4 ms·

Plants rely on on capillary action to bring water up: https://www.usgs.gov/special-topics/water-science-school/science/capillary-action-and-water#:~:text=the%20

Plants rely on on capillary action to bring water up: https://www.usgs.gov/special-topics/water-science-school/science/capillary-action-and-water#:~:text=the%20plant%20tissue.-,Capillary%20action%20helps%20bring%20water%20up%20into%20the%20roots.,water%20to%20the%20furthest%20leaf https://www.usgs.gov/special-topics/water-science-school/sci.... There's probably some aspect of evaporation, but the density of water is much, much higher when it's kept in liquid form.

mechanicalpulse 3y ago
That's part of the process, but not all of it. The overall process of water movement through vascular tissue is called transpiration [0]. Yes, capillary action plays a part, but the underlying process is due to differences in water potential. To avoid saturation (which would halt the flow of nutrients), water is released through pores in the leaves called stomata [1], where it evaporates, creating a differential that results in additional water being pulled in from the soil. [0] transpiration: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transpiration https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transpiration [1] stoma: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stoma https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stoma Disclaimer: I'm not a biologist. I'm a third-generation home gardener; my grandfather was the youngest of his family and the to leave the family farm in Kansas to go to college. He always maintained a large garden and loved sharing his knowledge along with his vegetables. Edit: added links and a disclaimer
iamgopal 3y ago
Watch Veritasium’s awesome video on this
- _nalply 3y ago
  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BickMFHAZR0 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BickMFHAZR0 It's an old video, more than ten years ago, but it aged well IMHO. I re-watched it and re-learned things I have forgotten.