Mass Flow through Sieve Tube Elements
Sucrose loaded into the sieve tubes causes the sieve tubes to have a lower water potential.
Water moves from xylem vessels into the sieve tubes down the water potential gradient by osmosis.

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Key terms in this lesson
- active transport
- The movement of molecules or ions across a membrane, often against their concentration gradient, using ATP and carrier proteins.
- osmosis
- The net movement of water molecules from a region of higher water potential to a region of lower water potential through a selectively permeable membrane.
- water potential
- A measure of the tendency of water molecules to move out of a solution; pure water has a water potential of zero and adding solute lowers it.
- hydrostatic pressure
- The pressure exerted by a fluid, such as blood, that forces fluid out of the capillaries to form tissue fluid.
More in Mass Transport in Plants
- Movement of Water Across the Leaf
- Movement of Water Through the Stomata
- Translocation
- Phloem Loading
- Mass Flow Model
- Phloem Unloading
- Ringing Experiments
- Tracer Experiments
All 18 lessons in Mass Transport in Plants · All OCR AS-level Biology topics