Summer experiences. Fun chemistry experiments at home

ENTERTAINING EXPERIENCES AT HOME
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Summer experiences. Chemical experiments

Entertaining experiments in chemistry

Entertaining experiences at home / Chemistry experiments for children

You can verify the existence of osmotic water transfer, or, as they sometimes say, root pressure, right in the field or in the garden. Find a fast-growing plant, preferably with a strong and fairly wide stem (sunflower, nettle, tulip, etc.) and cut it at a height of about 10 cm above the ground. On a stem sticking out of the ground, put on a short rubber tube, into which a thin and long, at least half a meter, glass tube is inserted. It is clear that such a long tube must be somehow fixed; tie it to a peg driven into the ground nearby. For better sealing, wrap the rubber tube with a thread in the place where it is adjacent to the stem, and you can additionally coat the joint with plasticine so that the sealing is reliable.

Now start watering, and soon the water will begin to rise through the tube. If the tube diameter is not more than 5 mm, then the water column will be high.

But osmotic pressure is not the only reason why water in plants moves from bottom to top. Other causes include transpiration, i.e., the evaporation of water from leaves. Having given nutrients to plants, the water evaporates through the stomata of the leaves, and new portions of water from the roots come in its place. The experience with transpiration is simple. Put a cut branch of some plant in a test tube with water, mark the water level on the test tube (at least by tying it in this place with a colored thread), and soon you will notice how the water level in the test tube drops. But maybe the reason is that the water evaporates directly from the test tube?

To prevent direct evaporation, pour a little vaseline or vegetable oil on the surface of the water: it will completely cover the surface, preventing evaporation. However, the water level will also drop in this case. This means that the water evaporated through the leaves. If you have a scale, then the experience with transpiration can be accelerated and made more visual: put a test tube with a branch (do not forget about a few drops of oil on the surface) on a scale pan and balance. Soon the balance will be disturbed, and the cup on which the test tube is standing will rise up.

Similar experiments can be done with different plants, with home flowers: the rate of transpiration will be different for them. But let's try to modify the experience a little: let's cover the branch of the plant with an inverted glass jar. You can not even cut a branch for such an experience, but simply cover a small houseplant with a jar, for example, a young nasturtium. If the plant is watered properly, then in a closed volume the atmosphere will very soon be saturated with water vapor, and water will no longer be able to evaporate from the leaves. There is obviously no transpiration, but after a while, water droplets appear on the leaves. From what? The osmotic pressure started to work again...

And the water rises along the stem due to the fact that the plant is permeated with the thinnest vessels - capillaries, through which the liquid moves up the faster, the thinner they are. If you had a glass capillary with a diameter of 0,02 mm, then water could rise three meters through it! And in plants there are capillaries and thinner ...

Pour water into several glass jars and tint it with a few drops of ink. Cut the stems or branches of different plants with a sharp knife (preferably under water) and put in jars. Little by little, the tinted water will fill all the vessels of the plant, rising through the capillaries. It is easy to detect its movement - the color of the veins on the leaves will change. If you make several cross sections on each branch, you will see how the capillaries are located (we advise you to take a stronger magnifying glass for this purpose).

And the last experience with plants. Pour the water tinted with ink into a wide vessel, for example, into a bowl. Lower the branch into the water and cut off part of the stem under water. After a few minutes, remove the branch and make a few cuts with a sharp knife. In a matter of minutes (do not forget to note how long), the water is quite move high up the stem.

Cut another, exactly the same branch in the air, then immerse it in the same bowl and keep the same number of minutes in water. This time, as the sections show, the water has risen much lower!

The reason is that the capillaries of plants are very thin, they are easily clogged with air plugs - tiny air bubbles. And then the flow of water to the leaves stops. And when the stem is cut underwater, there is nowhere for air traffic jams to come from.

You probably now understand the meaning of the advice given by experienced flower growers: if you want cut flowers to stand in a vase for as long as possible, cut the stems not in the air, but under water.

Author: Olgin O.M.

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