Download ARE PLANTS LIKE SCIENTISTS?

ALL YOU NEED IN A NUTSHELL:
ARE PLANTS
LIKE
SCIENTISTS?
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“Nothing in life is to be feared,
it is only to be understood”.
Marie Skłodowska-Curie
Double winner of Nobel Prize, the only person to win
twice in multiple sciences
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IF YOU WISH TO CONTINUE YOUR JOURNEY
WITH PLANTS DON’T HESITATE TO CONTACT
US:
*Photos by Andreas Burkart
Dr Ahmad Mannan
FIND MORE
www.biomatematyka.pl/ArePlantsLikeScientists
Postdoctoral Researcher
University of Aberdeen
[email protected]
Anna Matuszyńska
Doctoral Researcher
Heinrich Heine University
[email protected]
A PERSONAL MANUAL TO
YOUR OWN PLANT LAB
PLANTS IN OUR LIFE
Did you know that plants are our main source of life? They
filter our air by consuming toxic CO2. Together with the water they drink from the ground, plants can convert energy
captured from sunlight into sugars, for us to eat, and oxygen,
for us to breath.
This process is known as photosynthesis:
6 CO2 + 6 H2O + Photons -> C6H12O6 + 6 O2
Besides serving us as the main source of energy in the form
of fruits or vegetables, plant products are essential resource for human well-being. They include wood, oils, pigments,
fibers. Even our technology is driven by plants as coal and
petroleum are fossil substances of plant origin.
SENSING THE SURROUNDING
Plants live in an ever changing and, at times, a challenging
environment, which can dramatically interfere with the process of photosynthesis. Within one day sunny dry conditions
can become dark and wet. It is fascinating how plants are
able to sense and adapt to such changes.
When water becomes available, plants quickly take it up, and
when sunlight becomes too intense, plants protect themselves. You have probably also observed that plants grow towards light. However, did you ever wonder what mechanisms govern their behaviour? Have you ever wanted to see
plants produce oxygen? Here we suggest a few experiments
you can do at home to enable you to witness and understand
the science of how plants sense their environment.
I use osmosis to drink
Like us, plants need water to survive. The process of osmosis is used to absorb it from the soil, together with nutrients.
By definition, osmosis is the movement of water molecules from an area of high water concentration to
an area of low water concentration through a partially
permeable membrane.
The cell membrane of the root hair cell acts a partially permeable membrane and because the cell sap
inside the vacuole has low water concentration water
passes from the soil into the root hair. The concentration of the sap in the vacuole is now weaker as
there is a high concentration of water. Water will now pass
from this area to the next cell with lower concentration and
will continue to move along the cells of the root up the xylem
to the leaf.
By colouring the water the plant drinks, we can observe how
water travels up the xylem into the petals.
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I can fluoresce
Since plants need light to carry out photosynthesis, the more
light we give it the more oxygen and sugar it should be able
to produce, right? Not at all!
Actually, plants cannot cope with too much light! To deal with
the excess light energy, they release the surplus energy by
re-emitting tiny red signal called fluorescence, which is normaly invisible to our eyes.
In an experiment, we show how plants protect themselves
by re-emiting a part of the UV-light shone on the dark adapted plant.
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LONGER COMMITTMENT
The following experiments will need at least 10 days to
observe initial results. Be patients, it’s worth it!
I percieve gravity
It is a general feature of all higher plants that roots grow in
the direction of gravitational pull (i.e., downward) and the
stem grows upwards. When seeds are in the soil it is dark,
so how do they know which way to grow? Plants can sense
gravity to help change the direction of the root and shoot
growth. This response to gravity is called gravitropism.
To investigate gravitropism of shoots you can built an ‘onion
tower’. This will also give you and your family a fresh suppy
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of onions for your salads!
I can produce oxygen
Would you like to witness how plant absorbs CO2 and produces oxygen, using quite similar set up as the famous
scientists Joseph Priestley?
Alone in a sealed jar, with no source of oxygen a burned
candle would produce hot carbon dioxide that would accumulate at the top of the jar, pushing down other gases and
consuming oxygen, eventualy stifling the flame.
Remembering that plants breath in CO2 we can perform an
experiment that proves plants produce oxygen. We place a
plant and candle under a large jar and after a month light up
the candle inside. If the candle continues to burn then it must
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be getting the oxygen from the plant!
DOWNLOAD A STEP-BY-STEP GUIDE TO ALL EXPERIMENTS.