Watch and in time
the food coloring will be sucked
up the stem along tiny tubes (called
vessels) and the petals of the flower
will start to change in color.
Another way to try
this experiment is to get a flower
with a long, thick stem (or a celery
stalk with leaves) and slit it carefully
from the bottom and put one end
in separate test tubes (with different
food colorings). Your flower
(or celery) should have petals (or
leaves) in two different colors.
Did you know that
plants need water to live? As
well as absorbing water from the
atmosphere (air) through their leaves,
they suck water up through their
stems. If you used the celery
stalk for the above experiment you
could cut the stalk and see that
the little holes inside are colored.
Picture 1 Picture 2
Picture 3 Picture 4
Picture 1 - Celery
stalks that have been absorbing
blue food coloring.
Picture 2 - The left
celery stalk has not been placed
in blue food coloring water and
the right celery stalk has been
absorbing blue food colored water.
Picture 3 - The left
celery stalk has not been absorbing
the blue food coloring and the right
one has been absorbing.
Picture 4 - The celery
stalk on the left side was not placed
in the blue food coloring and the
celery on the right was absorbing
the food coloring.