Imbibition

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Imbibition is a special type of diffusion that takes place when liquid is absorbed by solids-colloids causing an increase in volume. Water surface potential movement takes place along a concentration gradient; some dry materials absorb water. A gradient between the absorbent and the liquid is essential for imbibition. For a substance to imbibe a liquid, there must first be some attraction between them. Imbibition occurs when a wetting fluid displaces a non-wetting fluid, the opposite of drainage in which a non-wetting phase displaces the wetting fluid. The two processes are governed by different mechanisms.[ clarification needed ] Imbibition is also a type of diffusion since water movement is along the concentration gradient. Seeds and other such materials have almost no water hence they absorb water easily. Water potential gradient between the absorbent and liquid imbibed is essential for imbibition.

Contents

Examples

One example of Imbibition in nature is the absorption of water by hydrophilic colloids. Matrix potential contributes significantly to water in such substances. Dry seeds germinate in part by imbibition. Imbibition can also control circadian rhythms in Arabidopsis thaliana and (probably) other plants. The Amott test employs imbibition.

Proteins have high imbibition capacities, so proteinaceous pea seeds swell more than starchy wheat seeds.

Imbibition of water increases imbibant volume, which results in imbibitional pressure (IP). The magnitude of such pressure can be demonstrated by the splitting of rocks by inserting dry wooden stalks in their crevices and soaking them in water, a technique used by early Egyptians to cleave stone blocks. [1] [2]

Skin grafts (split thickness and full thickness) receive oxygenation and nutrition via imbibition, maintaining cellular viability until the processes of inosculation and revascularisation have re-established a new blood supply within these tissues.

Germination

An apricot seed, dry (l) & imbibed (r) Prunus armeniaca dry and imbibed seed.jpg
An apricot seed, dry (l) & imbibed (r)

Examples include the absorption of water by seeds [3] and dry wood. If there is no pressure due to imbibition, seedlings would not be able to emerge from soil.[ speculation? ]

Radicle growth

The radicle is the first part of a seedling (a growing plant embryo) to emerge from the seed during the process of germination. [4] The radicle is the embryonic root of the plant, and grows downward in the soil (the shoot emerges from the plumule) where it absorbs more water. Most part of the seed is stored energy so nutrients are not essential during the first days for the seedling.

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Seed</span> Embryonic plant enclosed in a protective outer covering

In botany, a seed is a plant embryo and food reserve enclosed in a protective outer covering called a seed coat (testa). More generally, the term "seed" means anything that can be sown, which may include seed and husk or tuber. Seeds are the product of the ripened ovule, after the embryo sac is fertilized by sperm from pollen, forming a zygote. The embryo within a seed develops from the zygote and grows within the mother plant to a certain size before growth is halted.

Hygroscopy is the phenomenon of attracting and holding water molecules via either absorption or adsorption from the surrounding environment, which is usually at normal or room temperature. If water molecules become suspended among the substance's molecules, adsorbing substances can become physically changed, e.g. changing in volume, boiling point, viscosity or some other physical characteristic or property of the substance. For example, a finely dispersed hygroscopic powder, such as a salt, may become clumpy over time due to collection of moisture from the surrounding environment.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Radicle</span> Radicle forms the future root

In botany, the radicle is the first part of a seedling to emerge from the seed during the process of germination. The radicle is the embryonic root of the plant, and grows downward in the soil. Above the radicle is the embryonic stem or hypocotyl, supporting the cotyledon(s).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Guttation</span> Exudations of xylem sap

Guttation is the exudation of drops of xylem and phloem sap on the tips or edges of leaves of some vascular plants, such as grasses, and also a number of fungi. Ancient Latin gutta means "a drop of fluid", whence modern botany formed the word guttation to designate that a plant exudes drops of fluid onto the outer surface of the plant, when the source of the fluid is inside the plant. Guttation happens in a variety of plant species.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Germination</span> Process by which an organism grows from a spore or seed

Germination is the process by which an organism grows from a seed or spore. The term is applied to the sprouting of a seedling from a seed of an angiosperm or gymnosperm, the growth of a sporeling from a spore, such as the spores of fungi, ferns, bacteria, and the growth of the pollen tube from the pollen grain of a seed plant.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hypocotyl</span> Plant part

The hypocotyl is the stem of a germinating seedling, found below the cotyledons and above the radicle (root).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Coleoptile</span> Protective sheath in certain plants

Coleoptile is the pointed protective sheath covering the emerging shoot in monocotyledons such as grasses in which few leaf primordia and shoot apex of monocot embryo remain enclosed. The coleoptile protects the first leaf as well as the growing stem in seedlings and eventually, allows the first leaf to emerge. Coleoptiles have two vascular bundles, one on either side. Unlike the flag leaves rolled up within, the pre-emergent coleoptile does not accumulate significant protochlorophyll or carotenoids, and so it is generally very pale. Some preemergent coleoptiles do, however, accumulate purple anthocyanin pigments.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Absorption (chemistry)</span> Chemical process

