Essay, Research Paper: Water Vs. Milk, O.J., And Soda

A. Introduction to Plants
Plants grow in almost every part of the world. Without plants there could be no life on the earth. People could not live without air or food. The food that we eat comes from plants or from animals that eat plants. Much of our clothing is made from the fibers of a cotton plant. Scientists believe that there are over 260,000 species of plants, but no one knows really for sure. Many scientists divide all living things into five main groups called kingdoms. These kingdoms are 1. Plants, 2. Animals, 3. Fungi, 4. Protists, and 5. Monerans. They group them in this fashion because the organisms share some same characteristics. The similar characteristics involved are physical appearance, ways of getting food, and their way of reproduction. Plants in comparison have many traits that divide them from other living things. All plants develop from tiny form of the plant called an embryo. Monerans, protists, and fungi such as molds and mushrooms do not develop from embryos. Plants also get food in different ways, more different then most other organisms. Most plants make their own food from air, sunlight, and water by a process called photosynthesis. In contrast, fungi cannot produce their own food. They receive the minerals they need from the animals, plants, and other things. Unlike plants, animals also cannot make their own food, but most animals can move around and find it. This paragraph provides the general information it takes to understand plants in a sense. It explains why plants are important to people and describes the major groups of plants and how they live.
B. The Study of Botany
Botany is the study of all the many types and forms of plants and plant life belong to the
Included to this study of plants also includes trees, shrubs, vines, flowers, grasses and a number of unknown plants. Botany also involves the structures and functions of plant parts, plant genes, propagation, and interrelationships of plants with each other, with animals, and with their environment. Botany is concerned with all the every view and side of the study of plants, from the smallest and simplest types to the largest and most difficult to understand and study. From all views of a single plant to the hardest communications of all the different members of the botanical community of plants with their environment and with animals. Botanists focus on four areas in their research: 1. Plant classification and form, 2. How plants function, 3. Plant habitats, and 4. The uses of plants. Most botany research involves more than one and sometimes all of these areas. Each of the areas includes carious fields of study. Since the study of plants is so involved a botanists would most likely have to pick one areas to study to be more educated. Plant classification and form provides the beginning to all fields of botany. While studying a plant, a botanist must know what type of plant it is. Botanists who prefer to study one area such as identifying plants are called systematics. The field includes taxonomy, the science of naming and classifying plants. Their research includes investigation of the cells and tissues that make up a plants insides. Plants must do specific functions to live. Botanists specializing in physiology study the processes that let plants grow and reproduce. These botanists look at how plants make and use food using photosynthesis and how they get food and use it, such as water, minerals, and nutrients from the soil. Much of their work focuses on the chemical processes that take place in the molecules in cells. Botanists specializing in genetics study how plants pass characteristics on their offspring through genes. Botanists studying molecular biology examine how genes affect plant from and function. They also study how genes may be altered to change plants or to create new plants through a process called genetic engineering. Botanists who specialize in ecology and geography study plant habitats. Plant ecologists study the relationship between plats and their environment. They also look at how plants interact with one another and with animals. Plant geographers study the relationship between plants and their environment. They also examine how plants interact with one another and with animals. Plant geographers study where plants live. They try to explain why certain plants grow where they do. The search to fine ways that people may use plants is the oldest area of study in botany. Botanists who study agronomy develop and improve crop plants. Those who specialize in forestry study trees, especially the cultivation of trees for use in the manufacture of lumber, paper, and other products. Horticulture is the cultivation of fruits, vegetables, flowers, and ornamental shrubs and trees. Medical botany is the science of using plants to treat diseases. The study of plants is vitally important because all of the food that people and animals eat comes from plants. Except for certain bacteria, plants are the only organisms that can make their own food. They do by the process of photosynthesis. Plants form the base of nature s food chain, the system in which energy is transferred from one organism to another in the form of food. Botany also increases understudying of all forms of life. Studies of plants, scientists learn how plants, animals and other things interact with one another. They also learn how living things have developed and changed through time. Reaseach by botanists benefits people in a great way. Some botanists study plant genetics to develop new crop plants that are better for business. Other botanists use findings in plant ecology to develop ways of improving the lumber business. Still other botanists study fossils of extinct plants to provide clues to the earth s history and to help geologists searching for oil.
C. How plants Grow
Plants can be divided into two groups, based on how they get their food. All green plants are called autographs. They contain chlorophyll, which enables them to capture the sunlight used in producing the food and other materials they need for growth. Other kinds of plants, called heterotrophs, lack chlorophyll and cannot make their own food. They are either parasites of saprophytes. The process in which a plant grows has many different sections to it but I will try my best to break them down so you may understand them. I will be mainly talking about germination, water, and respiration.
