THE CYCLE
ATOMIC SHUFFLE
THREE PUZZLERS
This child and her plant depend on each other, and this will
show you why.
So click on the things that you see here, and make all the
molecules fly.
You added some carbon dioxide, along with some water and
light.
The plant in the room is now "breathing," and so is the happy
child.
Make another selection above.
You picked YES.
Well, a bonsai tree couldn't produce enough oxygen to keep someone alive, but an average-sized tree certainly could. In fact, an average-sized tree could produce enough oxygen to keep from two to four people alive.
You picked NO.
Well, if you imagined that the "tree" in the question referred to a bonsai tree, then you made the right selection ‒ it certainly couldn't produce enough oxygen to keep a person alive. An average-sized tree, however, could produce enough oxygen to keep from two to four people alive.
You picked YES.
This is really a trick question. "No" should be correct ‒ a plant can't stay alive without a regular dose of light ‒ but it isn't entirely correct. Yes, plants do need food to survive, and yes, they generally get this food through photosynthesis. However, experiments have shown that it is theoretically possible to keep a non-photosynthesizing plant alive, at least for a while.
John S. Boyer and his coworkers at the University of Delaware have kept the developing kernels of corn plants alive and growing in a low-light environment by feeding them sugar water. The sugar water, which was fed to the plants intravenously, sustained the growing kernels for five days. Without the sugar and light, the kernels would have died within a day.
You picked NO
This is really a trick question. "No" should be correct ‒ a plant can't stay alive without a regular dose of light ‒ but it isn't entirely correct. Yes, plants do need food to survive, and yes, they generally get this food through photosynthesis. However, experiments have shown that it is theoretically possible to keep a non-photosynthesizing plant alive, at least for a while.
John S. Boyer and his coworkers at the University of Delaware have kept the developing kernels of corn plants alive and growing in a low-light environment by feeding them sugar water. The sugar water, which was fed to the plants intravenously, sustained the growing kernels for five days. Without the sugar and light, the kernels would have died within a day.
You picked YES.
The answer is actually "no, a plant could not grow without oxygen." Perhaps you're thinking that a plant needs to take in carbon dioxide in order to survive and that it expels oxygen as the waste product of photosynthesis. This is certainly true. But a plant doesn't only store the food it produces ‒ it uses some to feed itself. And when a plant feeds on its own food, that food is broken down in the same way that it's broken down in an animal's body (including yours): with oxygen. The oxygen is needed to break down the carbohydrate molecules and release the energy stored in those molecules.
While a plant is photosynthesizing, it's producing more than enough oxygen to break down its own food. But if you were to take away the oxygen surrounding the plant as well as the light it needs for photosynthesis, the plant would in effect starve.
You picked NO.
That's right. The plant would not grow. It is true that a plant needs to take in carbon dioxide in order to survive and that it expels oxygen as the waste product of photosynthesis. But a plant doesn't only store the food it produces ‒ it uses some to feed itself. And when a plant feeds on its own food, that food is broken down in the same way that it's broken down in an animal's body (including yours): with oxygen. The oxygen is needed to break down the carbohydrate molecules and release the energy stored in those molecules.
While a plant is photosynthesizing, it's producing more than enough oxygen to break down its own food. But if you were to take away the oxygen surrounding the plant as well as the light it needs for photosynthesis, the plant would in effect starve.
PUZZLER
1
2
3