It's been a long time, but I'm sure we learned in 10th grade biology that plants (including trees), take in CO2 (and give off oxygen) to carry on photosynthesis -- which they can only do in the presence of light. In the dark, however, they take in oxygen and give off CO2.
Unless they make plants different nowadays . . . I know I don't keep up! ;-)
So at night plants are CO2 generators? Does the amount of CO2 produced equal the amount consumed during the day? Would that make them neutral in terms of their impact on the atmosphere?
I have never heard that one before nor has my daughter who was a biology major. Are you sure?
Right! (Isn’t that what I said? I admit to getting confused once in a while.)
Why do plants give out Oxygen during the day and Carbon dioxide at night?
Ans. Plants, like all living beings, Respire, which means they take in Oxygen and give out carbon dioxide all the time, both at night and during the day. At night, only Respiration occurs and plant give off carbon dioxide. During the day however another process occurs in the green parts of the plant. Using carbon dioxide from the air and water, the green chloroplasts in the leaves trap the energy of the sun to form starch . In this process quite some energy is given out. The proportion of the oxygen given out during this process is far more than carbon dioxide given out when the plant breathes during the day.