Science in context
The willow tree experiment:
People have probably known from the earliest times that plants need water to
survive and grow, but the scientific investigation to find out how plants grow
began with an experiment on a willow tree. In the seventeenth century, Belgian
scientist Joannes Baptista van Helmont (1580-1644) performed an experiment
on a willow tree.
and that everything was made from it. He set up his experiment by weighing a
young willow plant (a sapling) and the soil it was to grow in. Then he planted
the sapling in the soil and provided it with nothing but water for the next five
years. At the end of his experiment, he found that the tree had increased in
mass by 73 kilograms, but the soil had decreased in mass by only about 60
grams. He concluded that the increase in mass was due to the water the plant
had received. If we were to summarise his conclusion, it could look like this
water mass of plant
The work of Stephen Hales is an example which built on the work of van
Helmont.
Science in context
Plants and the air:
Stephen Hales (1677-1761), an English scientist, discovered that ' a portion of
air’ helped a plant to survive, and Jan Ingenhousz (1730-99), a Dutch scientist,
showed that green plants take up carbon dioxide from the air when they are put
in the light. By this time, it was also known that water contains only the
elements hydrogen and oxygen, while carbohydrates contain carbon, hydrogen
and oxygen. All this information led to a review of van Helmont's idea that only
water was needed to produce carbohydrates. The review began by considering
what else was around the plant apart from water. It was known from van
Helmont's work that the soil contributed only a very small amount to the
increased mass of the plant. The only other material coming into contact with
the plant was the air. Ingenhousz's work suggested that the carbon dioxide in
the air was important.
from as far back as Hale's time, scientists knew about carbohydrates. From all
this information, we can start to build up an equation for photosynthesis. Van
Helmont helps us with the first part of the equation:
water mass of plant
Science in context
The discovery of oxygen:
Joseph Priestley (1733-1804) was an English chemist who studied gases. The
equipment used at the time to trap gases was an upside-down container put
over the experiment, to catch any gases that were produced. In the course of his
investigations, Priestley discovered that sometimes a gas was produced in which
things could not burn. he put a plant, such as mint, in a jar of this gas and let
sunlight shine on it. he found that the gas appeared to change to one that did
allow things to burn in it. Priestley met the French chemist Antoine Lavoisier
(1743-94) and told him about his discovery. After thinking about Priestley's
investigations and performing some tests on the gas, Lavoisier named it oxygen.
Science in context
Using scientific knowledge to grow more food:
More recently, greenhouses and polytunnels are being used to raise
crops for food all over the world. A typical greenhouse has a metal
frame which holds transparent sheets of glass. A polytunnel is made
out of transparent plastic sheets supported by a metal frame. both
buildings provide a well - lit place in which the temperature and the
amount of water, minerals and carbon dioxide in the air can all be
controlled
