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Originally posted by rallem:
I am watching Out of Gas at this time and a question which has often popped up in my head came back. I understand in real life and in science fiction that air would have to be cleansed and recycled and maybe even artificially produced, but why aren’t the people on these ships raising potted plants in their rooms? Sure a little water and some ultraviolet light would be needed, but the plants could help the situation some if the atmospheric stabilizers were to malfunction for some reason. In a story driven Sci-fi series like Firefly it would seem like the plants a person chooses to keep could flush out their character more and reveal them better.

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Originally posted by ShinyFrye:

Good point about the ultraviolet bulb. I'm not sure on how the water works on the ships If it's stored in tanks then recycled or dumped in space when used. I will try to look into it.

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Originally posted by ShinyFrye:

As far as Jayne taking care of a plant to relieve stress, I can't picure that, To me he seems more like the type to hit or shoot something. But I could picture him eating the banana. :)

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Originally posted by citizen:
You initially said that plants could be used to help produce air if the purifiers went down, which, no, because you'd need to feel the cargo bay with biomass to get any usable level of oxygen. Point is, a few plants in everyone's room, wouldn't help if the air ever went down. Plants also respire, they take in Oxygen and 'breathe' out Carbon Dioxide. This is off set by photosynthesis, which emits oxygen, but that only works in sunlight...

As for growing them for other purposes:
Ultraviolet is harmful to the eyes and skin, so no you wouldn't really want it blaring away at all times. You also assume, probably incorrectly, that the light fixings in Serenity are just standard bulbs that they can replace at VerseMart. I imagine that by this time in the future they're using some sort of everlasting LED technology, so that replacing a lightbulb is not an everyday occurrence, but a major operation. I rather doubt it's as simple as swapping a lightbulb.

I also question the assumption that water isn't a problem. The one time we see anyone doing something as wasteful as washing, it's in a tiny tin bath. Most resources seem scarce, so why not water as well?

It doesn't address the cost of these plants either. Most of the food is of the manufactured protein variety, Badger had an Apple to show off how rich he was. I rather imagine owning a banana plant is somewhat out of the price range of a mercenary living hand to mouth.

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More insane ramblings by the people who brought you beeeer milkshakes!
No one can see their reflection in running water. It is only in still water that we can see.
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I am watching Out of Gas at this time and a question which has often popped up in my head came back. I understand in real life and in science fiction that air would have to be cleansed and recycled and maybe even artificially produced, but why aren’t the people on these ships raising potted plants in their rooms? Sure a little water and some ultraviolet light would be needed, but the plants could help the situation some if the atmospheric stabilizers were to malfunction for some reason. In a story driven Sci-fi series like Firefly it would seem like the plants a person chooses to keep could flush out their character more and reveal them better.

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I still stand by what I said originally in that any number of plants would help even if not much. I am not advocating that the ship should be a traveling biosphere, (actually that would be interesting) and the plants wouldn't take over for the ship's systems only help give the crew more time to fix the problems. There are of course other reasons for crew members to keep plants on the ship.

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Photosynthesis takes place primarily in plant leaves, and little to none occurs in stems, etc. The parts of a typical leaf include the upper and lower epidermis, the mesophyll, the vascular bundle(s) (veins), and the stomates. The upper and lower epidermal cells do not have chloroplasts, thus photosynthesis does not occur there. They serve primarily as protection for the rest of the leaf. The stomates are holes which occur primarily in the lower epidermis and are for air exchange: they let CO2 in and O2 out. The vascular bundles or veins in a leaf are part of the plant's transportation system, moving water and nutrients around the plant as needed. The mesophyll cells have chloroplasts and this is where photosynthesis occurs.

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http://swyzzlestyx.com/index.html

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Originally posted by rallem:
I still stand by what I said originally in that any number of plants would help even if not much. I am not advocating that the ship should be a traveling biosphere, (actually that would be interesting) and the plants wouldn't take over for the ship's systems only help give the crew more time to fix the problems. There are of course other reasons for crew members to keep plants on the ship.

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Originally posted by rallem:
I think they would. Sure the u.v. lights would have to be on at a time of emergency which might be difficult, but considering their return at those times it might be a wise decision on the part of the captain to relinquish some power to the plants. It would take several plants in each room to help out and the person or people in each room would have to be in those rooms to receive any benefit from the plants, but I would think all non essential personnel would be in their rooms anyway so they don’t get in the way.

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I think I would want to raise a banana plant and maybe some tomatoes, squash, blueberries, and other types of leafy food plants because flowers just aren’t my thing.

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Also why not maybe jury-rig one of the shuttle’s coils to place on Serenity’s engine? It seemed like the part was a universal part for spaceships.

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Originally posted by rallem:
That is of course considering the apples weren't hybrids, but who knows.

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