Plants take up liquid water from the soil and release water vapor into the air from their leaves is called ...

• A. Evaporation
• B. Condensation
• C. Transpiration
• D. Evapotranspiration

Answer: (C)

Transpiration is the loss of water vapor from plant surfaces, mainly through the stomata on leaves, after water is taken up by the roots. This process describes the pathway where liquid water moves from the soil into the plant, travels up through the xylem, and is released as vapor from the leaves. It’s driven by a water potential gradient: water is pulled up from the roots to the leaves, and some of it escapes as vapor, helping to regulate leaf temperature and enable nutrient transport. The scenario emphasizes the plant’s role in moving water from soil to the air via leaf surfaces, which is exactly what transpiration entails.

Evaporation would be water turning into vapor from any surface, not specifically from plant leaves. Evapotranspiration combines evaporation from soil and other surfaces with plant transpiration, but the description here focuses on the plant component—the release of water vapor from leaves—so transpiration is the precise term. Condensation is the process of vapor turning back into liquid, which is not involved here.