Root Hair Cell
Plant Absorptive Cell
About the Root Hair Cell
Plant Absorptive Cell
Root surface
Root hair cells grow long outgrowths into the soil and absorb water and minerals.
Clinical and real-world context
Root hairs are plant-specific, but they illustrate how a cell increases surface area to absorb, the same idea as intestinal microvilli.
4 structures to explore
Root Hair
The absorbing outgrowth
A thin extension of the cell grows into soil, hugely increasing the surface available to take in water and minerals.
A single plant can have billions of root hairs.
Large Vacuole
The salt store
Dissolved minerals inside the vacuole keep its solute concentration higher than the soil, so water moves in by osmosis.
Minerals are taken up using energy, against a concentration gradient.
Cell Wall
The rigid sleeve
The wall holds the cell shape against swelling pressure and is soft at the growing tip.
Root hairs grow only at their tip.
Nucleus
Near the growing tip
In a growing hair, the nucleus usually travels near the tip, where the most active growth is happening.
Root hairs live only for days to weeks.