Do plants breathe?
Essentially the leaves on a plant act much like lungs. Thousands of microscopic openings called stomata are located largely, but not exclusively on the underside of leaves. Each stomata is surrounded by special cells, which regulate the size of the opening. Water in the leaf evaporates into the air (transpiration)(see Appendix A, Experiment #6). 10 The stomata play an important part in a plants’ survival. In dry spells and at night the stomata can close and keep the plant from losing moisture. Experiment #711 in Appendix A will allow students to see why the stomata are likened to lungs on a plant. In the procedure, a few leaves on a plant are covered with Vaseline. After leaving the plant for a couple of days, the leaves will begin to wilt and die. Oxygen is not being released and carbon dioxide is not entering the problem so the leaves system is backing up. The word photosynthesis means, putting together with light. Plants do this when they use carbon dioxide, water, and sunlight to p
Yes and no… Breathing and respiring are two different things. Mammals, including humans, breathe by using muscles to pull air into the lungs and push it out, which brings oxygen to the blood and gets rid of carbon dioxide. The blood takes the breathed-in oxygen round the body, where it is used by the cells, and takes waste carbon dioxide back to the lungs, where it is breathed out. The process of cells using oxygen and getting rid of carbon dioxide is called respiration. Plants have very small holes on the underneath of leaves, called stomata, which let the carbon dioxide and oxygen in and out in a process called diffusion. Plant cells respire as well, using oxygen and getting rid of carbon dioxide. Plants also use carbon dioxide when they make food from the sun’s energy and this makes oxygen – this is called photosynthesis. During the day, the plant cells photosynthesise more than they respire, so they get rid of more oxygen than carbon dioxide. During the night, the plant cells respi
