How do plants drink water?
Water's Climb Up
How do plants drink water?
You water a plant, and the soil gets wet. But the leaves up top stay green and fresh, even on a hot day. How does the water climb all the way up there? The plant doesn't have a mouth, or a stomach, or hands to lift a cup. Yet somehow, water travels from the dirt to the very tip of every leaf.
The secret starts underground with tiny root hairs — thousands of them, like the finest threads, spreading through the soil. Each root hair is so thin you'd need a microscope to see one clearly. When you water the plant, these root hairs soak up the water like a sponge soaking up a spill.
