Question : why does salt prolong the life of cut flowers the longest?
according to my school science project experimantsalt prolongs the life of cut flowers the longest. what i did was us cut daisies and place them in vases w/ each of these solutions:salt waterdistilled watervinegarspritesugar waterand no waterthe first on to die was the one with vinegarthe sugar on was like the third to dieand it produced some odd small black bumps=| wat was that?>well what im trying to figure out is why did sugar prolong the life of a cut daisy the longest?i need details
- asked by class_of_o7_baby
All Answers:
Answer #1
it most like wasn't the just the sugar that maintained the flower, but its
concentration in the water. the solute concentration (sugar) in the water was
probably equal, or close to equal, to the solute concentration in the cells of
the flower. this would establish an osmotic equilibrium that satisfied the
maintainance of the cells for an extended period of time. you'll want to try
repeating this experiment with varying concentrations of sugar for each flower.
the same is true for all of the solutions you used: vinegar, which contains no
water would have drained the flower of water. the solutions that contained water
would easily have lasted longer than the vinegar by the same principle that a
kind of temporary osmotic equilibrium would be established allowing those
flowers to live longer
- answered by Todd D
Answer #2
I'm confused, did sugar prolong the life of the cut flower the longest or was it
the 3rd to die? I’m guessing by the title that the salt prolonged the
most.I’m not certain on details, or what exactly happened in each case of your
experiment, but cut plants will die mostly because of lack of water. Of course
vinegar being an acid is expected to be the harshest on the plants. It could
also have dehydrated the plants by osmosis. The small bumps formed in your sugar
water are probably some sort of mold or fungi. Water with sugar is very
favorable condition for a lot of microorganisms to grow. Mold, fungi or
deteriorated leaves will block the pores in the stem that pull the water to the
flower and cause it to die for lack of water. The salt in the other hand might
inhibit mold, fungi and even bacterial formation, minimizing that problem. Salt
might also have minerals that the plants needs. I would guess the ideal solution
is sugar (because it also feeds the flower) and something to prevent
bacterial/mold growth would be most favorable to the plant. Maybe even sugar and
salt together. I also heard crushed aspirin or a small amount of mouthwash with
sugar is the best for cut flowers. But the concentration of sugar and whatever
else you add to the water has to be low because of the osmotic equilibrium.
Plants require environment with lower osmotic pressure than the cells. Plant
cell walls will prevent cells from expanding to the point of bursting so even
distilled water would be good for them. However to make cut flowers last you
need more than the right solution. Air bubbles can also be formed when you cut
the stem and block the pores. That’s why florists recommend cutting flowers
under water. Another recommendation is to never have leaves immersed in the
water to avoid the deterioration. I would be very curious to know what the full
result of your experiment was. I would guess sprite can’t be good for flowers.
No water sometimes makes flowers die without wilting which makes it hard to
define when exactly it is dead. I’m also curious why you didn’t use regular
water to compare to distilled water. I would be very curious to know that.
- answered by dahfna
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