Drinking Plants

The roots of a plant take up water from the soil. You can see this with a regular carrot, which is the root of a carrot plant.

Materials:

• Carrot
• Cup of water
• Blue food coloring

What to do:

1. Mix a few drops of the food coloring into the cup of water.
2. Place the carrot in the water.
3. After waiting a few hours, pull the carrot out and cut off a small section near the tip.
4. Look at both the carrot and the piece you cut off. You should see blue dots on the inside sections of these two pieces. The blue dots indicate where the water is being carried through the root.

The roots bring water and nutrients up to the plant through hollow tubes as shown by the blue food coloring. Water and nutrients are essential for a plant to grow. Cut off another piece of carrot, looking for the same blue dots again. Keep cutting sections off the carrot. How far did the water travel up the carrot?

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