Transpiration Essay

588 Words3 Pages
Transpiration Lab Introduction: Plants require water to carry out basic functions, but water is also lost through transpiration, the evaporation of water from the plants surfaces. Transpiration is a necessary function that causes a force to be exerted on the water in the xylem, this force “pulls” the water from the lower levels of the plants to the upper levels. If water is lost through the stomata, then placing the plant in a more windy condition, then plant is going to lose more water than it would in normal classroom conditions. Procedure: 1. Remove the plant from its casing. 2. Place the plant in a Ziploc bag, and tie the top so that a minimal amount of soil is exposed. 3. Take the initial mass of the plant and record it in data table 9.0. 4. Then place the plant inside of a small beaker so that it will stand upright. 5. Place that plant in whichever condition you chose. In this case, the plant will be placed in front of a fan. 6. Leave the plant there and check and record the mass in table 9.0 daily. 7. On the third day, remove a sample of a large leaf and a sample of a small leaf, and trace their area on the grid 9.1. 8. Record the water loss between each day in table 9.2 9. Using the grid, calculate the surface area of the leaves and then take the average of their surface areas. 10. Multiply the found average with the approximate number of leaves on your plant to get the total surface area of the plant. 11. Using this area, calculate the water loss per square meter by dividing the water loss (the difference in mass between readings) by the surface area calculated. 12. Record the water loss per meters squared in table 9.2 13. Calculate the average of the water loss in your plant. 14. Once everyone has calculated their average water loss, record the averages of the class for
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