How do plants drink water and move it up to their leaves?
Water's Sky Elevator
How do plants drink water and move it up to their leaves?
Picture a tree as tall as a ten-story building. Right now, quietly, it is hauling water from the dirt all the way up to leaves higher than your roof — with no pump, no battery, no motor. How? Let's follow a single drop of water on the wildest commute in nature.
Our drop starts underground, hanging onto a grain of soil. Down there, the plant's roots are spreading like a thousand thirsty fingers. Their very tips are covered in tiny fuzzy hairs, each one thinner than a thread, and these are where the drinking actually happens.