Absorption is a physical or chemical phenomenon or a process in which atoms, molecules or ions enter the liquid or solid bulk phase of a material. This is a different process from adsorption, since molecules undergoing absorption are taken up by the volume, not by the surface.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dewetting</span> Retraction of a fluid from a surface it was forced to cover

In fluid mechanics, dewetting is one of the processes that can occur at a solid–liquid, solid–solid or liquid–liquid interface. Generally, dewetting describes the process of retraction of a fluid from a non-wettable surface it was forced to cover. The opposite process—spreading of a liquid on a substrate—is called wetting. The factor determining the spontaneous spreading and dewetting for a drop of liquid placed on a solid substrate with ambient gas, is the so-called spreading coefficient S:

Shade avoidance is a set of responses that plants display when they are subjected to the shade of another plant. It often includes elongation, altered flowering time, increased apical dominance and altered partitioning of resources. This set of responses is collectively called the shade-avoidance syndrome (SAS).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Absorption refrigerator</span> Refrigerator that uses a heat source

An absorption refrigerator is a refrigerator that uses a heat source to provide the energy needed to drive the cooling process. Solar energy, burning a fossil fuel, waste heat from factories, and district heating systems are examples of convenient heat sources that can be used. An absorption refrigerator uses two coolants: the first coolant performs evaporative cooling and then is absorbed into the second coolant; heat is needed to reset the two coolants to their initial states. Absorption refrigerators are commonly used in recreational vehicles (RVs), campers, and caravans because the heat required to power them can be provided by a propane fuel burner, by a low-voltage DC electric heater or by a mains-powered electric heater. Absorption refrigerators can also be used to air-condition buildings using the waste heat from a gas turbine or water heater in the building. Using waste heat from a gas turbine makes the turbine very efficient because it first produces electricity, then hot water, and finally, air-conditioning—trigeneration.

Seed dormancy is an evolutionary adaptation that prevents seeds from germinating during unsuitable ecological conditions that would typically lead to a low probability of seedling survival. Dormant seeds do not germinate in a specified period of time under a combination of environmental factors that are normally conducive to the germination of non-dormant seeds.

In fluid statics, capillary pressure is the pressure between two immiscible fluids in a thin tube, resulting from the interactions of forces between the fluids and solid walls of the tube. Capillary pressure can serve as both an opposing or driving force for fluid transport and is a significant property for research and industrial purposes. It is also observed in natural phenomena.

The Stefan flow, occasionally called Stefan's flow, is a transport phenomenon concerning the movement of a chemical species by a flowing fluid that is induced to flow by the production or removal of the species at an interface. Any process that adds the species of interest to or removes it from the flowing fluid may cause the Stefan flow, but the most common processes include evaporation, condensation, chemical reaction, sublimation, ablation, adsorption, absorption, and desorption. It was named after the Slovenian physicist, mathematician, and poet Josef Stefan for his early work on calculating evaporation rates.

Gas diffusion electrodes (GDE) are electrodes with a conjunction of a solid, liquid and gaseous interface, and an electrical conducting catalyst supporting an electrochemical reaction between the liquid and the gaseous phase.

A xerophyte is a species of plant that has adaptations to survive in an environment with little liquid water. Examples of xerophytes include cacti, pineapple and some gymnosperm plants. The morphology and physiology of xerophytes are adapted to conserve water during dry periods. Some species called resurrection plants can survive long periods of extreme dryness or desiccation of their tissues, during which their metabolic activity may effectively shut down. Plants with such morphological and physiological adaptations are said to be xeromorphic. Xerophytes such as cacti are capable of withstanding extended periods of dry conditions as they have deep-spreading roots and capacity to store water. Their waxy, thorny leaves prevent loss of moisture.

The Amott test is one of the most widely used empirical wettability measurements for reservoir cores in petroleum engineering. The method combines two spontaneous imbibition measurements and two forced displacement measurements. This test defines two different indices: the Amott water index and the Amott oil index.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hydrophile</span> Molecular entity that is attracted to water

A hydrophile is a molecule or other molecular entity that is attracted to water molecules and tends to be dissolved by water.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Absorption of water</span> Life process in plants

In higher plants water and minerals are absorbed through root hairs which are in contact with soil water and from the root hairs zone a little the root tips.

The rise in core (RIC) method is an alternate reservoir wettability characterization method described by S. Ghedan and C. H. Canbaz in 2014. The method enables estimation of all wetting regions such as strongly water wet, intermediate water, oil wet and strongly oil wet regions in relatively quick and accurate measurements in terms of Contact angle rather than wettability index.

References

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  2. "The Pyramid Puzzle - Deccan Herald". Archived from the original on 2007-02-04. Retrieved 2006-12-11.
  3. "Soybean seed imbibition: water absorption by seed parts". openagricola.nal.usda.gov. Archived from the original on 2016-10-22. Retrieved 2016-03-19.
  4. Schiltz, S; Gaillard, I; Pawlicki-Jullian, N; Thiombiano, B; Mesnard, F; Gontier, E (December 2015). "A review: what is the spermosphere and how can it be studied?". Journal of Applied Microbiology. 119 (6): 1467–81. doi:10.1111/jam.12946. PMID   26332271. S2CID   42515027.