A scientist plants a small sapling in a large pot of dry soil and weighs the entire setup. After five years, the sapling has grown into a large tree. What would the scientist most likely observe about the mass of the dry soil?

The soil's mass will have decreased by an amount equal to the tree's mass.

The soil's mass will be almost the same as it was five years ago.

The soil's mass will have increased significantly as the tree's roots expanded.

The soil will be completely gone, having been absorbed by the tree.

An experiment starts with a pot containing 200 pounds of soil. After a tree grows in it for several years, the tree weighs 75 pounds, but the soil now weighs 199.8 pounds. What does this result indicate?

The experiment must be wrong because mass cannot be created.

The tree is mostly made of water, which is weightless.

The 75-pound mass of the tree did not come from the soil.

The soil lost 0.2 pounds of mass to evaporation.

That plants need sunlight to live.

That plants get their food from the soil.

That plants need water to grow.

That plant roots help anchor them in the ground.

Plants do not need soil to live.

The primary source of a plant's mass is not the soil.

Soil's only function is to hold the plant upright.

The weight of a plant comes mainly from water.

Plants need sunlight to grow tall and produce leaves.

Plant roots spread throughout the soil to anchor the plant and absorb water.

A plant grown in a sealed container with soil will eventually stop growing.

The mass of the soil in a pot barely changes even when a massive plant has grown from a small seed in it.