Australia's Science Forum

Hi all.

Just wondering if anyone could tell me what this is. I have ask the science teachers here but nobody had any idea.
Maybe someone here knows what it could be!

Thanks!

It's a potometer. It is used to measure water uptake in plants (transpiration/photosynthesis rates). We do the prac in senior bio, IB bio and environmental science.

Cheers linotas . Pretty sure I saw one of those in J's store room and was wondering what it was . How do you use it ?

Basically you fill the whole system with water. There must be no air bubbles in the system at all. You take a cutting of a leafy plant (large, non waxy, non furry leaves are the best) and cut it and place it through the bung all whilst the tip is underwater. Then you place the bung in the system. You need to make a small air bubble in the end as this is what you will see move through the system and allow you to measure. You then time the bubble's movement from the 0 point for X time and recode the rate. It is a classic prac. Google will explain it much better then I can. You then can vary conditions like temperature, light, coloured light etc etc. It is a tricky technique to get it set up properly, but works fantastically when it does. We use our 2 for demo's and the kids use a in house made ones for their pracs. Basically a graduated pipette with silicon tubing on one end where they stick the plant material. Works exactly the same though

Thank you so much! will go look it up and we might actually be able to use it!