A florist prepares identical bunches of cut leafy stems for a six-hour display. One location is beside an open doorway, where air is moving. The other location is behind a transparent screen, where air movement is reduced.
The bunches have the same total leaf area. Light intensity and temperature are the same at both locations and the conditions remain constant during the display.
The florist recorded the volume of water taken up by four comparable bunches during one hour at each location.
| Location | Water uptake in cm3\text{cm}^3cm3 in one hour, trial 1 | Water uptake in cm3\text{cm}^3cm3 in one hour, trial 2 | Water uptake in cm3\text{cm}^3cm3 in one hour, trial 3 | Water uptake in cm3\text{cm}^3cm3 in one hour, trial 4 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Beside the open doorway | 31 | 32 | 48 | 33 |
| Behind the transparent screen | 20 | 21 | 19 | 20 |
Calculate the volume of water the florist should expect one bunch to take up during the six-hour display at each location. Give your answers in cm3\text{cm}^3cm3.
Explain why a bunch behind the transparent screen is expected to take up less water than a bunch beside the open doorway.
The florist assumes that all the water taken up by the stems is lost by transpiration. Suggest why this assumption may not be correct.
80 exam-style questions on Edexcel GCSE Biology 6.2 Transport in plants, covering 6.2.1 Root hair cell adaptations, 6.2.2 Structure of xylem and phloem, 6.2.3 Transpiration and stomata, 6.2.4 Translocation of sucrose, 6.2.5 Leaf structure for photosynthesis, 6.2.6 Environmental factors on water uptake, 6.2.7 Rate calculations for transpiration, and 6.2.8 Plant adaptations to extreme environments. Each one has a worked solution and a mark scheme showing where the marks go.