Pearson Edexcel International GCSE in Biology · 4BI1 · Free · no account needed
Water Uptake and Transpiration — exam questions
10 original Incandio exam-style questions on Water Uptake and Transpiration, 25 marks, about 25 minutes of writing. Each one carries the command word, the tariff and the specification statement it assesses, exactly as a paper presents them. This is an original Incandio practice question, written to reflect the structure and demands of the qualification. It is not an official Pearson Edexcel past-paper question.
This is the practice set for Water Uptake and Transpiration — the lesson that teaches it. Read the lesson first if the idea is new; come here when you want to find out whether you can turn it into marks. Completely free, no account needed to read.
What these questions ask of you
6 command words run through this set, and on Pearson Edexcel International GCSE Biology each one means something precise. Answering the wrong command is the commonest way a candidate who understands the lesson still loses the mark.
- Which (1 mark)
- one option chosen from the set given
- State what is meant by (1–2 marks)
- the definition
- Explain (2–4 marks)
- a causal chain — WHY it happens, each link a separate marking point Misread as: describing what happens without giving the reason it happens
- Suggest (1–3 marks)
- a plausible answer applying taught biology to a situation not taught
- Give (1–2 marks)
- a short factual answer drawn from recall or from the data
- Design (4–6 marks)
- a workable method: variables, control, measurement, repeats
Assessed on Paper 1 (4BI1/1B) and Paper 2 (4BI1/2B), against AO1, AO2, AO3.
Where these sit in the specification
Pearson Edexcel International GCSE Biology (4BI1) — statements 2.55 · 2.56 · 2.57 · 2.58. Incandio is aligned to this specification; it is not published by, endorsed by or affiliated with Pearson, and it reproduces none of Pearson's wording.
The 10 questions
Answer them on paper, then open the lesson's exam practice to have them marked. The mark scheme, the accepted and rejected answers and the annotated model answer are in Incandio and are not printed here — an answer beside its question is not practice.
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Table 1 — the distance an air bubble moved along a potometer scale in ten minutes, for the same leafy shoot under four conditions. Condition Distance moved in 10 minutes / mm Still air, 20 °C, normal humidity 34 Fan blowing across the shoot, 20 °C 78 Still air, 30 °C 59 Still air, 20 °C, clear plastic bag over the shoot 9 (a)
(1)Give
Give the condition in Table 1 that produced the slowest rate of water uptake.
Table 1 — the distance an air bubble moved along a potometer scale in ten minutes, for the same leafy shoot under four conditions. Condition Distance moved in 10 minutes / mm Still air, 20 °C, normal humidity 34 Fan blowing across the shoot, 20 °C 78 Still air, 30 °C 59 Still air, 20 °C, clear plastic bag over the shoot 9 (b)
(3)Explain
Explain the effect of the fan on the distance the bubble moved.
Table 1 — the distance an air bubble moved along a potometer scale in ten minutes, for the same leafy shoot under four conditions. Condition Distance moved in 10 minutes / mm Still air, 20 °C, normal humidity 34 Fan blowing across the shoot, 20 °C 78 Still air, 30 °C 59 Still air, 20 °C, clear plastic bag over the shoot 9 (c)
(2)Suggest
Suggest why the shoot was returned to still air at 20 °C between each of the other three conditions.
Table 1 — the distance an air bubble moved along a potometer scale in ten minutes, for the same leafy shoot under four conditions. Condition Distance moved in 10 minutes / mm Still air, 20 °C, normal humidity 34 Fan blowing across the shoot, 20 °C 78 Still air, 30 °C 59 Still air, 20 °C, clear plastic bag over the shoot 9 (Total for Question 1 = 6 marks)
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(1)Which
Which process moves water from the soil into a root hair cell?
Process A active transport B osmosis C transpiration D respiration (Total for Question 2 = 1 mark)
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(2)State what is meant by
State what is meant by transpiration.
(Total for Question 3 = 2 marks)
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(2)Explain
Explain how the shape of a root hair cell helps a plant absorb water.
(Total for Question 4 = 2 marks)
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(3)Explain
Explain why transpiration is faster on a windy day than on a still one.
(Total for Question 5 = 3 marks)
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(3)Suggest
On a very hot afternoon a plant's stomata close, and its rate of photosynthesis falls. Suggest why closing the stomata is nevertheless useful to the plant.
(Total for Question 6 = 3 marks)
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(2)Explain
Explain why a potometer measures the rate of water uptake rather than the rate of transpiration.
(Total for Question 7 = 2 marks)
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(6)Design
Design an experiment using a potometer to find out how wind speed affects the rate of transpiration.
A potometer measures the rate at which a cut shoot takes up water, by timing how far an air bubble moves along a capillary tube of known bore.
(Total for Question 8 = 6 marks)
Have them marked, then defend the answer
Practice tells you the mark; teaching it back tells you whether you understand it. On Incandio a topic counts as mastered only once you have taught it and defended it.
- Mark these questions — 10 questions, marked on Incandio against the authored scheme, with the mistake you actually made named.
- Teach it — explain Water Uptake and Transpiration to Ember, an AI pupil who does not have it yet and asks the awkward question.
- Defend it — argue it against Stephen Hales over three rounds, marked against descriptors you can read first.
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Back to the lesson
- Water Uptake and Transpiration — A tall tree lifts water a hundred metres with no pump and no moving parts. The force comes from water evaporating out of its leaves.
- All of Incandio Biology · Incandio Exam Practice