Science in the Palm Trees

Hello Humans! Today, I went out to dinner with my roommates, and was explaining to them the pattern I had observed in the giant Palm Trees over the past couple of weeks. One, Palm Trees are super tall, but their green leaves are all the way at the top. The leaves is what use the water for Photosynthesis. The second part is where the leaves are in relationship to the direction of the ocean breeze. Wow, I must be a scientist because man am I starting to use big words. I've actually noticed that I have been using big science words in my normal, every day life for the past couple of weeks. It's weird how you change and adapt to think and act like what you are becoming. Anyways, now back to the gorgeous Palm Trees.

In my Physics course last year, there was one main golden law for the direction and speed of water flow. This main rule was stated as A1v1=A2v2, or Area of the first times velocity of the first equals Area of the second times velocity of the second. What does this mean? Well, when water comes from a low pressure, or a smaller area, the velocity is slower than it is at a higher pressure or a bigger area. This is because the smaller area means that more water has to get through in less time to keep the two sides the same. So, how do Palm Trees get their water all the way up to the top of their giant trunks? Well, if you notice, for the most part, the Palm Trees are really thick at the bottom, and then get as you go up. They still have to be pretty thick though, to support the weight of their palm leaves. Trees are also a different case of pressure because they have to combat gravity. Gravity pulls everything down towards the earth at 9.8 m/s^2, or 9.8 meters per second squared. So, this then involves using free body diagrams, easy mathematics, and forces to determine what we already know: that trees have to shrink down the size of their Xylem, or the part of the plant's stem that pulls water up to the leaves, to combat gravity. This is the sole reason why trees need the difference in pressure of the water velocity, and also why they aren't equal in size all the way up their trunks.

The other thing that I've been noticing is the Palm Leaves placement in relationship to the direction of the ocean breeze. The ocean blows from the north. When I look at the northern side of the Palm Trees, the leaf density is a lot smaller than the leaf density on the the southern side. Why is this? Well, it's because nature, like scientists, is lazy. It likes the easiest thing, which is also created by Entropy, but we'll save that for a different discussion. So, the tree likes to conserve energy so that it doesn't have to work as hard to live. I would really make such a great tree. I love to conserve my energy to create more entropy in the universe. Anyways, so the Palm Trees have discovered that maintaining a leaf on the northern side, or the side where the ocean breeze hits the hardest, is the hardest to maintain, as it has to form a thicker pistol, repair more often, and use more energy to hold onto it. This northern-facing leaf takes a lot of energy, whereas the southern-facing leaf takes a lot less energy. The pistols don't have to be as thick and strong, there are a lot less repairs to be made, and they take less energy to hold onto during the winds. So what does the plant do? We'll, like a plant in the forest, it will self-prune, or get rid of leaves that take more energy to maintain and keep living than they make.

So the next time you see a palm tree, or any tree for that matter, take a minute to look a little bit closer and really see the laws of Science, but especially Physics, that the tree applies in it's everyday life, whether it knows it or not. Stay wild, flower child.