D. Germination
The term germination is applied to the resumption of the growth of the seed embryo after the period of dormancy. Germination does not take place unless the seed has been transported to a favorable place. This is the sprouting of a seed. Most seeds have a period of inactivity called dormancy before they start to grow. In most parts of the world, this period lasts through the winter. Then the seeds start to germinate in spring. Seeds need three things to grow: 1. The right temperature, 2. Moisture and, 3. Oxygen. Most seeds grow best in a temp. Between 65 F (18 C) and 85 F (29 C). The seeds of plants that live in cold climates ma germinate at lower temperatures and those plants in tropical regions may germinate in higher temperatures. Seeds receive the moisture they need from the ground. The moisture also prepares certain materials in the seed for their part in seed growth. If a seed receives too much water, it will probably rot. If it receives too little water, it will most likely dry out or germinate very slowly. Seeds need oxygen for the changes that take place within them during winter. The embryo of the seed has all the parts needed to produce a young plant. It may have either one or more cotyledons, which digest food from the endosperm for the growing seed. The seed take up the water, which makes the seed swell up. The swelling up splits the seed coat and a tiny seedling appears. The lower part of the seedling, called the hypocotyl, develops into the first root. This root in the ground develops a root that supplies water and minerals the plants needs to grow and prosper. Next, the upper part of the seedling, called the epicotyl, begins to grow upward. At the tip of the epicotyl is the plumule, the bud that produces the first leaves. In some plants, such as the many kinds of beans, the growth of epicotyl carries the cotyledons above ground, in corn and other plants; cotyledons remain underground, within the seed. After the seedling has developed its own roots and leaves, it can make its own food, it no longer need cotyledons to supply nourishment. Most plants grow in length only at the tips of their roots an branches. The cells in these areas are called meristematic cells divide and grow rapidly and develop into the various tissues that make up an adult plant. In trees and other plants the increase in thickness, new layers of cells form between the bark and wood. This areas is the cambium. New layers of cells are made as the cambium grows each year. These layers form the woody rings that enable people to tell the age of a tree. Some kinds of plants, called perennial plants live for many years. Most perennials produce seeds yearly. Other kinds are called annuals, live only about one year. And biennials live for about two years. Most annuals and biennials produce seeds only once. Seeds become dehydrated during dormancy. When germination begins, they absorb great amounts of water from the soil. They water triggers chemical changes that enable the embryo to convert the stored food into energy needed for growth.
E. Water Importance
Water is a major importance of living matter. From 50 to 90 percent of the weight of living organisms is water. Protoplasm, the basic material of living cells, is made up of fats, carbohydrates, protein salts, and similar chemicals. Water acts as a solvent, transporting, combining, and chemically breaking down these substances. Water also plays a key role in the metabolic breakdown of such essential molecules as proteins and carbohydrates. This process, Called hydrolysis, goes on in living cells. Hydrology is the science that involves the distribution of water on the earth, its physical and chemical reactions with other naturally occurring substances and its relation to life on earth; the movement of water between the earth and the atmosphere is known as the hydrological cycle. All living organisms need a lot of water to carry out their life processes. Plants, animals, and human beings must take in nutrients. Watery solutions help dissolve nutrients and carry them out to all the parts in the organisms. Through chemical reactions, the organism turns nutrients into energy or into place only in a watery solution. Finally the organisms needs water to carry away waste products. Most of the plants that people plant need great quantities of water. It takes 115 gallons of water to grow enough wheat to bake a load of bread. People raise most of their crops in areas that have plenty of rain. But to raise enough food for their needs, people must also irrigate dry areas. The rainfall that crops use to grow is not considered a water use, because the water does not come from a country s supply. Irrigation, on the other hand, is a water use because the water is drawn from a nations rivers, lakes, or wells. The water a nation uses for irrigation is important to its water supply because nose of the water remains for reuse. Plants take in water through their roots. They then pass it out through their leaves into the air as a gas called water vapor. Winds carry away the vapor and the liquid water is gone. On the other hand, nearly all the water used in out homes is returned to the water supply. The water is carried by out by sewer pipes to treatment plants, which return the water to rivers o it can be used again. Plants must have a continuous supply of water. Each individual plant cell contains a large amount of water. Without this water, the cells could not carry on the many processes that take place within the plant. Water also carried important materials from one part of a plant to another. Tiny root hairs absorb and certain minerals form the soil by a process called osmosis. In vascular plants, plants with special tissues are transported through the xylem tissue of the roots and stems to the leaves. There water and, minerals are used in many food. Water also carried this food though the phloem tissue to other parts of the plant. Plants give off water by a process called transpiration. Most of this water escapes though the stomata on the surfaces of the laves. Scientists estimate that corn gives off 325,000 gallons of water per acre by transpiration during a growing season. Some botanists believe this water loss percents the leaves from overheating in the sunlight.
F. The Process of Respiration
Respiration breaks down food and releases energy for a plant. The plant uses the energy for growth, reproduction, and repair. Respiration involves the breakdown of sugar. Some of the products resulting form these breakdowns combine with which take place only during daylight, respiration goes on day and night thought the life of a plant. Respiration increases rapidly with the spring growth of buds and leaves, and it decreases as winter approaches. Respiration is a complex series of chemical reactions, involving many different enzymes, that releases the chemical energy of foods. All living cells depend on this process to provide the energy needed for their life process. Respiration in most plants is aerobic, free oxygen. Some higher plants may survive for short periods by anaerobic respirations.
