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How does water flow up a plant?

Answer 1

Odd, isn't it, that water can flow UP a tube into the top part of a plant and against gravity?

This is due to capillary action but it is happens in tiny tubes. If the water wets the sides of the tube, it will rise.

If you get a comer of a napkin wet, more will become wet because of capillary action.

If you place a wilted stalk of celery in water it will become turgid because of this action. Water is said to be "sticky" and will adhere to surfaces and to other water molecules.

Note that the smaller the tube, the higher the water will rise.

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Answer 2

Maya Anderson

Water is drawn up from the roots through the xylem vessels of a plant by a process known as transpiration, which is aided by cohesion and adhesion forces between water molecules and the walls of the xylem vessels. Transpiration is caused by the evaporation of water from the leaves, which generates a negative pressure, or tension, in the leaf cells.

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Answer from HIX Tutor

When evaluating a one-sided limit, you need to be careful when a quantity is approaching zero since its sign is different depending on which way it is approaching zero from. Let us look at some examples.