this post was submitted on 18 Nov 2023
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submitted 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) by [email protected] to c/showerthoughts
 

Plants, through photosynthesis, take in carbon dioxide and release oxygen as a byproduct

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[–] rtxn 18 points 1 year ago

Mixed in with their sweet-smelling jizz.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Show me a plant's anal sphincter and I'll believe you.

[–] tdawg 4 points 1 year ago (1 children)

You can't just ask about someone's sphincter!

[–] [email protected] -1 points 1 year ago

I just did.

[–] tdawg 9 points 1 year ago

Good job OP you got the bio nerds arguing the philosophical and scientific definitions of "fart." You can retire now

[–] NAXLAB 8 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Breathing farts is a funny idea, but the product of plants' respiration is not at all comparable to farts. It's comparable to breath

[–] LukeMedia 5 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Fairly minor correction, but photosynthesis is essentially the opposite of cellular respiration. Plants do respirate and release CO2, but their photosynthesis more than offsets their respiration.

[–] NAXLAB 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I see! I didn't know respiration only referred to what animals do. I figured they were both two sides of the same coin

[–] LukeMedia 1 points 1 year ago

Late reply, respiration occurs in cells when they burn ATP energy, consuming Oxygen and producing Carbon Dioxide. Photosynthesis creates ATP rather than burn it. Plants will respirate and burn that ATP after it is created, but photosynthesis itself is not respiration. Hope you find this interesting!

[–] slazer2au 6 points 1 year ago (1 children)

We breathe their BO not their farts.

[–] Candelestine 34 points 1 year ago (1 children)

It's exhalations really. Their BO would result mostly from bacteria that live on their surface. You exhale your metabolic byproduct of CO2, they exhale their O2. Just, instead of one centralized set of "lungs", their respiratory system is decentralized through the structure, kinda like a lobsters "brain" is. Kinda.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Naw, the farts are actually the best comparison.

Plants "breathe" normally too, taking in oxygen, and producing CO2. Separately, they also take on CO2 and sunlight, and produce "food" and expel oxygen.

Since it's a by-product of their "eating"... It really is a fart, isn't it?

[–] Candelestine 9 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (2 children)

The main thing for me is that the contents of flatulence and BO were not made by the animal themselves. They were made by symbiotic bacteria.

Regarding plants taking in O2 and expelling CO2, to my knowledge this only happens at night, and the plant is not actually using the O2. It's just concentrations naturally equalizing while it waits for the sun to come back. Do some plants actually have a use for O2? That's out of my wheelhouse.

Anyways, I can see the flatulence argument, since both are a result of a "feeding" behavior, but there's not a lot else in common.

[–] charizardcharz 4 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Plants do indeed use O2. They use if for the same reason we do, the have mitochondria that use O2 during respiration.

During the day plants typically produce more O2 than they consume, but at night they need it from elsewhere.

[–] Candelestine 4 points 1 year ago

I guess, yea, they're making sugar, but they're still going to need to metabolize it. Why do I have the impression I probably knew this at one point in time...?

[–] TootSweet 2 points 1 year ago

Oh sweet. The new "airplane on a treadmill" problem just dropped. 🍿