Transpiration Lab

The purpose of the transpiration lab was to expand and test one’s knowledge on transpiration, and how it is affected by various factors. This was done in an experiment involving five pansy plants. These pansies were placed into five separate environments with different factors labeled as Control, Intense Light, Humidity, Fan, and Dark. The objective of the lab was to determine how and explain why each environment affected the transpiration of their individual pansey.
The main scientific principle being explored in this lab was transpiration. Transpiration refers to the loss of water within plants, as well as the uptake and movement of water through their roots("Water and Solute Potential," n.d.). The plant that was used in this experiment

As said before, the background states that light conditions increase transpiration by keeping the stomata open to exchange gases for photosynthesis. As shown in Figure 1, the pansey under the light showed a much higher negative percent change in mass through transpiration than any other of the plants. This portrays that the light from the lamp caused the stomata on the pansey to continuously be open in an attempt to exchange gases for photosynthesis, but were losing water through evaporation instead. The background also states water potential is the measure of the potential energy of water that water flows from areas of high water potential to low water potential. It finally states that heat increases the evaporation of the water within the stomates which ultimately increases the rate at which water moves from root to leaves. This indicates that since heat was also induced onto the plant, the water potential of the atmosphere decreased causing the pansey’s leaves to have a much higher water potential than its surroundings, resulting in more water being lost through evaporation within the stomata. Ultimately, the both heat and light factors on the pansey caused it to have a much higher rate of transpiration that the other plants with only one factor. This supports the hypothesis which stated that when placed in an

As shown in Figure 1, the pansey under humid conditions had the smallest negative percent change in mass through transpiration. As said before, the background states that water potential is the measure of the potential energy of water that water flows from areas of high water potential to low water potential. It also states that humidity decreases transpiration by increasing the water potential of the air, therefore causing less water to be evaporated into the atmosphere. From this, it can be determined that since the humid environment provided a moist atmosphere, the water potential of the air increased causing there to be little transpiration from the leaves due to the gap between the two water potentials being so small. This supports the hypothesis which stated that when placed in a humid environment, the pansy will experience a negative percent change in mass that is significantly less than that of the