. Contributions from the Botanical Laboratory and the Morris Arboretum of the University of Pennsylvania, vol. 13. Botany; Botany. â y i + Fig 2. Effect on potatoes of the negative (left) and the positive (right) electrodes of a no-volt circuit. The potato (left) in which the cathode was imbedded has become a soft and glutinous jelly throughout more than half its volume (there is no discoloration), while the potato (right) containing the anode was but very slightly affected. wander to the cathode and there unite with the dissociated hydroxyl ions of the water to form a base. Alkalinity at the
. Contributions from the Botanical Laboratory and the Morris Arboretum of the University of Pennsylvania, vol. 13. Botany; Botany. â y i + Fig 2. Effect on potatoes of the negative (left) and the positive (right) electrodes of a no-volt circuit. The potato (left) in which the cathode was imbedded has become a soft and glutinous jelly throughout more than half its volume (there is no discoloration), while the potato (right) containing the anode was but very slightly affected. wander to the cathode and there unite with the dissociated hydroxyl ions of the water to form a base. Alkalinity at the cathode may be proved experi- mentally by adding phenolphthalein to an electrolytic solution into which two electrodes project; the color changes to pink at the negative pole. As the negative pole is alkaline and as decomposition of the tissues took place at this pole, it is possible that alkalinity per se or some reaction which is accelerated by alkalinity, is responsible for the decomposition. It is par- ticularly significant that in all fruits and vegetables with but three excep- tions, the pH of the tissue at the cathode was ; in two cases it was and in one case , while the original pH values of the tissues differed considerably. , , , ^ ⢠â* In addition to alkalinity the causative agent may be the electric current ⢠as such, heat, bacteria, oxidation, or autolysis. The electric current prob- ably functions only through some condition which it establishes, such as reduction. Heat was given special consideration because the fruit and vegetables often rose to quite high temperatures owing to high resistance ot the tissues, but as the tissue at both positive and negative poles became hot and as heat applied separately caused no breakdown in tissue, heat cannot be a primary cause. As for bacteria, the reaction is too rapid for them alone to be responsible. It appears that the reactions which most probably cause a breakdown in tissue due to a flow of current
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