In a semester-long experiment tracking growth in plants, your lab partner—who often skips class—carefully records the mass of water added to a potted plant with the expectation that this addition will be fully accounted for in the mass gained by the plant. Is your lab partner right or wrong? Explain.

Verified step by step guidance

1. Step 1: Understand the question. The question is asking whether the mass of water added to a plant will be fully accounted for in the mass gained by the plant.
2. Step 2: Recall the concept of photosynthesis. Photosynthesis is the process by which green plants and some other organisms use sunlight to synthesize foods with the help of chlorophyll pigments. In this process, plants convert carbon dioxide and water into glucose and oxygen. The chemical equation for photosynthesis is: 6CO2 + 6H2O + light energy = C6H12O6 + 6O2.
3. Step 3: Apply the concept of photosynthesis to the question. The water added to the plant is used in the photosynthesis process to produce glucose and oxygen. However, not all the water added to the plant is used in photosynthesis. Some of it is lost through transpiration, a process where water is lost from the plant to the atmosphere.
4. Step 4: Conclude the answer. Your lab partner is wrong. The mass of water added to the plant will not be fully accounted for in the mass gained by the plant because some of the water is lost through transpiration.
5. Step 5: Explain the importance of understanding this concept. Understanding the process of photosynthesis and transpiration is crucial in biology as it helps us understand how plants grow and survive, and how they contribute to the carbon and water cycles in nature.