Where does a tree get its weight from?
By kar295rocks
@kar295rocks (2116)
India
February 3, 2010 7:01am CST
I have been having this doubt in my mind since the 6th grade and thanks to mylot, I can spread the question worldwide.. Ha ha!
Where does a tree get its weight from? It is basically developing from a seed that measures an ounce or two and after years and years, it grows upto tons and tons of kilograms! Where was this hidden weight before?
1 person likes this
3 responses
@owlwings (43915)
• Cambridge, England
3 Feb 10
Trees (and most plants) take water and minerals from the soil and carbon-dioxide from the atmosphere. Using sunlight as the power-source, they combine the carbon, oxygen and hydrogen to make carbohydrates - sugars and the various cell wall structures that give the tree its strength and size.
@kar295rocks (2116)
• India
3 Feb 10
But the immense change in weight is too much! The sugars are manufactured in the leaves and subsequently, they are used in transpiration in the form of Adenosine Tri Phosphate! But, the gradual settling of starch in the leaves would not result in such a humungous weight!
@owlwings (43915)
• Cambridge, England
3 Feb 10
The sugars and starches produced by photosynthesis are used to produce cellulose which constitutes the dry mass of a tree, so the dry mass comes from the carbon and oxygen in the air and the hydrogen and oxygen in the water taken up. Some trees may also consist of 50% water.
Try this site: http://www.csun.edu/scied/2-longitudinal/plant_mass/index.htm .
and this: http://passporttoknowledge.com/scic/waterandcarboncycles/educators/eatingair .
@nocturn98 (956)
• Venezuela
4 Feb 10
A tree is just like you. You were once a sperm cell once, you didn't even weigh anything. Nobody can see you except through a microscope. But how much do you weigh now? You grew up just like how a tree grows up.
@CJscott (4187)
• Portage La Prairie, Manitoba
4 Feb 10
Well, from the water and nutrients in the soil friend, but mostly the water I am sure.
Cheers.
