Photosynthesis - Carbon Cycle - Plant Matter - CO2 - Oxygen TADA!

[Nifty]

Ok, from the time I was a little kid I knew that:

1) Plants do the photosynthesis thing which to me was basically sunlight + green = plant grow.

2) Plants take in Carbon Dioxide (CO2) and release Oxygen

3) Plants need dirt (nutrients) in their roots to grow

That kinda was the limits of my botany / chemistry knowledge (I'm more of a physics guy)

I always assumed that plants got everything they needed to create "mass" from the ground and the energy to process it from the Sun.

Well, we have some really large Sycamore trees in our front yard. The mass in the wood is pretty major and every Fall when I'm picking up all the tons of leaves I find even more physical matter. I always wondered why the ground had not settled around the root system of the tree... I mean, it was taking all the stuff out of the ground to build up the bulk of the tree, right? Since you can't destroy / create matter, I was expecting that over time the level of dirt would sink.

I was watching a show about either trees or carbon or something and it discussed how trees (and this is important) take the CO2 and with the energy from the sunlight convert it into carbohydrates, i.e., the mass of the tree!

So, if I'm understanding correctly, the majority of the tree mass (not including the water content) comes from the air!?! The trees are grabbing the CO2 gas and with the energy of the sun are splitting the carbon (basis for all living things) and creating most of the mass of the tree. So, that would explain why the soil isn't sinking!

Some good reads:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Photosynthesis
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carbon_cycle

 

[digitS']

There you go, Nifty!! The magic of plant life!

Sunlight, air, water, and a few carefully selected nutrients . . . carbohydrates!

Steve

 

[patandchickens]

Sure All the C atoms in the tree were formerly atmospheric CO2 and are now bound up in the molecules that make wood etc.

When the wood eventually rots away, or is consumed by another organism and metabolized, only then do the C atoms return to the atmosphere (mostly - some go on to other fates).

Pat

 

[Nifty]

It really puts things into perspective when you read about how much CO2 is dumped into the air during a commute and how much plant matter must be created to compensate. Makes me want to go outside and plant some fast growing leafy trees!

 

[patandchickens]

You've heard the by-now-somewhat-old gag about libraries being the ultimate solution to all the CO2 we're putting into the atmosphere? The idea being, plant bunches of trees and harvest the wood to make into durable paper and then keep it from rotting away for as long as possible...

Pat

 

[Nifty]

Maybe we could print out all 1.6 million posts on BYC and store it in a vault somewhere? That should lock up a ton of CO2!

 

[patandchickens]

Almost as good as saving all yer old National Geographics!

LOL

Pat

 

[me&thegals]

Very cool. I guess I never quite made that connection either. My own recent epiphany was how some plants also take nitrogen out of the atmosphere and fix it back into the dirt.