Question

describe osmosis process taking place in plants during transportation of water from root hair to xylem vessels

Answer 1

Water taken up by the roots of a plant is transported through a plant to the leaves and lost into the air. The stages of the process are:

1. Water enters root hair cells by osmosis.

2. The root hair cell is hypertonic to the surrounding soil water. This means that it has a lower water molecule concentration.

3. Water then moves from cell to cell through the root cortex by osmosis along a concentration gradient; this means that each cell is hypertonic to the one before it.

4.In the centre of the root the water enters the xylem vessels.

5. Water may move by diffusion through the cell walls and intercellular spaces.