Transpiration Essay

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Transpiration is the process by which moisture is carried upwards throughout a plant by xylem vessels and finally lost to the atmosphere through small pores called stomata. Thousands of these are located on the epidermis on the underside of plant leaves and on the stem as smaller amounts of solar radiation hit the underside surface of the leaf, while solar radiation is absorbed by the top layer of the leaf and used for photosynthesis. Transpiration is driven by heat from the sun, which heats the water molecules in the leaves, breaking their cohesive bonds, which allows the water to evaporate once secreted by the stomata. In vascular tissue, water from the soil is transported from the root hairs to the cortex and then to the endodermis and finally to the xylem vessels, which move the water and water-soluble nutrients upwards through the root and stem to the leaves. The water molecules then form a column, in which the top layer evaporates, leaving behind a concave shape. The high surface tension of the water then pulls this into a convex shape, creating the force needed to pull water through the tissue to the leaf where it is transpired. The process where the water is both transpired and evaporated from the plant is called evapotranspiration.

Transpiration is an essential process in plants, as it mass-moves minerals up from the roots of a plant through xylem veins which distributes the water and nutrients to parts of the plant such as sprouting buds, new leaves and developing fruit, which require such nutrients for growth and development as well as being transported up the plant to be evaporated. This is achieved as water travels from the roots along the cell membranes to reach the xylem vessels in the middle of the root. It then ...

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... is exposed to sunlight, the light stimulates the opening of the stomata, hence speeding up that rate at which transpiration takes place. The opening and closing of the stomata occurs when the turgor in the guard cells, located over the stomata pores, changes. As guard cells take in water, minerals and ions from neighbouring cells, the osmotic and water potential is lowered. This makes water move into guard cells, consequently become more rigid. This then causes the stomata to open. If the guard cells could not extract water, minerals and ions from neighbouring cells, then the guard cells would not be turgid, resulting in the loss of water from the cells, hence closing the stomata. Although light is required for transpiration to take place, high concentrations are not required in order for transpiration to take place, unlike other processes such as photosynthesis.

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