Science Buddies: "Ask an Expert"

I am starting to design my research for a hydroponics experiment. I would like to test different light sources and compare them. I have some information on lights such as HPS,HIDS, and LEDS. If anyone has ideas on which lights I should compare that would be greatly appreciated.

Hi,

Welcome to Science Buddies! It sounds like you are doing a variation of this project from the Science Buddies website.

https://www.sciencebuddies.org/science- ... #materials

If you are going to compare different lamps for hydroponic gardening, you need to do more research and find out what wavelength of light plants use for photosynthesis and what light intensity is needed for good growth for the plants you will be growing.

Here is a site that suggests using high-pressure sodium lamps that provide 1,000 foot-candles of light.

http://www.aces.uiuc.edu/vista/html_pub ... quire.html

The Wikipedia site includes an emission spectrum for sodium lamps:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sodium-vapor_lamp

Here is a commercial (not a scientific) site that includes a good explanation for measuring intensity:

http://www.theledlight.com/lumens.html

I don’t know what lamps you have available to test, but if you can compare the emission spectrum and the light intensity, you should be able to identify the best choices.

Please post again in this topic if you have any other questions.

Donna Hardy

Hi I am very sorry I forgot to check my post until now. Thank you so much for the information I will be sure to look through it all. I have actually just gotten together all of my materials for the system but I have yet to purchase the lighting. Once again, thank you! Chelsea