# Where does the mass in a giant redwood come from? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [May 30, 2008, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-does-the-mass-in-a-giant-redwood-come-from/451177 "2008-05-30T18:32:31Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![mangeorge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d78d45/32.png) [@mangeorge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mangeorge)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2008, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-does-the-mass-in-a-giant-redwood-come-from/451177/1 "2008-05-30T18:32:31Z")
That’s about it. Peace, mangeorge ---
**Author:** ![beowulff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beowulff/32/542_2.png) [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2008, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-does-the-mass-in-a-giant-redwood-come-from/451177/2 "2008-05-30T18:42:51Z")
C02 from the atmosphere + H20 from rain. ---
**Author:** ![Solfy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/848f3c/32.png) [@Solfy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Solfy)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2008, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-does-the-mass-in-a-giant-redwood-come-from/451177/3 "2008-05-30T18:43:44Z")
[QUOTE=mangeorge] That’s about it. Peace, mangeorge [/QUOTE] Out of thin air. (to not risk sounding flip in GQ, the tree uses CO2 from the atmosphere along with sunlight and water to make more tree.) ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2008, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-does-the-mass-in-a-giant-redwood-come-from/451177/4 "2008-05-30T18:53:20Z")
Wood is mostly carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen. The carbon comes from CO[sub]2[/sub] from the air, the hydrogen comes from water, and the oxygen comes from both. ---
**Author:** ![Pleonast](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pleonast/32/1183_2.png) [@Pleonast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pleonast)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2008, 6:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-does-the-mass-in-a-giant-redwood-come-from/451177/5 "2008-05-30T18:55:01Z")
_Where does the mass in a giant redwood come from?_ Same place your mass goes when you lose weight. ---
**Author:** ![XT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/xt/32/456_2.png) [@XT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/XT)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2008, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-does-the-mass-in-a-giant-redwood-come-from/451177/6 "2008-05-30T19:00:15Z")
Into a liposuction collection vessel?? 😉 -XT ---
**Author:** ![RiverRunner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/977dab/32.png) [@RiverRunner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RiverRunner)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2008, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-does-the-mass-in-a-giant-redwood-come-from/451177/7 "2008-05-30T19:03:46Z")
[QUOTE=Pleonast] _Where does the mass in a giant redwood come from?_ Same place your mass goes when you lose weight. [/QUOTE] So it’s entirely theoretical? ---
**Author:** ![mangeorge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d78d45/32.png) [@mangeorge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mangeorge)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2008, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-does-the-mass-in-a-giant-redwood-come-from/451177/8 "2008-05-30T19:13:28Z")
Really? Out of the air, huh? I’d heard that, but was a little sceptical. I knew that plants use a lot of CO2, as in a grow room, but didn’t realize it was converted to solids. ---
**Author:** ![mangeorge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d78d45/32.png) [@mangeorge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mangeorge)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2008, 7:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-does-the-mass-in-a-giant-redwood-come-from/451177/9 "2008-05-30T19:18:18Z")
[QUOTE=Pleonast] _Where does the mass in a giant redwood come from?_ Same place your mass goes when you lose weight. [/QUOTE] I only recently learned that when you lose weight the fat cells don’t go away, they just deplete the fatty part. Liposuction sucks. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Speaker\_for\_the\_Dead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c77e96/32.png) [@Speaker\_for\_the\_Dead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Speaker_for_the_Dead)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2008, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-does-the-mass-in-a-giant-redwood-come-from/451177/10 "2008-05-30T19:20:27Z")
[QUOTE=mangeorge] Really? Out of the air, huh? I’d heard that, but was a little sceptical. I knew that plants use a lot of CO2, as in a grow room, but didn’t realize it was converted to solids. [/QUOTE] The process of photosynthesis is the creation of three-carbon sugars from carbon dioxide and water, using sunlight as energy. Those three-carbon sugars are used to make bigger sugars, especially cellulose, the main structural component of all plants. ---
**Author:** ![Laughing\_Lagomorph](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/6bbea6/32.png) [@Laughing\_Lagomorph](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Laughing_Lagomorph)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2008, 7:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-does-the-mass-in-a-giant-redwood-come-from/451177/11 "2008-05-30T19:21:28Z")
[QUOTE=mangeorge] Really? Out of the air, huh? I’d heard that, but was a little sceptical. I knew that plants use a lot of CO2, as in a grow room, but didn’t realize it was converted to solids. [/QUOTE] Yes, it really is amazing. This is the reason planting and growing forests is sometimes proposed as a solution to increasing atmospheric CO2 concentrations. It is one way that could (in theory anyway) remove CO2 from the atmosphere and convert it into solid material. I thought the oxygen was proven to come from the water, not from the CO2. Didn’t they do experiments using radioisotopes that proved this? (It’s been a long time since I studied this). ---
**Author:** ![Polycarp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2008, 7:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-does-the-mass-in-a-giant-redwood-come-from/451177/12 "2008-05-30T19:29:29Z")
Just to note that in addition to water and CO2, trees do draw minerals and other nutrients from the soil – which is partially replaced by falling leaves, needles, twigs, limbs, dead trees,etc. The amount is a low percentage of the total photosynthetic result, but worth noting. So it’s not 100% out of thin air – just mostly (and including water drawn up by the roots, which was of course formerly rainfall). ---
