Trees suck. Notes on the physics of transpiration in trees

Harvey R Brown; Adrian P Sutton

doi:10.1016/j.pbiomolbio.2024.12.002

Trees suck. Notes on the physics of transpiration in trees

Prog Biophys Mol Biol. 2024 Dec 25:195:71-86. doi: 10.1016/j.pbiomolbio.2024.12.002. Online ahead of print.

Authors

Harvey R Brown¹, Adrian P Sutton²

Affiliations

¹ Faculty of Philosophy, University of Oxford, Radcliffe Observatory Quarter 555 Woodstock Road, Oxford OX2 6GG, UK; Faculty of Natural Sciences, Department of Physics Imperial College London, Exhibition Road, London SW7 2AZ, UK. Electronic address: harvey.brown@philosophy.ox.ac.uk.
² Faculty of Philosophy, University of Oxford, Radcliffe Observatory Quarter 555 Woodstock Road, Oxford OX2 6GG, UK; Faculty of Natural Sciences, Department of Physics Imperial College London, Exhibition Road, London SW7 2AZ, UK. Electronic address: a.sutton@imperial.ac.uk.

PMID: 39725358
DOI: 10.1016/j.pbiomolbio.2024.12.002

Abstract

The Cohesion Theory of the ascent of water in trees is a quiet triumph of modern science. Besides hydrodynamics, the physics of transpiration involves capillarity, evaporation and osmosis - phenomena which all have a history of considerable theoretical confusion. The aim of this paper is to supplement existing accounts of this physics in the plant science literature.

Keywords: Capillarity; Cohesion-Tension theory; Evaporation; Nano-confinement; Osmosis; Transpiration.

Publication types

Review