Breaking...the climate is going through a natural pattern....

originally posted by: toysforadults
a reply to: Phage

UCSB

Great question! Plants produce oxygen, because when they photosynthesize, they take carbon dioxide (CO2; a gas-form of carbon bonded to two oxygen molecules) and water (H2O; an oxygen bonded to two hydrogen atoms) and combine them using light energy to produce sugars and oxygen.

Ruben and Kamen proved that the oxygen byproduct of photosynthesis comes from water by using heavy water and radioactive carbon dioxide.

Water Is the Source of the Oxygen Produced by Photosynthesis (PDF)

van Niel proposed that during the generalized process of photosynthesis, hydrogen is extracted from water and incorporated into glucose, leaving the oxygen to be released as elemental oxygen. This hypothesis was later confirmed by Samuel Ruben and Martin Kamen, who utilized radioisotopes to trace the flow of oxygen in plants. Specifically, they allowed two groups of plants to undergo photosynthesis.

The first group of plants was given radioactively-labeled water and unlabeled carbon dioxide. By comparison, the second group of plants was given radioactively-labeled carbon dioxide and unlabeled water. Results showed that the oxygen released from the first group of plants was radioactive, confirming that water is the source of the oxygen produced by photosynthesis.

This was in the 1940s.

originally posted by: Phage
a reply to: toysforadults

Your link is broken but it doesn't matter because plants don't turn CO2 into oxygen. All of the oxygen comes from water, none from CO2.

The irony of having a scientist tell you everything you learned about science in school is wrong. Go science!

a reply to: Phage

huh, what???
Not what I learned in school.

QUICK ANSWER
Plants produce oxygen as a byproduct of photosynthesis, the process that plants and other organisms use to create usable energy. Photosynthesis consists of carbon dioxide and water reacting in the presence of energy from sunlight, which produces glucose and oxygen.

www.reference.com...

originally posted by: DontTreadOnMe
a reply to: Phage

huh, what???

Not what I learned in school.

QUICK ANSWER
Plants produce oxygen as a byproduct of photosynthesis, the process that plants and other organisms use to create usable energy. Photosynthesis consists of carbon dioxide and water reacting in the presence of energy from sunlight, which produces glucose and oxygen.

www.reference.com...

Umm, you can thank Mandela. Up is down and plants don't produce oxygen. Deal with it.

a reply to: DontTreadOnMe
Yes "Quick Answer"
*sigh*


Maybe this will penetrate.

The single carbon atom and 2 oxygen atoms which compose CO2, are combined with other elements to make sugar. The oxygen is not released. CO2 is not converted into carbon and oxygen.

The oxygen comes from a separate reaction. The splitting of water. All of the oxygen comes from this reaction, it does not come from the CO2.

a reply to: EbbNFlow

Up is down and plants don't produce oxygen.

Please point out where I said that?

a reply to: DontTreadOnMe

The proof that water is the source of oxygen emitted as a result of photosynthesis dates back to the research by Ruben and Kamen using radioactive isotopes to determine which was the source in the 1940s.

It has perhaps been simplified in schools that CO2 + H2O results in sugar and oxygen without saying from whence each comes from.

The hydrogen atoms are fixed to the carbon dioxide molecules to create sugars, and the oxygen atoms from water are byproducts.

So, here's a fun thought experiment...
If H2O is the source of O2, and CO2 comes from burning carbon to fix C to O2... what's the long-term trajectory for our atmosphere?

originally posted by: Phage
a reply to: EbbNFlow

Up is down and plants don't produce oxygen.

Please point out where I said that?

You didn't, you splitting hairs is confusing the whole lot of us.

a reply to: DontTreadOnMe

they are out in left field

a reply to: EbbNFlow

I'm not the one who said plants turn CO2 into oxygen.

a reply to: Greven



In the 1940's. But that's not how it was explained to laymen. Does not compute seems to be the order of the day.

a reply to: EbbNFlow

Yes. It is a commonly espoused fallacy that plants turn CO2 into oxygen.

originally posted by: Phage
a reply to: EbbNFlow

I'm not the one who said plants turn CO2 into oxygen.

No, but now all public schools should be torn asunder.

a reply to: EbbNFlow

It's been a long time since I was in school.
I don't remember if they said that plants turn CO2 into oxygen or not. If they did, they were wrong.
But I was taught that plants produce O2.

originally posted by: Phage
a reply to: EbbNFlow

It's been a long time since I was in school.
I don't remember if they said that plants turn CO2 into oxygen or not. If they did, they were wrong.
But I was taught that plants produce O2.

It's been awhile for me also but yes that's the basic understanding. Plants absorb CO2 and expell oxygen. Which is true, how one processes that is what we are seeing here.

a reply to: Phage

What I remember is that plants "give off" O2...not produce...but I didn't go to public school

And, not everyone needs the $100.00 answer.....

originally posted by: DontTreadOnMe
a reply to: Phage

What I remember is that plants "give off" O2...which they do.
Not everyone needs the $10.00 answer.....

Ah but look what happens when you get a $2 education.

a reply to: Phage

turn CO2 into oxygen

this entire thread you've been arguing a strawman you create not actually responding to our post

you are splitting hairs

it doesn't --turn-- c02 into oxygen it's a by product of a synthetic process involving c02

stop it you do this in every post

originally posted by: EbbNFlow

originally posted by: Phage
a reply to: EbbNFlow

Up is down and plants don't produce oxygen.

Please point out where I said that?

You didn't, you splitting hairs is confusing the whole lot of us.

It isn't splitting hairs, but rather an important thing to consider.

Water is quite literally a finite resource on Earth.

Plants, like all carbon-based life, breathe and turn sugars into CO2.
Life also dies and either CO2 is emitted or buried.
Humans also burn carbon, turning oxygen and carbon into CO2.
Plants turn water into oxygen during photosynthesis, as well as turning CO2 and water into sugars.

Fortunately, we still have quite a lot of water and oxygen left on Earth... for now.

We're doing a bang-up job of burning carbon with oxygen to make CO2, though


What turns things back into water?

a reply to: EbbNFlow

Ok. Now that's settled, what happens to that CO2 (which is not turned into oxygen). It makes leaves and needles and wood. Those leaves and needles and wood die and rot and guess what happens to the carbon? It turns into CO2 and goes back into the atmosphere.

See the seasonal bumps here? That's the process at work. Some CO2 removed, then put right back where it came from. The carbon cycle. Trouble is, fossil carbon isn't part of it. Not so you'd notice. Trees can't keep up.

Now, if trees turned that carbon into something that would stay put, that would be cool.