A revelation about plants and trees.

bobcat

bobcat

Well-known Member
Location
Northern Calif
I had always believed that plants and trees grew from the ground up because that's the way it appears. They take in nutrients and water and just grow in size.
Interestingly though, as the plant or tree grows, the soil in the pot or the ground beneath the tree stays relatively the same. That escaped me somehow.

Well, I just found out that my mental concept was flawed. That's not how they grow in size and mass. Their mass comes from the air (co2 to be exact).
I knew that they took in Co2 and released Oxygen, but I thought it's just what plants do. Apparently, the carbon part is kept and the tree's mass it built from that.
To summarize, trees and plant's grow mostly from what's in the air, not nutrients or water (Although they do use them as necessary tools).
After all these years, I never connected the dots. Wow! When I look at a big tree, it's just mind blowing to realize that the majority of that materialized from thin air and the wonders of nature.
 
bobcat said:
I had always believed that plants and trees grew from the ground up because that's the way it appears. They take in nutrients and water and just grow in size.
Interestingly though, as the plant or tree grows, the soil in the pot or the ground beneath the tree stays relatively the same. That escaped me somehow.

Well, I just found out that my mental concept was flawed. That's not how they grow in size and mass. Their mass comes from the air (co2 to be exact).
I knew that they took in Co2 and released Oxygen, but I thought it's just what plants do. Apparently, the carbon part is kept and the tree's mass it built from that.
To summarize, trees and plant's grow mostly from what's in the air, not nutrients or water (Although they do use them as necessary tools).
After all these years, I never connected the dots. Wow! When I look at a big tree, it's just mind blowing to realize that the majority of that materialized from thin air and the wonders of nature.
Click to expand...
Interesting info.. thanks for posting it!
 
Jan Baptist van Helmont (1580–1644), a Belgian chemist and physiologist, is the scientist famous for the willow tree experiment. Around 1630, he weighed a pot of soil and a willow sapling, added only water for five years, and found the tree gained 74 kg while the soil lost almost no weight, concluding (incorrectly) that trees are made of water.

Key Details of the Experiment:
The Findings: Van Helmont showed that plants do not gain the majority of their mass from soil.
The Misconception: While he proved it wasn't the soil, he mistakenly thought the mass came solely from the water he added.
The Reality: The mass actually comes from carbon dioxide absorbed from the air via photosynthesis, a concept unknown at the time.
 
gruntlabor said:
Either that or maybe there's a real relationship between the two divisions of life.
Click to expand...
Yes. The more one looks at it, the more obvious it becomes that life on earth is one family. I don't think the amazing similarity of molecular structure you shared is any coincidence. It's almost a surreal experience to realize that we breathe in the breath of the forest and it breathes in our breath, like a functional interdependence. We are deeply connected and it's a beautiful thing.

I love it when an epiphany comes knocking and it suddenly changes how you view fundamental reality. If I recall correctly, in Zen circles it is called a Satori. Kind of an encounter with something that feels larger than yourself, perhaps even mysterious, or sacred.
 
In one elementary school class, we had to learn what leaves of certain trees looked like. To this day, I can still identify the leaves of oak and maple trees. Of course now that we are older, Maple tree leaves are easy to identify, thanks mainly to Canada. But as a children, we didn't know what the Canadian flag looked like, or even what Canada was.
 
bobcat said:
I had always believed that plants and trees grew from the ground up because that's the way it appears. They take in nutrients and water and just grow in size.
Interestingly though, as the plant or tree grows, the soil in the pot or the ground beneath the tree stays relatively the same. That escaped me somehow.

Well, I just found out that my mental concept was flawed. That's not how they grow in size and mass. Their mass comes from the air (co2 to be exact).
I knew that they took in Co2 and released Oxygen, but I thought it's just what plants do. Apparently, the carbon part is kept and the tree's mass it built from that.
To summarize, trees and plant's grow mostly from what's in the air, not nutrients or water (Although they do use them as necessary tools).
After all these years, I never connected the dots. Wow! When I look at a big tree, it's just mind blowing to realize that the majority of that materialized from thin air and the wonders of nature.
Click to expand...
I'm still not connecting the dots! I'll have to wrap my brain around this information somehow. But isn't it great when we learn something new every day? :D
 
bobcat said:
Yes. The more one looks at it, the more obvious it becomes that life on earth is one family. I don't think the amazing similarity of molecular structure you shared is any coincidence. It's almost a surreal experience to realize that we breathe in the breath of the forest and it breathes in our breath, like a functional interdependence. We are deeply connected and it's a beautiful thing.

I love it when an epiphany comes knocking and it suddenly changes how you view fundamental reality. If I recall correctly, in Zen circles it is called a Satori. Kind of an encounter with something that feels larger than yourself, perhaps even mysterious, or sacred.
Click to expand...
I never thought of it in those words --that is profound!
They came first to pave the way for us. What or who have we come to pave the way for?
 
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