**Author:** ![Don\_t\_Call\_Me\_Shirley](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/f4b2a3/32.png) [@Don\_t\_Call\_Me\_Shirley](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Don_t_Call_Me_Shirley)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2008, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-does-the-mass-in-a-giant-redwood-come-from/451177/13 "2008-05-30T19:40:23Z")
[QUOTE=Polycarp] Just to note that in addition to water and CO2, trees do draw minerals and other nutrients from the soil – which is partially replaced by falling leaves, needles, twigs, limbs, dead trees,etc. The amount is a low percentage of the total photosynthetic result, but worth noting. So it’s not 100% out of thin air – just mostly (and including water drawn up by the roots, which was of course formerly rainfall). [/QUOTE] Can’t redwoods also get water from the air? I remember reading this as an explanation for why redwoods can grow so much taller than other trees. Other trees are limited in height to how far they can lift water out of the ground. Redwoods can get water from the air so they don’t have that restriction. It also explains why they are found in such a small area- they thrive on the frequent Pacific fog that rolls over California. ---
**Author:** ![mangeorge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d78d45/32.png) [@mangeorge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mangeorge)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2008, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-does-the-mass-in-a-giant-redwood-come-from/451177/14 "2008-05-30T19:44:22Z")
[QUOTE=Polycarp] Just to note that in addition to water and CO2, trees do draw minerals and other nutrients from the soil – which is partially replaced by falling leaves, needles, twigs, limbs, dead trees,etc. The amount is a low percentage of the total photosynthetic result, but worth noting. So it’s not 100% out of thin air – just mostly (and including water drawn up by the roots, which was of course formerly rainfall). [/QUOTE] It only makes sense when I think about it. If much of a tree’s mass came from the soil, each of these huge trees would be growing out of a large pit. ---
**Author:** ![Squink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@Squink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squink)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2008, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-does-the-mass-in-a-giant-redwood-come-from/451177/15 "2008-05-30T19:47:54Z")
The redwood needs nitrogen from the soil. It can’t make amino acids or nucleic acids without nitrogen. ---
**Author:** ![Terminus\_Est](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terminus_est/32/3087_2.png) [@Terminus\_Est](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terminus_Est)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2008, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-does-the-mass-in-a-giant-redwood-come-from/451177/16 "2008-05-30T19:48:51Z")
[QUOTE=Laughing Lagomorph] Yes, it really is amazing. This is the reason planting and growing forests is sometimes proposed as a solution to increasing atmospheric CO2 concentrations. It is one way that could (in theory anyway) remove CO2 from the atmosphere and convert it into solid material. I thought the oxygen was proven to come from the water, not from the CO2. Didn’t they do experiments using radioisotopes that proved this? (It’s been a long time since I studied this). [/QUOTE] Yes, the light reaction in photosynthesis splits the water molecule, producing oxygen. The hydrogens are fixed with CO[sub]2[/sub], producing sugar. ---
**Author:** ![mangeorge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d78d45/32.png) [@mangeorge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mangeorge)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2008, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-does-the-mass-in-a-giant-redwood-come-from/451177/17 "2008-05-30T20:05:37Z")
Anyone who hasn’t seen the [Giant Redwoods](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giant_redwood) should. Once, then leave them alone. Except to show someone else. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2008, 8:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-does-the-mass-in-a-giant-redwood-come-from/451177/18 "2008-05-30T20:54:00Z")
[QUOTE=mangeorge] It only makes sense when I think about it. If much of a tree’s mass came from the soil, each of these huge trees would be growing out of a large pit. [/QUOTE] Not just trees, but farmer’s fields and my garden. My squash grows from nothing to being a giant with no visible reduction in the amount of soil. It is amazing, and one of the reasons I like gardening. As for redwoods getting water from the air, I seem to recall something about them getting water from the early morning mist (which condenses on the leaves) the last time I visited them, but I’m not positive. ---
**Author:** ![beowulff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beowulff/32/542_2.png) [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2008, 9:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-does-the-mass-in-a-giant-redwood-come-from/451177/19 "2008-05-30T21:14:52Z")
In 1649 [Jan Baptist van Helmont](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jan_Baptist_van_Helmont) determined that plants derived the vast majority of their mass from something other than soil. ---
**Author:** ![Malacandra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Malacandra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malacandra)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2008, 9:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-does-the-mass-in-a-giant-redwood-come-from/451177/20 "2008-05-30T21:55:58Z")
[QUOTE=Terminus Est] Yes, the light reaction in photosynthesis splits the water molecule, producing oxygen. The hydrogens are fixed with CO[sub]2[/sub], producing sugar. [/QUOTE] However, you have 6H[sub]2[/sub]O + 6CO[sub]2[/sub] = C[sub]6[/sub]H[sub]12[/sub]O[sub]6[/sub] + 6O[sub]2[/sub], so I don’t see where you’re getting all your oxygen from the water. (Or to put it another way - sugar contains _as much_ oxygen as carbon, not twice as much as it does in carbon dioxide.) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-does-the-mass-in-a-giant-redwood-come-from/451177.md?page=2)