Thirsty Flower - Results

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Answers

  • Answer to question 1. All answers are correct, if you have written down what you thought that would happen.
  • Answer to question 2. The the tulip has now two colors. You can see colored lines on the petals of the flower. Sometimes the leaves of the tulip have also become colored.
  • Answer to question 3. All answers are correct, if you have written down why you thought this happened. The tulip will drink the dyed water. This water will be transported up to the flower through different transportation canals in the stem. The canals on the left side of the stem will reach the left side of the flower. And the canals on the right side of the stem, will reach the right side of the flower. When the water in the flower evaporates, the dye will remain and the colors the flower.

Extra Explanation

The two photos on the right are taken after one full day.

Tulips need water because they transpire. The don't transpire because they are too warm, but they transpire in order to transport nutrients to their leaves and flowers. By transpiring, they pull up the water with the nutrients in it.

There is water in the leaves and flowers of the tulip. Water is consists of little particles called molecules. The water molecules in the leaves and flowers are pulled out by the attraction between the molecules (surface tension). When the water has reached the surface outside, it can evaporate in the air.

But leaves and flowers do not dry out, because they also drink water. A tulip drinks water via the transportation canals in the stem (xylem). Because some of the water reaches the surface and evaporates, there is water being sucked up. The sucking up of water is easy, because the canals are narrow.

The food dye is transported along with the water. Once the water evaporates in the flower, the dye remains because it cannot evaporate. In this experiment, you can clearly see the water from which glass has reached with part of the flower. In case some of the petals have two colors, the water originates from both glasses.