G. Water storage
Through the years, many types of plants have grown special ways for collecting and storing water that allowed them to survive in areas of little rainfall. Some cactuses, for example, have roots that spread over big areas just before the surface over the ground. These roots quickly absorb water from the light rains and sudden floods that occur on the desert. Cactuses store the water in their fleshy stems. Though natural selection, the leaves of cactuses mature into spines. As a result of that adaptation, cactuses have less green surface than do most plants of there of their size and they lose less water through transpiration. Because cactuses have such specially shaped leaves, they carry out photosynthesis in their stems. During photosynthesis, cactuses use their stored water supply if water from their roots is not available. Plants of the tundra also have adapted to the dry conditions created by frozen soils. The surfaces of their leaves are especially resistant to water loss. They are both hard and glossy or very hairy. Also, tundra plants grow close to the ground, where they are covered by snow and protected from the strong winds of these regions.
H. Things That Affect Plant Growth
A plant growth is created by its genetic traits and its surroundings. A plants genetic trait, for example, decides the characteristics as a flowers color and size. These traits are passed on from generation to generation just like the offspring from a mother to child. Environmental conditions involve sunlight, climate, and soil condition. And of course in this experiment its food. Within the nucleus of all plant cells are tiny bodies called chromosomes that contain different traits called genes. These bodies contain motions that direct the growth of the plant. As the cells divide and multiply, the motions are passed on to each new cell. Stuff made within a plant also help in each plant and its growth process. These things, called hormones, direct movements the growing of roots and the making of flowers and fruit. The growth of plants also is affected by the time of each periods of light and dark they receive. Some plants, including lettuce and spinach, bloom only when the photoperiod (period of daylight) is long. These plants are called long-day plants. Asters, chrysanthemums, ad poinsettias are short-day plants. They bloom only when the dark period is long. Still other plants like marigolds and tomatoes are not affected by the length of the photoperiod. They are called day-neutral plants. Plants are also affected in other ways by their environment. A plant can appear bending called tropism. In a tropism, an outside force causes a plant to bend in one direction. A plant may have a positive or a negative tropism, depending on the plant bend. Tropisms are named to the forces that cause them. Phototropism is bending caused by light, geotropism is caused by gravity, and hydrotropism is caused by water. Some plants are affected by being touched. When the sensitive plant, Mimosa Pudica, is touched, its leaflets fold and its branches fall against its stem. A change in pressure within certain cells of the plant causes this action. After the force causing this to occur is removed, The plant branches and leaflets return to their regular position and condition. Now you may ask what about feeding plants different liquids? In the next three chapters I will be talking about what soda, specifically coke, milk, whole milk, and orange juice have in them that might affect a plants growth. Will it improve or alter a plants way of life? What nutrients might help the plant? Lets find out.
I. Oranges Juice and Its Nutrients
Orange is a popular citrus fruit enjoyed by people though out the world. Oranges are valued for their delicious juice and high vitamin C content. They are an excellent source of potassium and also contain thiamin and folic acid. The orange is a type of berry called hesperidium. The peed consists of a colored outer layer called the flavedo and a white, spongy inner layer known as the albedo. The flavedo contains tiny glands that contain a mixture of aromatic oils. The edible interior of the orange consists of 10 to 15 segments, which surround a spongy core. The s4egments contain many juice sacs, which hold the juice and make u the pulp of the orange. The segments of some varieties of oranges also contain seeds. Other varieties of oranges are seedless or nearly seedless. The fruit is easily separated carpels, or sections, each containing several seeds and many juice cells, covered by a leathery exocarp, or skin, containing numerous oil glands.
J. Sodas Content
A soft drink is a flavored beverage prepared with carbonated water. Soft drinks consist of carbonated water and syrup. Adding carbon dioxide gas to water under pressure produces carbonated water. He gas makes the water bubble fizz. In most cases, syrup is made of a concentrate and sweeteners. A concentrate is a blend of flavor and acid. Most concentrates also include coloring. Syrup can also be prepared directly from individual ingredients. Many of the flavoring found in soft drinks come from such natural sources as fruit juices and oils obtained from roots, citrus fruit peels, and leaves of various plants. Some flavoring are artificial, but are similar to natural flavorings in taste. Citric acid and phosphoric acid give soft drinks a tart tastes. Caramel is usually used as a color in cola drinks. Other types of soft drinks use a variety of natural and artificial the sweetener may come from corn, sugar beets, or sugar cane. Artificial sweeteners, such as saccharin and aspartame, are used in diet soft drinks.
K. Milks Vitamins
Milk has almost all the nutrients that people need for growth and good health. Also, milk has most of these nutrients in large amounts and in so many ranges that they can work together as a team to help keep the body strong and healthy, but what about plants?
Milk consists of butterfat spread throughout a solution contain milk sugar (lactose), proteins (mostly casein), and salts of calcium, phosphorus, chlorine, sodium, potassium, and sulfur. It is lacking in dietary iron and vitamin C. Water is about in about 80 percent to 90 percent of whole milk.