Transpiration Lab

Introduction Water is essential to plants in many ways. It first provides the major substance for living, to keep cells from shriveling up and dying. The second major function is to keep the plants rigidity. As plant cells become turgid, full of water, the cells expand, filling the extent of their cell walls, which are kept taught with turgor pressure. If the cells lose water, two problems occur. First, the cells dehydrate, causing the organism …

…plant’s leaves, the slow rate created enough negative pressure to replace the water being lost to the air and being used by the plant, which wasn’t very much. When this experiment was initially done in our classroom, many faults occurred. Without prior experience handling plants and petroleum jelly, the experiment is difficult. While it is a good idea to see the experiment in order to understand it, the book provided the best data.