Lab#: 14

Skill(s): ORR and D

Date: 1/12/2020

Title: Transport in Plants

Aim: To observe the movement of water through a plant.

Apparatus: Scalpel, beaker, white tile, microscope or hand lens, fan.

Materials: Papaya stalks with leaf, methylene blue, water.

Method:
1. 2-3 cm were trimmed from the end of a leaf stalk.
2. Stalks were placed in a beaker containing methylene blue solution.
3. Beaker with the stalk was placed in front of the fan for thirty (30) minutes.
4. Stalk was removed from the beaker and placed on the white tile.
5. Very thin sections at various heights were cut along the stalk.
6. The cut sections were observed under a microscope or hand lens.
7. Drawings of the sections were viewed

Observation:
Discussion:
- The Xylem vessels in a plant are used to transport water and mineral salts from the
roots to the leaves of the plant. It consists of dead cells. The cells that make up the
xylem are adapted to their function.They lose their end walls so the xylem forms a
continuous,hollow tube. They also become strengthened by a substance called
lignin. Lignin gives strength and support to the plant. We call lignified cells
wood.Transport in the xylem is a physical process. It does not require energy. The
tension created by transpiration pulls water in the plant xylem, drawing the water
upward in much the same way that you draw water upward when you suck on a
straw. Cohesion causes more water molecules to fill the gap in the xylem as the top-
most water is pulled toward the stomata. The Kingston Buttercup was placed in
Methylene Blue to prove the movement of fluid through the plant stem. Stalks were
cut along various sections along the length to see the distance that the Methylene
Blue had travelled. The fan used in the experiment can be likened to the wind in the
environment. It speeds up the rate of transpiration and the movement of the
methylene blue in the plant.

Reflection:
- From this lab we have learned that fluid does move through the stem of a plant. More
specifically we have seen that Water and mineral salts are transported through the
Xylem.

Conclusion:
- It can be concluded that water and other mineral salts are transported in the xylem
vessel while amino acids and other nutrients are transported in the phloem vessel.