Water in narrow tubes tends to be pulled upward by means of a process called ‘capillary action’. Flowers also make use of capillary action to draw water from the ground and pull it upwards through the stem to the flower itself. Test this in the following science experiment by using food colorant to make a white flower multi-coloured:
Topics covered
Capillary action, Surface tension, Cohesion
What will I need?
2x DRINKING GLASSES
TAP WATER
FOOD COLORANT
WHITE FLOWER (DAFFODIL)
Procedure (Method)
Unfortunately, this section is only available in the e-book version of the project.
How does it work?
Unfortunately, this section is only available in the e-book version of the project.
The flower ‘sucks up’ the coloured water from each coloured solution through very narrow tubes in each side of its split stem. This science experiment works because the ‘pull’ from the capillary action is stronger than the pull of gravity!
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