Physics Of Water Process In Plants

All living things need water in order to stay alive. Plants however, require more water than humans and animals since they are 90 percent water (Clemson University, n.d.). This report will discuss the different physics processes that occur in plants, how these processes work in water movement into the plant and how the processes are used to transport water around the plant to the required places.

There are many different physics processes that cause water to moves into, throughout and around the plant. The main processes are osmosis, transpiration, capillary action, and water potential. Capillary action is defined as the movement of fluid up a narrow tube against the force of gravity due to cohesion, adhesion and surface tension. Cohesion refers to the cohesive forces in water make the water molecules stick close together which makes water “sticky” and adhesion refers to the adhesive forces that make water molecules attract and stick to other substances (USGS, n.d.). In addition, capillary action occurs because the cohesive forces between the water molecules are weaker than the adhesion to the walls of the plant tissue, which pulls water upwards in the xylem. The xylem is the vascular tissue found in the stem that is responsible for the transport of water from the roots of the plant up through the stem and in to the leaves. (Michigan State University, n.d.). Osmosis is another process involved in water movement into a plant. Osmosis is the movement of water from an area with a high concentration of water to a lower concentration of water passing through a semi-permeable membrane, which in a plant is called a cell wall or cell membrane (Lye, n.d.). Osmosis is essentially influenced by Water potential, which is defined as the me...

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...ube, which is the one of the driving forces of water movement in an upwards motion. Additionally, transpiration and water potential are involved in the movement of water upwards in the xylem. Transpiration can be defined as evaporation of water through the leaves and essentially acts like a magnet that “pulls” water upwards (Colorado State University, 2011). When water is lost through the leaves via transpiration the leaves then have a lower water potential compared to the water in the xylem which influences the “pull” that moves the water up and back into the leaves where the water is required.

(Figure 3: Diagram showing the process of transpiration and the transpiration pull.) http://www.flairform.com/hints/plant_processes.htm In conclusion, there are many different processes that are involved in water transportation and movement into and around the plant.