This document provides instructions for an experiment to observe the transpiration pathway in a celery plant. The aim is to see how water enters the plant, the path it takes, and where it exits. Equipment includes celery, food coloring, water, a microscope, and slides. The method has students place celery in colored water, then examine slices under a microscope. They will observe the water moving up the plant and escaping through leaves.

1. TRANSPIRATION
EXPERIMENT
Y E A R 8 – B O D Y S Y S T E M S A N D S U P P O RT

2. AIM & HYPOTHESIS
• Aim: To observe the
transpiration pathway in a
celery plant.
• Hypothesis:
You need to make your own
hypothesis. This should
include where you think the
water will enter the celery,
what path will it take and
where it will exit the plant.

3. EQUIPMENT
Part 1:
• Celery
• Beaker
• Food colouring (not
green)
• Water
• Knife/Scissors (teacher
use only)
Part 2:
• Scalpel
• Glass slide
• Cover slip
• Microscope
• Drop of water

4. RISK ASSESSMENT
List at least 3 of the risks involved in conducting this
experiment, consider the equipment that we will be using and
your personal safety at all times.
Risk
Injury
Prevention

5. METHOD – PART 1
1.
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8.
Set up a retort stand with a boss
head and clamp.
Half fill a 600mL beaker with
water.
Add 5 drops of food colouring (not
green)
Place the beaker on the base of the
retort stand
Cut the bottom end of a celery
stem with a knife.
Stand the stem in the coloured
water. And use the clamp to hold
the celery stem upright.
Leave for an hour and observe.
Leave for a further 24 hours and
observe again.
• Draw a scientific diagram of your
apparatus based on the image below.

6. METHOD – PART 2
1. Use the scalpel to cut a
very thin (<1mm thick)
slice of celery, making
sure to cut through a
small section with food
colouring in it.
2. Place it onto a glass slide.
3. Put a drop of water onto
your thin slice of celery.
4. Hold your coverslip at a
45° angle over your
specimen. Then lower
slowly to reduce the
amount of air bubbles.

7. RESULTS
Part 1
• Draw a picture of what your celery looked like after you
passed the food dye through the plant.
• Explain what you saw
Part 2
• Draw a picture of what you could see in the field of view of
your microscope.
• Explain what you saw.

8. DISCUSSION
1. Why would you not use green food dye in this experiment?
2. Why do you think you held the cover slip at a 45° angle over
your specimen?
3. List any improvements you could have made to this
experiment and describe how it would have improved the
validity, accuracy or reliability?

9. CONCLUSION
Write in your Google doc:
• Where the water will
entered the celery,
• What path it took and
• Where it exited the plant.
Add the next sentence to
your conclusion, using the
appropriate word:
• This supports/rejects your
hypothesis.