3/18/23, 5:31 PM Virtual Lab

Plant Transpiration
What factor affects the transpiration rate in a plant?

Question 1: Describe the process of transpiration in vascular plants.

Answer 1: Transpiration is the process by which moisture is carried through plants from roots to small pores on the underside of leaves where it changes
to vapor and is released to the atmosphere. Transpiration is essentially evaporation of water from plant leaves.

Question 2: Describe any experimental controls used in the Investigation.

Answer 2: Controls used were the temperature (21 degrees Celsius) the same equipment used (fan heater and lamp)

Question 3: What environmental factors that you tested increased the rate of transpiration? Was the rate of transpiration increased for all plants tested?

Answer 3: All three environmental factors tested increased the rate of transpiration. The rate increased for all plants tested.

Question 4: Did any of the environmental factors (heat light or wind) increase the transpiration rate more than the others? Why?

Answer 4: The fan consistently increased the rate the most second was the heater and last was the lamp. The reason for this is because by using the fan the
air movement created by the fan sped up the rate of transpiration the fastest. The moisture was pulled out of the plant cells faster because of the air
movement.

Question 5: Which species of plants that you tested had the highest transpiration rates? Why do you think different species of plants transpire at different
rates?

Answer 5: The rubber plant under the fan conditions had the highest transpiration rate. Different species of plants transpire at different rates because
each of them are made differently. Some have thick tissue on their leaves while others have thin tissue. Some have larger surface area on their leaves while
others are smaller. The rubber plant had the largest surface area of all the plants tested in this experiment.

Question 6: Suppose you coated the leaves of a plant with petroleum jelly. How would the plant's rate of transpiration be affected?

Answer 6: Petroleum jelly would inhibit the loss of moisture out of the stomata cells. Therefore the rate of transpiration would be decreased. Essentially
the surface of the leaf wouldn’t be able to “breath” nearly as fast with a jelly coating.

Question 7: Of what value to a plant is the ability to lose water through transpiration?

Answer 7: A plant has to lose some of its moisture or else the leaves and tissues become waterlogged. A water-logged plant is an unhealthy plant
because essentially they are drowning. It is also a cooling mechanism for the plant in higher temperatures. It is natural for a plant to transpire moisture just
as it’s natural for human to sweat.

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