Capillary Action in Plants: “The effect in the dissimilarity of the 3 plant stalks”

CAPILLARITY IN PLANTS I.Objective To measure the capillarity in plants. Problem How the dissimilarity of stalk sizes between sag ay 1, sagay 2 and palmera plants affect in absorb ing the dye (Bromthymol blue solution) during ca pillarity action?

Independent variables: Number of plant stems Length of each plant stems Volume of dye(Bromthymol blue solution) p er beaker 24 hours time limit

Dependent variables: Sizes of each plant stalk a. Sagay 1 – normal b. Sagay 2 – thick c. Palmera—thin Amount of light

Control set-up a.The Sagay 1 plant with a normal stalk was put in a dim lig ht for 24 hours Experimental set-up a.The Sagay 2 plant with thick stalk was put in a light sour ce for 1 hour only,after that it was put together with the 2 plants in a dim light b. The Palmera plant with thin stalk was put in a dim light for 24 hours Control Variable: a.Normal stalk Experimental Variable: a. Thick stalk b. Thin stalk

II. Materials 3 beakers A magnifying lens Scissors 1 meterstick palmera plant with thin stalk 2 sagay grasses Sagay 1 – with normal stalk Sagay 2 – with thick stalk 300 mL of Dye (B romthymol blue solut ion) Timer A Light Source 3 Graduating cylinders

III. Procedure a.) The materials were gathered and prepared to start the experimentation in a laboratory. b.) The stalk at the end of the stem of each plant namely Sagay 1, Sagay 2 and Palmera were being cut a little with their required measurement. At the same time, the upper stem of the 3 plants were also cut. c.) The Bromthymol blue solution was filled on the 3 beakers with the volume of 100mL per beaker.

PLANTS LENGTH OF EACH STEM VOLUME OF DYE SOLUTION PER BEAKER Sagay 1 15 cm 100 mL Sagay 2 15 cm 100 mL Palmera15 cm 100 mL Table 1. The table above shows the length of each plant. d.) Then, at the same time, the 3 plants were bei ng put on the beakers. Each beaker with 100 has mL has one plant.

e.) Sagay 2 grass was placed into a light source within 1 hour while Sagay 1 and Palmera plants were placed in a dim lig ht area. f.) After 1 hour of displaying the Sagay 2 grass in a light sour ce, it was then placed together with the Sagay 1 and Palmera plants in the dim light area. g.) After 24 hours, further observation on each plant was con ducted. h.) Using a meterstick, the track length of capillary action in e ach stem of plants was being measured. Then, the volume of dye (Bromthymol blue solution) absorbed by each plant i n the beaker was also measured through a graduated cyli nder.

IV. Results and Discussion: Table 2. The table above explains that sagay 2 absorbed more dye among the two plants.

Centimeters Milliliters

The experiment was within 24 hours of setting out to meas ure the capillary action in plants. Sagay 2 has the greatest amount of dye absorbed with a dy e track length of 13.5cm and dye volume of 15 mL. Second t o it was the Sagay 2 which absorbed 13cm of dye length an d 8 mL of dye volume. Lastly, Palmera plant has the least amo unt of dye length of 8 cm and a dye volume of 3mL. The Sagay 1, Sagay 2 and Palmera take on a dark blue colo r in their stems.This is because the dye ( Bromthymol blue sol ution in each beaker was absorbed through the xylem tubes in each stalk. The dark blue color was not deposited to the leaves because the scope and limitation of this experiment is to meas ure capillarity action among the three plants with different stalk sizes.

The movement of the dye is called "capillary action.“ Capillary action is part of the reason that water rises in a plant stem and moves throughout the plant. Once absorbed by t he roots or a cut stem, water and everything it contains, includin g dyes, travel through the plant in tubes called xylem. The three plants being tested differed in terms of the dye trac k length in each stem where they were measured from the bottom stalk to the required measure on the stem which is 1 5 cm. Also, the volume of the dye absorbed by each stem varied where they were measured accordingly by pouring beaker simultaneously unto a graduated cylinder. Such that the 100mL volume was subtracted by the remaining dye volume then this equals to the dye being absorbed by a particular stalk.

Capillary action affects plant: Hydrogen bonding of Water molecules: Due to the polar covalent bonds that hold a water molecule together, Hydrogen bonds form where the negative Oxygens and the po sitive Hydrogens are located. The results of these bonds are as follows: 1.Cohesion: is the sticking together of similar molecules. Wat er is very cohesive. This allows water to be pulled along a pathway with relative ease. 2. Surface Tension: cohesion allows water to pull together and form droplets or form an interface between it and other surf aces. The measure of how hard it is to break this interface i s its surface tension.

Water allows materials to rest upon it if the surface tension is not broken. Pollen, dust, water insects, and other biologic al materials are able to remain on the surface of the water beca use of this tension. 3. Adhesion: The sticking of one substance to another. Water is a good adhesive. It will cling on to many objects and act as a glue. Capillary Action is an example of cohesion and ad hesion working together to move water up a thin tube such as t he plants xylem.

V. Conclusion: The experiment demonstrates how capillarity action works on plants. The dissimilarity of stalks of each pla nt matters because the xylem or tubes that transport dye fro m the bottom of the stalk to the higher portion of the stem. A nd so, the thicker or bigger the stalk is, the greater the ability of a plant to absorb nutrients from the soil. The thinner or smaller the stalk is, the lesser the ability of a plant in taking up water and minerals from the soil.