Cohesion tension theory says that evaporation from the leaves creates negative pressure or tension, and this tension pulls water up from the roots. Now leaves contain a humid air, and that will evaporate when the stomata are open and the external humidity is less than 100%. So the conditions needed for that evaporation, or transpiration, as I'm going to label it here, are that this external humidity is less than 100%, which it's almost certain to be. Now, the evaporation lowers the humidity in the mesophyll, or that inner tissue in the leaves. So, inside these leaves, the evaporation is going to result in lower humidity. And this causes water to enter into the space in the mesophyll from the parenchyma cells. Right? It's going to enter that apoplastic region. Now, what's going to essentially happen is the evaporating water is going to pull water in from the parenchyma cells, and this is going to create steep menisci. Menisci is the plural of meniscus, so many meniscuses. Steep menisci will form at the air-water interface in the leaf cell walls, and this is going to create that tension. Now each meniscus is small. Right? But there's many of them and all their forces added together become significant. The tension from all these menisci in the leaf cells is going to pull water up from the roots, which is going to be assisted by cohesion and adhesion. So looking at our diagram here essentially what's going to happen is this water leaving is going to create a negative pressure potential, and that negative pressure potential is going to cause water to be drawn up from the roots to the leaves, and this is because that force from the negative pressure potential, right, That tension is going to be transmitted all the way along through the xylem, all the way along through that water due to cohesion, and adhesion. Right? So that's how those factors we talked about previously are going to influence this process. You might be wondering now, wait you didn't mention surface tension. Guys, those menisci. That's, the surface tension that is pulling up on the water. That is, in, that surface tension is in those many menisci. So, this process is basically solar powered, and the reason I say that is plants don't expend energy to create the upward force on the water. The sun heats up the atmosphere and that's going to, you know, in part facilitate this transpiration happening. It's that transpiration happening that's going to create this negative pressure, and that negative pressure is going to pull water up from the roots. To be fair, it should be noted that plants do expend energy to take ions up into the roots. And this is what allows water to enter the root hairs via osmosis. So, you know, technically there is some energy expenditure coming into play that is, you know, going to have some impact on this process. But the main point is that this cohesion tension aspect is totally, energy free for the plant. The, you know, they don't have to expend any energy for that part of the process. And, you know, just to kind of illustrate the amazing force that this can generate, You know, I keep talking about redwood trees. They're super tall. This process, this cohesion tension, can create a negative pressure significant enough to draw water up over 300 feet vertically. That is a massive amount of pressure. In fact, it's so much pressure that if the secondary cell walls of the vascular tissue were not lignified, they wouldn't be able to withstand it. You know, the plant would actually, like, break itself trying to do this. It's just another reason that lignification, or that the, that including lignin in the secondary cell walls is so important to the vascular tissue of plants. Alright. With that, let's flip the page.
Table of contents
- 1. Introduction to Biology2h 40m
- 2. Chemistry3h 40m
- 3. Water1h 26m
- 4. Biomolecules2h 23m
- 5. Cell Components2h 26m
- 6. The Membrane2h 31m
- 7. Energy and Metabolism2h 0m
- 8. Respiration2h 40m
- 9. Photosynthesis2h 49m
- 10. Cell Signaling59m
- 11. Cell Division2h 47m
- 12. Meiosis2h 0m
- 13. Mendelian Genetics4h 41m
- Introduction to Mendel's Experiments7m
- Genotype vs. Phenotype17m
- Punnett Squares13m
- Mendel's Experiments26m
- Mendel's Laws18m
- Monohybrid Crosses16m
- Test Crosses14m
- Dihybrid Crosses20m
- Punnett Square Probability26m
- Incomplete Dominance vs. Codominance20m
- Epistasis7m
- Non-Mendelian Genetics12m
- Pedigrees6m
- Autosomal Inheritance21m
- Sex-Linked Inheritance43m
- X-Inactivation9m
- 14. DNA Synthesis2h 27m
- 15. Gene Expression3h 20m
- 16. Regulation of Expression3h 31m
- Introduction to Regulation of Gene Expression13m
- Prokaryotic Gene Regulation via Operons27m
- The Lac Operon21m
- Glucose's Impact on Lac Operon25m
- The Trp Operon20m
- Review of the Lac Operon & Trp Operon11m
- Introduction to Eukaryotic Gene Regulation9m
- Eukaryotic Chromatin Modifications16m
- Eukaryotic Transcriptional Control22m
- Eukaryotic Post-Transcriptional Regulation28m
- Eukaryotic Post-Translational Regulation13m
- 17. Viruses37m
- 18. Biotechnology2h 58m
- 19. Genomics17m
- 20. Development1h 5m
- 21. Evolution3h 1m
- 22. Evolution of Populations3h 52m
- 23. Speciation1h 37m
- 24. History of Life on Earth2h 6m
- 25. Phylogeny2h 31m
- 26. Prokaryotes4h 59m
- 27. Protists1h 12m
- 28. Plants1h 22m
- 29. Fungi36m
- 30. Overview of Animals34m
- 31. Invertebrates1h 2m
- 32. Vertebrates50m
- 33. Plant Anatomy1h 3m
- 34. Vascular Plant Transport2m
- 35. Soil37m
- 36. Plant Reproduction47m
- 37. Plant Sensation and Response1h 9m
- 38. Animal Form and Function1h 19m
- 39. Digestive System10m
- 40. Circulatory System1h 57m
- 41. Immune System1h 12m
- 42. Osmoregulation and Excretion50m
- 43. Endocrine System4m
- 44. Animal Reproduction2m
- 45. Nervous System55m
- 46. Sensory Systems46m
- 47. Muscle Systems23m
- 48. Ecology3h 11m
- Introduction to Ecology20m
- Biogeography14m
- Earth's Climate Patterns50m
- Introduction to Terrestrial Biomes10m
- Terrestrial Biomes: Near Equator13m
- Terrestrial Biomes: Temperate Regions10m
- Terrestrial Biomes: Northern Regions15m
- Introduction to Aquatic Biomes27m
- Freshwater Aquatic Biomes14m
- Marine Aquatic Biomes13m
- 49. Animal Behavior28m
- 50. Population Ecology3h 41m
- Introduction to Population Ecology28m
- Population Sampling Methods23m
- Life History12m
- Population Demography17m
- Factors Limiting Population Growth14m
- Introduction to Population Growth Models22m
- Linear Population Growth6m
- Exponential Population Growth29m
- Logistic Population Growth32m
- r/K Selection10m
- The Human Population22m
- 51. Community Ecology2h 46m
- Introduction to Community Ecology2m
- Introduction to Community Interactions9m
- Community Interactions: Competition (-/-)38m
- Community Interactions: Exploitation (+/-)23m
- Community Interactions: Mutualism (+/+) & Commensalism (+/0)9m
- Community Structure35m
- Community Dynamics26m
- Geographic Impact on Communities21m
- 52. Ecosystems2h 36m
- 53. Conservation Biology24m
34. Vascular Plant Transport
Water Potential
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