Global InformationScholander pressure bomb information
A pressure bomb, pressure chamber, or Scholander bomb is an instrument that can measure the approximate water potential of plant tissues. A leaf and petiole or stem segment is placed inside a sealed chamber. Pressurized gas (normally compressed nitrogen) is slowly added to the chamber. As the pressure increases, at some point the liquid contents of the sample will be forced out of the xylem and will be visible at the cut end of the stem or petiole. The pressure that is required to do so is equal and opposite to the water potential of the sample (Ψleaf or Ψtotal).[1][2] Pressure bombs are field portable and mechanically simple,[3] which make them the predominant method for water potential measurements in the fields of plant physiology and ecophysiology.
- ^ [1] 1972 Journal of Experimental Botany - The Measurement of the Turgor Pressure and the Water Relations of Plants by the Pressure-bomb Technique M. T. TYREE and H. T. HAMMEL
- ^ Scholander, P.; Bradstreet, E.; Hemmingsen, E.; Hammel, H. (1965). "Sap Pressure in Vascular Plants: Negative hydrostatic pressure can be measured in plants". Science. 148 (3668): 339–346. Bibcode:1965Sci...148..339S. doi:10.1126/science.148.3668.339. PMID 17832103. S2CID 38813088.
- ^ Gifftord, H.H. (18 August 1971). "SIMPLIFIED APPARATUS FOR DETERMINING LEAF WATER POTENTIALS IN PINE NEEDLES" (PDF). Scion Research.