Which process describes nutrients moving with water?

• A. Diffusion
• B. Osmosis
• C. Evaporation
• D. Mass flow

Answer: (D)

Nutrients being carried along with the moving water is mass flow. When water moves through soil or within plant tissues, minerals dissolved in that water travel with the bulk flow, so their distribution follows the direction and rate of water movement rather than just a concentration gradient. This contrasts with diffusion, which relies on nutrients moving from higher to lower concentrations due to random molecular motion, not because water is pushing them along. Osmosis is the movement of water across a semipermeable membrane, not the transport of dissolved nutrients. Evaporation is water turning into vapor and leaving the system, which doesn’t transport nutrients. So nutrients moving with water are transported by mass flow.