Solid Air

A group of Biology graduates were challenged by a TV science presenter with a wooden log on graduation day: This is a heavy piece of wood, from a tree. Where did all this mass come from? How did the tree make it?

In almost every case they stated that the tree takes nutrients from the soil using it's root system and these are used to form cellulose, which comprises most of the wood

Here is an example pile of logs for you to ponder for a moment.



Well, if trees did in fact create their own mass from the soil, then each tree would eventually end up in a hollow created by all the soil it had eaten in the process.

No, and I'm sure you know this: Most of the mass of a tree is taken from the air in the form of Carbon Dioxide. What you are looking is Solid Air.

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