Lesson 9 of 21
What plants do with waste
Show on a big screenA tree has no kidneys. Its waste still has somewhere to go.
Step 1 of 6
- A plant: leaves, trunk, roots.
- Oxygen and carbon dioxide leave at the leaf.
- Water vapour leaves at the leaf too.
- Some waste is stored in old wood.
- Some is shed with a falling leaf.
- Some goes out into the soil.
Loading lab…
Tap each part of the plant. Read where waste goes.
The rule
A waste is something a living thing does not need. Oxygen is a waste of photosynthesis. By day it leaves the leaf. At night, carbon dioxide from respiration leaves instead. Extra water leaves by transpiration. Transpiration is the loss of water vapour from leaves.
Plants let gases out and lose extra water as vapour. A falling leaf carries some waste away. Old wood stores waste as gums and resins. Some waste goes out into the soil. Gums and resins are sticky substances.
Cell vacuoles can hold waste. A vacuole is a small bag inside a cell.
Try the lab to finish this lesson.