Shadowing Practice: Why Grass Grows Better Under Trampolines - Learn English Speaking with Video

Elige un modo de práctica

Cada modo abre una sala de práctica a pantalla completa.

25 oraciones

Si las oraciones son demasiado cortas o largas, haz clic en Editar para ajustarlas.

If you’ve ever owned a backyard trampoline –or jumped on someone else’s– you might have noticed that the grass underneath it is longer and lusher than the grass in the rest of the yard.

It’s not just that that grass isn’t getting mowed… in fact, when it does get mowed, you can see the weird effect even better!

Instead there's something else –something shadier– going on here.

Hi, I'm Kate, and this is MinuteEarth.

Plants need sun; it’s their source of energy.

But too much sun can dry out the soil, overheat a plant, and overload its photosynthetic machinery, all of which can stunt its growth.

Reducing the amount of sun that reaches a plant –by, say, covering it up with a trampoline that lets through only some of the sunlight– helps moisture stay in the soil, keeps temps way cooler, and stabilizes light levels for peak photosynthesis.

The result, in many cases? Bigger, happier plants.

In backyards, the trampoline effect is a weird quirk. But on farms, it’s a potential game-changer.

One study found that corn plants produced a bigger harvest under partial cover than in full sun.

Another found that partially-shaded tomatoes produced twice as much fruit.

And in France, grapes grown under partial cover were sweeter and tastier.

But bigger, better crops weren't the only benefit, because instead of being shaded by giant trampolines –which, admittedly, would have been fun– the plants in these studies were shielded by solar panels; in other words, this setup was ALSO capturing sunlight and turning it into electricity.

And remember that nice cool microclimate created by the trampoline effect?

This helps keep the solar panels cool, which –for kind-of-complicated physics reasons– increases how much electricity they can produce.

So solar panels help plants grow better, and plants help solar panels work better… it sounds like a sun-sational win-win.

Of course, it isn’t quite that simple; some sun-craving plants, like raspberries and wheat, don’t grow as well when they’re shaded.

Location matters too; crops in cooler, wetter places benefit less from the trampoline effect than those in hotter, dryer places.

And setting up these systems in the first place comes with costs and complications.

But researchers have run the numbers, and because farms with solar panels are basically getting double duty out of the land –or at least something close to it– harvesting solar energy along with our food often makes mathematical –and therefore financial– sense.

So even though this is a pretty new idea in farming –there are only about 600 US farms doing it right now– the trampoline effect might eventually help us bounce into a much greener future.

The amount of electricity we can generate with solar power and other forms of clean energy is amazing – just look at this chart from the last 25 years.

So on September 21st, we’re going to celebrate that progress and help push for even more in a series of events around the world: I’m talking rallies, solar installations, parades – all sorts of stuff.

It’s called Sun Day, and if you want to learn more about it, or attend an event, or even host your own, please check out Sunday.Earth.

Together, we can make the sun rise on our clean energy future. That’s Sunday.Earth! See you then.

Descargar app

Todo lo que necesitas para hablar con fluidez

Pronunciación con IAEvalúa cada oración

Práctica de IPADomina cada sonido

VocabularioConstruye tu banco de palabras

Juego de vocabularioAprende mientras juegas

Escanea el QR

Download on theApp Store Get it onGoogle Play

Mismo canal

Palabra	Pronunciación	Significado
trampoline sustantivo	/ˌtɹæmpəˈliːn/	cama elástica, brincolín
shade sustantivo	/ʃeɪd/	sombra
mow verbo	/ˈmoʊ/	podar, segar
sunlight sustantivo	/ˈsʌnˌlaɪt/	luz del sol, luz solar
backyard sustantivo	/bækˈjɑːd/	traspatio, patio trasero
harvest sustantivo	/ˈhɑɹ.vəst/	cosecha
crop sustantivo	/kɹɑp/	cultivo
partial adjetivo	/ˈpɑɹʃəl/	parcial
complication sustantivo	/ˌkɑm.pləˈkeɪ.ʃən/	complicación
microclimate sustantivo		microclima
overheat verbo	/ˌoʊvɚˈhit/	sobrecalentar, recalentar
overload verbo	/ˌəʊvəˈləʊd/	sobrecargar
photosynthesis sustantivo	/ˌfoʊ.toʊˈsɪn.θə.sɪs/	fotosíntesis
photosynthetic adjetivo		fotosintético
stabilize verbo	/ˈsteɪ.bəˌlaɪz/	estabilizar

Shadowing Practice: Why Grass Grows Better Under Trampolines - Learn English Speaking with Video

Elige un modo de práctica

Descargar app

Why Haven't We Domesticated Monkeys?

Four Places We Might Find Aliens

Why Do India And China Have So Many People?

Where Did Earth's Water Come From?

The Heaviest Part of a Forest Is NOT What You Think

Why Don't Blue Whales Eat Fish?

Why We Faint (When Other Animals Don't)

How To Kill A Volcano

Three Specific Ways AI Could Kill Us All

Why is it Hot Underground?

MinuteEarth Explains: Cats vs Dogs

Why Don't Snakes Poison Themselves?

The Best Dragon (According to Science)

Why Do Rivers Curve?

How High Can Birds Fly?

Why Do We Have More Boys Than Girls?

MinuteEarth Explains: Microbes

Why Don't Our Bones Keep Growing Forever?

Could This Thing *Really* Fly?

There’s Really Only One Way To Die

What If We Built Vertical Farms?

The Most Misunderstood Concept in Physics

Biodiversity | Consider This #4

Exploding Eggshells is Actually Useful?

Why Are There No Holes Around Trees?

Dig Deep, Power a City

Climate Change: How does it really work? | ClimateScience #1

How Did Humans Domesticate Corn?

What If Exoplanets Replaced Our Solar System?

Do Penguins Control the Weather?

How Agri-Voltaics are Changing Agriculture | The Power of Solar Panels | EyeTech

Coral Bleaching: A Marine Biologist Explains

Vocabulario y notas de pronunciación para esta lección

Vocabulario clave de este vídeo

Phrasal verbs que vas a escuchar

Pronunciación a tener en cuenta

Cómo practicar con este vídeo

¿Qué es la Técnica de Shadowing?

Could This Thing Really Fly?