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In the life sciences, mass flow, also known as mass transfer and bulk flow, is the movement of fluids down a pressure or temperature gradient.Moyes & Schulte (2008). Principles of Animal Physiology. Pearson Benjamin Cummings. San Francisco, California As such, mass flow is a subject of study in both fluid dynamics and biology. Examples of mass flow include blood circulation and transport of water in vascular plant tissues. Mass flow is not to be confused with diffusion which depends on concentration gradients within a medium rather than pressure gradients of the medium itself.
As in blood circulation in animals, Embolism may form within one or more xylem vessels of a plant. If an air bubble forms, the upward flow of xylem water will stop because the pressure difference in the vessel cannot be transmitted. Once these embolisms are nucleation , the remaining water in the capillaries begins to turn to water vapor. When these bubbles form rapidly by cavitation, the "snapping" sound can be used to measure the rate of cavitation within the plant .Pockman, W.T., Sperry, J.S., & O'Leary, J.W. 1995. Sustained and significant negative water pressure in xylem. 'Nature' 378: 715-716 Plants do, however, have physiological mechanisms to reestablish the capillary action within their cells .
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