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Water transport in
plants is amazing in its complexity - the answer lies in tiny, specially
designed vessels called xylem — plus a combination of other factors. Scientists
are getting closer to mimicking this amazing vertical passage of water for the
purpose of future large-scale desalination and sewage treatment
BY FRANK SHERWIN, M.A.
Transporting
water up a tree ten stories high from the roots to the leaves is no easy feat.
How is this accomplished?
The
answer lies in tiny, specially designed vessels called xylem — plus a
combination of other factors.
Scientists
are getting closer to mimicking this amazing vertical passage of water for the
purpose of future large-scale desalination and sewage treatment.
Evolutionists give credit to the trees themselves for
their amazing process of water transport, saying that the trees have mastered
this for “hundreds of millions of years.”
But
studies have shown just how sophisticated this unbroken vertical column of water
is, continuously moving as much as 100 meters in a California redwood tree.
Water
and minerals enter the root system and into the vascular tissue (i.e., xylem)
subject mainly to a “pulling” force called transpiration.
Transpiration
is the loss of water vapor through specialized openings called stomata on the
underside of the leaves.
Over
20% of the water taken up by the roots is released to the air as water vapor.
This
physical pulling action is also due to a unique chemical attachment between water
molecules called hydrogen bonding.
The
water molecules stick together forming a transpiration stream, also called the
cohesion-tension theory.
This
produces an unusually stable column of constantly moving water.
Copying
the design in trees’ water-conduction system hasn’t been easy.
The
antigravity water transport system led by Aiping Liu at Zhejiang Sci-Tech
University and Hao Bai at Zhejiang University has been seen as “good,” but “the
researchers plan to further improve the performance of the system to prepare
for applications” such as improving the length and speed of water conveyance
for human serving industrial applications.
Is it any wonder the article stated, “Efficiently
moving water upward against gravity is a major feat of human engineering” and
“Recreating an efficient tree-like water transport system has been
challenging.”
Water
transport in plants is amazing in its complexity.
Copying
the Creator’s design takes funding, planning, and brilliant researchers — not
time and chance.
*Mr. Sherwin is Research
Associate at the Institute for Creation Research. He earned his master’s degree
in zoology from the University of Northern Colorado.
The Institute for Creation
Research (ICR) wants people to know
that God’s Word can be trusted in everything it speaks about—from how and why
we were made, to how the universe was formed, to how we can know God and
receive all He has planned for us.
After 50 years of ministry,
ICR remains a leader in scientific research within the context of biblical
creation. Founded by Dr. Henry Morris in 1970, ICR exists to conduct scientific
research within the realms of origins and Earth history, and then to educate
the public both formally and informally through professional training programs,
through conferences and seminars around the country, and through books,
magazines, and media presentations.
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