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Place a white tulip in colored water and watch its petals gradually change color. Discover how water moves through a plant and carries dissolved substances from the stem to the flower.
Materials
- 1 white tulip (or white carnation if tulips aren’t available)
- Red food coloring
- Water
- Clear glass
- Scissors
Instructions
- Fill a clear glass or jar halfway with water.Add 10–15 drops of red food coloring and stir until the color is bright.
- Using scissors (adult supervision may be required), trim about 2 cm (1 inch) from the bottom of the tulip stem at an angle.This helps the flower absorb water more easily.
- Put the tulip into the glass of red-colored water.
- Leave the flower in the colored water for several hours or overnight.Watch as the petals begin to show red streaks and spots.This shows that colored water is traveling up through the xylem, the plant’s water transport system.
- Record your observations. Take pictures every few hours to see how the color spreads.
What’s going on?
- Capillary action is the movement of water through narrow tubes without any pump
- Inside the tulip stem are thin tubes called xylem, which pull water upward. The colored water moves up through the xylem and into the petals, showing the pathway of water transport inside the plant.
Level
- Beginner
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