How do trees drink water?
Quick answer from Eartha
Trees drink through their roots, like a straw in the ground! Tiny root hairs soak up water from the soil. Then the water travels up a long trunk, through tubes, all the way to the leaves. It's a big, quiet drink that happens every single day, even when nobody is watching.
The longer story
Under the soil, a tree has thousands of tiny root hairs. Each hair is so small you'd need a magnifying glass to see it. They soak up water and minerals from the wet soil around them.
Once the water is inside the roots, it needs a way to travel up. Trees have special tubes called xylem running through their trunk, a bit like drinking straws stacked together. Water moves up these tubes, sometimes all the way to the top of a very tall tree.
A giant mountain ash in Tasmania can grow over 90 metres tall, and it still manages to pull water right up to its highest leaves. Leaves lose water into the air, and that loss helps pull more water up from the roots, like sucking on a straw.
This whole journey, from roots to leaves, is called transpiration. It helps keep the tree cool and lets it make food in its leaves using sunlight.
Try this at home: celery straws
- Pop a stick of celery into a glass of water with a few drops of food colouring.
- Leave it somewhere sunny for a day.
- Check the leafy top and cut the stalk to see the coloured tubes water travelled through.
Words to know
- Root hair
- A tiny, thin part of a root that soaks up water from soil.
- Xylem
- Special tubes inside a plant that carry water upwards.
- Transpiration
- When water travels through a plant and out into the air.
For grown-ups: what is my child learning here?
Age band: 5-8
Curriculum link: Australian Curriculum v9 Science, AC9S2U01
The concept: Living things have basic needs, including water, met in different ways by different plants.
More classroom ideas are on our teachers page, and safety notes for families are on for parents.
Last reviewed: · How we check answers
More questions kids ask
Got a nature question of your own?
Ask Eartha your own question →