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L.Dutch ♦
L.Dutch ♦
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The problem with a spherical shape is that is minimizes the surface for a given volume, and to capture sunlight you need a lot of surface.

That is even more true in a place like Antarctica, where even when you have 24 hours of light, it is always grazing and therefore with a low intensity, as opposite in hot deserts, where spheroidal plants do no suffer the relatively low light capturing area because light comes at a dime a dozen.

To build enough reserves to allow surviving the long polar night the plant would need a lot of surface. On top of that, the plant would also need liquid water: keeping yourself warm in one thing, melting the snow is another. And water is known for needed a hella lot of heat to change phase. And that's again energy that the plant has to capture from sunlight.

Even if you have only the trunk to be a sphere, each leaf and branch will act as a fin, dispersing precious heat in an already freezing cold climate.

The problem with a spherical shape is that is minimizes the surface for a given volume, and to capture sunlight you need a lot of surface.

That is even more true in a place like Antarctica, where even when you have 24 hours of light, it is always grazing and therefore with a low intensity, as opposite in hot deserts, where spheroidal plants do no suffer the relatively low light capturing area because light comes at a dime a dozen.

To build enough reserves to allow surviving the long polar night the plant would need a lot of surface. On top of that, the plant would also need liquid water: keeping yourself warm in one thing, melting the snow is another. And water is known for needed a hella lot of heat to change phase. And that's again energy that the plant has to capture from sunlight.

The problem with a spherical shape is that is minimizes the surface for a given volume, and to capture sunlight you need a lot of surface.

That is even more true in a place like Antarctica, where even when you have 24 hours of light, it is always grazing and therefore with a low intensity, as opposite in hot deserts, where spheroidal plants do no suffer the relatively low light capturing area because light comes at a dime a dozen.

To build enough reserves to allow surviving the long polar night the plant would need a lot of surface. On top of that, the plant would also need liquid water: keeping yourself warm in one thing, melting the snow is another. And water is known for needed a hella lot of heat to change phase. And that's again energy that the plant has to capture from sunlight.

Even if you have only the trunk to be a sphere, each leaf and branch will act as a fin, dispersing precious heat in an already freezing cold climate.

Source Link
L.Dutch ♦
L.Dutch ♦
  • 300.9k
  • 60
  • 620
  • 1.3k

The problem with a spherical shape is that is minimizes the surface for a given volume, and to capture sunlight you need a lot of surface.

That is even more true in a place like Antarctica, where even when you have 24 hours of light, it is always grazing and therefore with a low intensity, as opposite in hot deserts, where spheroidal plants do no suffer the relatively low light capturing area because light comes at a dime a dozen.

To build enough reserves to allow surviving the long polar night the plant would need a lot of surface. On top of that, the plant would also need liquid water: keeping yourself warm in one thing, melting the snow is another. And water is known for needed a hella lot of heat to change phase. And that's again energy that the plant has to capture from sunlight.