How do ivy plants take in water?

Ben set up an experiment to prove that ivy plants take in water through their roots. He took a jar, put an ivy plant in the open jar, and filled the jar with water to cover only the roots of the ivy. After a week, he checked the water level in the jar and found it had gone down. Ben concluded that the plant had absorbed water through its roots. Why does Ben have insufficient proof for his conclusion?

A. Ben should have put more ivy plants in the open jar.

B. Ben should have put several plants of different species in the open jar.

C. The water level in the jar might have gone down because of evaporation.

D. There should have been soil in the jar rather than water.

Final answer:

Ben's experiment doesn't adequately prove that the ivy plant is absorbing water from its roots as he has not accounted for the process of evaporation which might cause the water level in the jar to decrease.

Explanation:

Although Ben's experiment might seem sound at first glance, there's a significant factor he failed to account for - the process of evaporation. Even in an enclosed environment, water in the jar will evaporate over time, potentially causing the water level to reduce. This reduction might not be due to the ivy plant absorbing water through its roots, but simply due to water transforming from its liquid form to its gaseous form and escaping the jar. For the experiment to be more reliable, Ben could compare the evaporation rate in a jar without a plant to the one with the ivy plant to see if there's a difference in water levels due to plant absorption versus ordinary evaporation.