how does.........?

Question

how does a tree help clean air? and
what in trees/leaves helps clean the air? and 1 more
how could you extract this element with out killing it and it still helps clean the air?
if you can answer on of the 3 above questions thanks if you answer all 3 correctly you will get 10 points.

i don't think trees help clean air i just want to know what they do do so i can prove to my friend that they don't clean air .

also for the second guy who answered this question if it turns carbon dioxide into oxygen
isn't that kind of like cleaning the air because isn't carbon dioxide bad for us to inhail?

Answer 1

1. Certain trees do remove air pollutants from the air, and not just carbon dioxide which is a greenhouse gas. http://www.ext.vt.edu/departments/envirohort/articles/misc/plntclar.html. Trees also help remove dust and heavier particulates from the air because the leaves block the wind and the air drops these particles as a result of slowing down.
2. As far as photosynthesis goes, trees DO NOT CHANGE CARBON DIOXIDE INTO OXYGEN, though they DO EXCHANGE these two compounds. The oxygen released during photosynthesis comes from breaking apart molecules of water. It's the O in H2O that comes out of plants.
3. Photosynthesis does require the cell's structure in order to occur, just as previous answerers have stated.

Some trees tolerate pollution better than others, and many communities are experimenting with planting the pollution tolerant trees along highways to remove some the pollution from vehicle exhaust.

Answer 2

A tree breathes carbon dioxide, and through a series of processes I don't really understand, it releases oxygen. That's exactly the opposite of how we humans breathe, so trees are really cool.

I know there's no particular chemical, it's just the processes. I also know it isn't photosynthesis (which is how plants produce food from sunlight). I guess somewhere in the cellular makeup of a plant, the carbon is absorbed and the oxygen is released as 02. You might be able to simulate the process by having a filter which absorbs carbon...

There is no known manner to extract an entire natural chemical process without killing the tree, which would stop the process. I would advise against killing the goose that lays the golden eggs.

Answer 3

1. It doesn't- it converts carbon dioxide into oxygen
2. The chlorophyll in the leaves. Through photosynthesis
3. You probably couldn't extract any of the chlorophyll-containing cells from the leaf without killing that part of the leaf.


Edit: To the questioner
I know this isn't a discussion forum but I'll respond anyway. That depends on whether carbon dioxide is considered a pollutant. It occurs naturally, so maybe it isn't, but the extra amounts that us humans are putting out aren't natural, so maybe it is. Trees don't do anything to remove pollutants like soot and sulfur dioxide, so I would say that they don't help clean the air.

Answer 4

In a nutshell: Trees help the air by taking water, sunlight, and carbon dioxide (the stuff we breath out) and use these things to make glucose to provide energy for the plant to survive, and oxygen which is beneficial to us. This process is called photosynthesis. Photosynthesis takes place in the chloroplasts. The chloroplasts contain cholorphyll which aid in photosynthesis and also make the plant green. No, you can't "extract" it as photosynthesis is the process the plant uses to make its own food. Therefore, the plant would not survive.

Answer 5

trees are not cleaning the air they are changing CO2 into O2. all plants do this and they are just breathing, through a process called photosynthesis. except humans do it the other way around, we and other animals take in O2 and turn it into CO2. so we need each other to survive. you wouldn't be able to remove this part of the plant without killing it because that would be like taking out their lungs.
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the process of photosynthesis is expressed in this equation
CO2 + H2O + E ---> C6H12O6 + O2

CO2 = carbon dioxide
H2O = water
E = light energy
C6H12O6 = glucose
O2 = oxygen

the plant takes in carbon dioxide, water, and light energy (from the sun) and changes it in to glucose, which is the food for the plant. since the plant can't eat any food it must make it, and as a waste product oxygen is also produced. this all takes place in the chloroplasts of plant cells.

Answer 6

do you mean removing CO2 or removing other pollutants such as heavy metals and CO