Water potential measurement

There are three applications for water potential measurements using a pressure chamber leaf potential, basic leaf potential, and stem potential (Chone et al, 2000). 

Streaming potential measurements are to be made using a glass capillary tube and a particular electrolyte solution, for example, O.OIM sodium acetate in water. Discuss whether the streaming potential should or should not vary appreciably with temperature. 

The electrodes designed for permanent installation on deep-water structures must be protected from damage but must also correctly view the protected structure. Thus electrodes must be closely placed to the structure to avoid the incorporation of an IR element in the potential measured, but must not create a protection shadow which could cause a false indication of the protection level. 

The significance of the corrosion potential in relation to the equilibrium potentials and kinetics of anodic and cathodic reactions has been considered in Section 1.4, but it is appropriate here to give some examples of its use in corrosion testing. Pourbaix has provided a survey of potential measurements in relation to the thermodynamics and kinetics of corrosion, and an example of how they can be used to assess the pitting propensity of copper in Brussels water is given in Section 1.6. 

Fig. 21.2 Galvanic series showing ranges of potentials of metals and alloys in flowing hot domestic water at 71°C (Long Island, N.Y.). Potentials measured weekly for three months and then monthly for a period of ten months. (After Butler, G. and Ison, H. C. K., Corrosion and its Prevention in Water, Leonard Hill, London (1966))...

On the other hand, potential measurements at the free surface of purified water have shown50 that the value for a flowing surface differs by about 0.3 V from that for a quiescent surface, as a result of adsorption of surface-active residual impurities in the solution (probably also coming from the gas phase). Since emersed electrodes drag off the surface layer of the solution as they come out of the liquid phase, the liquid layer attached to emersed solid surfaces might also be contaminated. 

In many cases, where one is concerned with the effects of specific environmental factors it is appropriate to replace the general term stress by the appropriate quantitative measure (e.g. soil water content or water potential) together with an appropriate measure of the plant response (e.g. growth rate). 

Fig. 1. Rates of CO2 assimilation, A (/miol s ) leaf conductance, g (mol m s ) intercellular partial pressure of CO2, Pi (Pa) soil water potential and leaf water potential, xp (MPa) during gas-exchange measurements of a 30-day-old cotton plant, plotted against day after watering was withheld. Measurements were made with 2 mmol m sec" photon flux density, 30 °C leaf temperature, and 2.0 kPa vapour pressure difference between leaf and air (S.C. Wong, unpublished data).

Fig. 2. Rates of CO2 assimilation,. 4, and leaf conductances, g, as functions of intercellular partial pressure of CO2, p in Zea mays on various days after withholding watering. Measurements made with 9.5,19.0,30.5, and 38.0 Pa ambient partial pressure of CO2, 2 mmol m" s" photon flux density, 30 °C leaf temperature, and 2.0 kPa vapour pressure differences between leaf and air. Closed symbols represent measurements with 30.5 Pa ambient partial pressure of COj. Leaf water potentials were 0.05, - 0.2, - 0.5 and - 0.8 MPa on day 0, 4, 11 and 14, respectively (after Wong et al., 1985).

Fig. 1. Elongation rate of stem intemode 12 (A), silks (A), leaf 8 ( ), and nodal roots (O) of maize at various water potentials. Elongation rates are the average per hour for 24 h of growth in a controlled environment chamber. Water potentials were measured in the growing region of each organ in the same plants. Samples were taken immediately after the growth period when the plants had been in the dark for the last 10 h. Each point is from a single plant. Modified from Westgate Boyer (1985a).

Seedlings were transplanted to the different water potentials 30 h after planting, and were grown in the dark at 29 °C and near saturation humidity. Elongation rates were constant when the measurements were made. Data of R.E. Sharp and G. Voetberg (unpublished). 

The water flux into a cell, and hence the volume increase, is driven by the effective water potential difference between the inside and the outside of the plasmalemma. In calculating an effective water potential difference it is necessary to take account of the reflection coefficient, a, a measure of the degree of semipermeability of the membrane. The volumetric increase in cell size with attendant water influx can be described by ... 

C19-0138. A chemist wanted to determine E ° for the Ru /Ru reduction reaction. The chemist had all the equipment needed to make potential measurements, but the only chemicals available were R11CI3, a piece of ruthenium wire, CuSOq, copper wire, and water. Describe and sketch a cell that the chemist could set up to determine this E°. Show how the measured voltage would be related to ° of the half-reaction. If the cell has a measured voltage of 1.44 V, with the ruthenium wire being negative, determine E ° for Ru / Ru. 

The popular applications of the adsorption potential measurements are those dealing with the surface potential changes at the water/air and water/hydrocarbon interface when a monolayer film is formed by an adsorbed substance. " " " Phospholipid monolayers, for instance, formed at such interfaces have been extensively used to study the surface properties of the monolayers. These are expected to represent, to some extent, the surface properties of bilayers and biological as well as various artificial membranes. An interest in a number of applications of ordered thin organic films (e.g., Langmuir and Blodgett layers) dominated research on the insoluble monolayer during the past decade. 

The influence of HjOj concentration on stainless steel potential was determined by exposing a coupon to known concentrations of HjOj in aerated river water and measuring and pH. After correcting for a -60 mV/pH unit change due to slight acidification from the added HjOj, E followed the relationship ... 

The possibility of determination of the difference of surface potentials of solvents, see Scheme 18, among others, has been used for the investigation of Ajx between mutually saturated water and organic solvent namely nitrobenzene [57,58], nitroethane and 1,2-dichloroethane (DCE) [59], and isobutyl methyl ketone (IB) [69]. The results show a very strong influence of the added organic solvent on the surface potential of water, while the presence of water in the nonaqueous phase has practically no effect on its x potential. The information resulting from the surface potential measurements may also be used in the analysis of the interfacial structure of liquid-liquid interfaces and their dipole and zero-charge potentials [3,15,22]. 

Water status of the seedlings was determined each afternoon by obtaining leaf diffusive resistance, water potential, and osmotic potential. Diffusive resistance was measured on both the adaxial and abaxial surfaces of the youngest fully expanded leaf for six randomly selected plants in each treatment using a Lambda Model LI-60 meter and a narrow aperture sensor. Total leaf resistance (R) was calculated from the component resistances (r) as follows ... 

Leaf water potential and osmotic potential were measured using a Wescor Dewpoint Microvoltmeter (Model HR-33) coupled with C-51 and C-52 sample chambers. Two plants from each group were sampled each day by taking two 7-mm diameter leaf disks from each plant, one for water potential and one for osmotic potential. Plants from which leaf disks were obtained were discarded. The water potential of a leaf disk was read following a 2-hr equilibration period in a sample... 

In general, reduction potentials of nucleobases have been studied much less than their oxidation potentials, and in particular water-based data are rather lacking [2, 35]. We therefore listed the available polarographic potentials measured in dimethylformamide and data obtained from pulse radiolysis studies or fluorescence quenching measurements. From the data in Table 1, it is evident that the pyrimidine bases are most easily reduced. The reduction potential of the T=T CPD lesion is close to the estimated value of the undamaged thymine base [34, 36]. 

The maximum potential power of an explosive can be calculated, or it can be measured by techniques such as those developed by Cook. A typical method consists of firing the explosive under water and measuring the energy liberated in the various forms, such as shock wave in the water, the work of expansion of the gas bubble, etc. These figures have limited practical value as the methods of application of explosives are of low and variable efficiency. A more practical measurement of strength can be obtained by the measurement of cratering efficiency. This, again, demands considerable expense and also requires the availability of uniform rock. 

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