Please answer this question without looking at any of the answers below or checking a reference.
Do plants breathe oxygen?
2007-08-08 12:56:06 · 27 answers · asked by Anonymous in Society & Culture ➔ Religion & Spirituality
Yes and no...
Plants don't breath in the way a person breathes, since they don't have lungs...but the gases do pass through the skin of the leaf.
During the day, plants take in Carbon Dioxide (CO2), which, through photosynthesis, they turn into food for themselves, and excrete O2 or Oxygen back into the atmosphere. Since photosynthesis requires light, sunlight specifically, in order to operate, during the night, the plants take in small amounts of oxygen, and excrete out CO2, but this is far less than the amount of O2 they produce.
Basically, without the sunlight used to create food and oxygen, the plants are forced to do what we do, and take in some oxygen in order to keep themselves alive.
So, how is that remembering my biology courses from many years ago?
(in the second semester, we had to catch and dissect a triceratops)
2007-08-08 13:06:53 · answer #1 · answered by Hatir Ba Loon 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
They need oxygen at night to metabolise the energy sources they have produced during the day from photosynthesis.
Photosynthesis itself results in plants "inhaling" carbon dioxide and "exhaling" oxygen, to produce stored carbohydrate, but when there is no sunlight this is reversed to produce the energy needed for surviving in the dark.
2007-08-08 20:19:24 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
I suppose they breathe OUT oxygen. But they breathe IN Carbon Dioxide.
2007-08-08 19:58:42 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 2⤊ 0⤋
Plants need oxygen to use the energy in the sugar, but they produce far more oxygen than they use.
2007-08-08 20:05:36 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Breathe as in the animal sense no.
They take in carbon dioxide and put out oxygen.
2007-08-08 20:01:01 · answer #5 · answered by hypno_toad1 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
No, they breathe CO2. They give out oxygen in the process.
2007-08-08 20:00:26 · answer #6 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
No. They breathe carbon dioxide and exhale oxygen.
2007-08-08 19:59:36 · answer #7 · answered by djm749 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
No, they breathe in carbon dioxide I believe, and then release oxygen.
2007-08-08 19:59:08 · answer #8 · answered by Harlequin 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
plants release oxygen into the atmosphere. Which is why when we cut down a lot of tree, it aids pollution.
2007-08-08 20:01:02 · answer #9 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
No. But they do use it. Although plants are net producers of oxygen, they also use it for root growth and other purposes.
2007-08-08 20:03:03 · answer #10 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