• Question: why do the trees make oxygen

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      Asked by uni-moo to Melissa on 24 Jun 2016.
      • Photo: Melissa Ladyman

        Melissa Ladyman answered on 24 Jun 2016:


        Trees make oxygen as a waste product from photosynthesis- which is lucky for us.

        Trees and plants use energy from the sun’s light to make sugar that they need to grow. The sugar is made from carbon dioxide (which they get from the atmosphere) and water (from the soil) but we have water, carbon dioxide and sunlight around us all of the time and it doesn’t make sugar! That’s because the plants have special compartments inside their cells called chloroplasts that provide just the right conditions for carbon dioxide and water to be combined into sugar.

        Most of the chloroplasts are found in the leaves which are flat and facing the sky so that they can catch as much sunlight as possible.

        When there is no light during the night time, plants actually take in oxygen and give out carbon dioxide! But, they give out much less carbon dioxide than they use during the day.

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