How Can Trees Be Taller Than 10m?
Skills:
ML Maths Basics60%
Answer video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BickMFHAZR0
The longest vertical straw you can use is 10.3 m http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HUmZrtiXDik
This is because the weight of water in the straw must be supported by the pressure difference at its two ends. At the bottom, the pressure is atmospheric, and at the top, the lowest pressure you can create is a perfect vacuum (pressure = 0). Atmospheric pressure can support a water column about 10m high - BUT with 0 pressure at the top, the water would start boiling. This is called cavitation and it obviously can't be happening in trees.
After I posted the straw video, I received a lot of questions about how trees could be taler than 10m. I assumed there was a simple answer because there are plenty of trees taller than that. But as I asked around and read articles about it, I couldn't really find an explanation I was happy with.
Maybe there is not a continuous water column inside the tree, so each section only lifts water a little ways? This could be but it seems to require a series of pump mechanisms, and how would you join this pump sections together? Perhaps capillary action is holding the water up? But the xylem tubes in a tree seem too wide (~50 um) for this effect to be significant. Maybe osmotic pressure could push the water from below rather than sucking it up from above? But some trees live in mangroves, where there is much higher solute concentration in the sea water than in their roots, so osmosis would work the other way.
Eventually I spoke to a plant biologist and sorted this all out, but I wanted to give you a little back to school challenge. How do you think this could work?
Watch on YouTube ↗
(saves to browser)
Sign in to unlock AI tutor explanation · ⚡30
Playlist
Uploads from Veritasium · Veritasium · 30 of 60
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
▶
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
59
60
Scientific Notation - Explained!
Veritasium
I'm Atoms (Scientific Cover of Jason Mraz's I'm Yours)
Veritasium
Scientific Notation - Example
Veritasium
What is a Force?
Veritasium
Khan Academy and the Effectiveness of Science Videos
Veritasium
Supercooled Water - Explained!
Veritasium
Galileo the Scientific Parrot
Veritasium
Radiation vs Radioactive Atoms
Veritasium
What Is Electricity? (Are You Gonna Be My Girl?)
Veritasium
Why Is Ice Slippery?
Veritasium
Impress Her With Nanodiamonds
Veritasium
Chain Drop Experiment
Veritasium
What Colour Is Most Attractive?
Veritasium
States of Matter
Veritasium
Slinky Drop Answer
Veritasium
Slinky Drop
Veritasium
Atomic Rant
Veritasium
What Is The Magnus Force?
Veritasium
A Human Being Is A Part Of The Whole
Veritasium
Spinning Tube Trick Explained
Veritasium
Where Do Trees Get Their Mass?
Veritasium
Why Do You Make People Look Stupid?
Veritasium
Gyroscopic Precession
Veritasium
How Does A Slinky Fall?
Veritasium
Spinning Disk Trick Solution
Veritasium
Does a Falling Slinky Defy Gravity?
Veritasium
Northern Lights From 100,000 ft!
Veritasium
The First Meeting of EDUtubers! ft. CGPGrey, Vsauce, Smarter Every Day, Numberphile +more
Veritasium
Free Higgs!
Veritasium
How Can Trees Be Taller Than 10m?
Veritasium
What Now For The Higgs Boson?
Veritasium
How Trees Bend the Laws of Physics
Veritasium
Paralysed Rats Made To Walk Again
Veritasium
What Could Survive An Atomic Bomb?
Veritasium
Heisenberg's Uncertainty Principle Explained
Veritasium
Why Do Venomous Animals Live In Warm Climates?
Veritasium
Veritasium Trailer
Veritasium
What Can Frogs See That We Can't?
Veritasium
World's Roundest Object!
Veritasium
Epic Slow-Mo Drum Implosions!
Veritasium
Empty Space is NOT Empty
Veritasium
Your Mass is NOT From the Higgs Boson
Veritasium
How Does a Transistor Work?
Veritasium
Bullet Block Explained!
Veritasium
How We’re Fooled By Statistics
Veritasium
Facebook Fraud
Veritasium
The Most Common Cognitive Bias
Veritasium
Anti-Gravity Wheel?
Veritasium
Anti-Gravity Wheel Explained
Veritasium
Why Trees Are Taller Than They Need To Be
Veritasium
Misconceptions About the Universe
Veritasium
Why Women Are Stripey
Veritasium
What is NOT Random?
Veritasium
Explained: 5 Fun Physics Phenomena
Veritasium
Climate Change is Boring
Veritasium
13 Misconceptions About Global Warming
Veritasium
CapitolTV's DISTRICT VOICES - District 5: Electric Sparks From Falling Water
Veritasium
Sparks from Falling Water: Kelvin's Thunderstorm
Veritasium
The Most Persistent Myth
Veritasium
The Most Radioactive Places on Earth
Veritasium
More on: ML Maths Basics
View skill →Related AI Lessons
⚡
⚡
⚡
⚡
Understanding Machine Learning and the ML Pipeline — Step by Step
Medium · Machine Learning
Understanding Machine Learning and the ML Pipeline — Step by Step
Medium · Data Science
“How a self-taught builder with no coding background made it to the Meta PyTorch Grand Finale”
Medium · Machine Learning
Python Isn’t One Skill -It’s 10 Different Career Paths!
Medium · Machine Learning
🎓
Tutor Explanation
DeepCamp AI