Water travels up a tree through small tubes called xylem. As water is released through the leaves of the tree, it creates a negative pressure at the top of the tree. Even though the weight of all the water is dragging it down via gravity, the adhesion and cohesion properties of water create a strong attraction between the water molecules. Another property that helps is capillary action, where the water molecules are more strongly attracted to the walls of the xylem than they are to each other. The height that capillary action can draw water is inversely proportional to the width of the tube, which means that the xylem and stomata can draw water up and incredible distance.
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