EXPERIMENTS ON GEOTROPISM

An experiment to demonstrate that the root is positively geotropic (or the root shows

positive geotropism)

Apparatus or materials

 Seedlings with straight radicles (14)

 Pins (14)

 Corks (2)

 Jars (2)

 Moist cotton wool or moist blotting paper

Procedure

 Seven seedlings of the same age each with a straight radicle are pinned to the cork with

their radicles oriented horizontally to the cork

 The cork is then fixed to the mouth of a jar whose inner wall is lined with moist

blotting paper, which saturates the air in the jar with water vapour

 The jar is laid or placed horizontally on a surface or table

 A control experiment is set up in which the jar is fixed horizontally to a slowly rotating

clinostat

 The two set ups are left in darkness for 48 hours (2 days) to eliminate the possibilities

of phototropic response

Set up of apparatus after 2 days

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 B AA

Observations

 The radicles of the seedlings in jar A grow and bend down-wards

 The radicles of seedlings in jar B continue to grow horizontally straight

Conclusion

 The radicle or root is positively geotropic

Explanation of the observations

 The radicles grow and bend down-wards due to gravitational pull, which attracts more

of the auxins to the lower side of the radicle. This increases the concentration of auxins

on the lower side than the upper side of the radicle. The high concentration of auxins on

the lower side of the radicle inhibits growth while the low auxin concentration on the

upper side of the radicle stimulates rapid growth

 The radicles continue growing horizontally straight because the clinostat rotates the

radicles, which causes uniform distribution of the auxins on the upper and lower sides

of the radicle. This promotes same growth rate of the upper and lower sides of the

radicle

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An experiment to demonstrate that the shoot of the plant is negatively geotropic

Apparatus and raw materials

 Potted seedlings (2)

 Clinostat

 Cardboard boxes (2)

Procedure

 One potted seedling is placed on its sides so that the shoot is horizontal

 The other potted seedling is placed or fixed to a clinostat such that its shoot is also

horizontal. The clinostat rotates the seedling such that all parts of the shoot are exposed

equally to the pull of gravity

 The set ups are left to stand for 2 days or 48 hours in a dark cardboard to eliminate

phototropic responses

Set up of the apparatus after 2 days

 A B
 A

Clinostat 

Observations

 The shoot fixed to the clinostat continues growing horizontally

 The shoot of the stationary plant grows and bends vertically upwards

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Conclusion

 The shoot is negatively geotropic

Explanation of the results

 In stationary shoot, gravitational force causes most of the auxins to diffuse to the lower

side of the shoot. This increases the concentration of auxins in the lower side of the

shoot above the concentration of auxins in the upper side of the shoot. Higher

concentration of auxins in the lower side of the shoot causes or stimulates rapid growth

of the lower side.

 Rotation of the shoot causes uniform distribution of auxins throughout the shoot. This

makes the shoot to continue growing horizontally

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