flowers in full bloom because of the unfamiliar, contorted shapes that they create. This fascination grew from observing that not one petal curled the same way as its neighbour in decline and yet they did look identical in full bloom. If we are to believe that there is a symmetry in the flowers, then why do they distort, twist and bend as they do, in senescence , resulting in a multiple of shapes? This dissertation is a cross-disciplined research paper, not by design, but in order to determine the ascent of an achene. It has taken a journey that crosses botany with physics and geography. We will explore the different disciplines within art to reveal how they are inspired by nature. This includes expanding our perception of botany through art illustration, sculptures and installations and draws attention to learning by visual observations, to gain an insight of how a plumed achene may reach to the stars. 1. is a seed within a fruit that does not split open