The way carbon flows around in our living planet is complex and fascinating... and these days everyone needs to know a bit more about it. Staffan Liljegren helped found two internet startups and used to collaborate a lot with MIT’s Media Lab. Now he's joined the Azimuth Project, a collaboration among scientists, engineers and programmers to help save the planet. Check out his intro to the carbon cycle and some simple computer models he's been looking at! And find out what kind of tree this is.
I would like to suggest that (if correct, which I think it is) your writer should add a simple statement in the early simple introductory paragraphs, along these lines. "In fact most of the mass of plants comes from the air, in the form of carbon dioxide." This is an important observation especially when one can clearly see how massive trees and other plant materials are. I contend that many smart people have not quite made this connection yet and assume that much of the mass comes from the soil or water. http://www.csun.edu/scied/2-longitudinal/plant_mass/index.htmJul 25, 2012
I bet you're right that not everyone knows this - if you grow a little stalk of bamboo in a jar of water you'll see firsthand that water and air can turn into leaves and wood, but not everyone does this sort of thing! If I'm feeling energetic tomorrow morning I'll just add a remark to this effect in Staffan's post.Jul 25, 2012
+John Baez , try that stalk of bamboo in distilled water! Most water for plants is tap water, which is rather laden in minerals.
You're not getting phosphorus from the air and it won't be from distilled water! THAT is necessary for DNA to exist.
Nitrogen, oxygen, CO2, all can come from the atmosphere. phosphorous, not so, unless you're in the Palestinian zone. (OK, lousy political joke, but still a valid observation.)Aug 1, 2012