4 ms·

Don't plants take oxygen and release CO2 at night?

letstryagain2 6y ago
YES! Many websites recommend having plants in the sleeping room to produce O2. Plants actually consume O2 and produce CO2 at night, through not very much. I sleep terribly at home and I am trying out to find out why. Two people and a dog in a room should not be an issue if the window is a little bit open.
- clairity 6y ago
  you might want to consider temperature as a possible culprit. a lower temperature is a signal to the body to curl up and sleep, and a consistently cool (relative) temperature keeps you in that state. when we wake up, our bodies ramp up our metabolism/temperature to rouse us out of slumber. i know i'm ready for sleep when i impulsively reach for the sheets. with two people, a dog, and only a cracked window, the temperature might be rising above your sleep signal during the night (i wake up often in the middle of the night and can literally feel the heat rising as i gain consciousness).
sandworm101 6y ago
They do and they don't. The net result of a growing plant is the absorption of CO2 and H2O to create O2 and various hydrocarbons, oxygen and plant matter. The carbon is fixed in the body of the plant. But i did mention grow lamps. Keep them lit and there is no night.
- vitus 6y ago
  Plants still need to use the glucose, though. It's misleading to say that plants produce CO2 at night (since they produce it all the time); rather, they become a net CO2 producer at night because they're not offsetting it with photosynthesis. I'm not convinced that grow lamps are an effective way to offset that, since photosynthetic efficiency is fairly low (3-4%), and the electricity for the lamp has to come from somewhere. Not to mention that lamps (even LEDs) are also fairly lossy. I'm also not convinced that's even worth optimizing.
  - sandworm101 6y ago
    This is about indoor air pollution. I assume the coal-fired power plant is at least not in the same building.

YES! Many websites recommend having plants in the sleeping room to produce O2. Plants actually consume O2 and produce CO2 at night, through not very much. I sleep terribly at home and I am trying out to find out why. Two people and a dog in a room should not be an issue if the window is a little bit open.

clairity 6y ago
you might want to consider temperature as a possible culprit. a lower temperature is a signal to the body to curl up and sleep, and a consistently cool (relative) temperature keeps you in that state. when we wake up, our bodies ramp up our metabolism/temperature to rouse us out of slumber. i know i'm ready for sleep when i impulsively reach for the sheets. with two people, a dog, and only a cracked window, the temperature might be rising above your sleep signal during the night (i wake up often in the middle of the night and can literally feel the heat rising as i gain consciousness).

sandworm101 6y ago

They do and they don't. The net result of a growing plant is the absorption of CO2 and H2O to create O2 and various hydrocarbons, oxygen and plant matter. The carbon is fixed in the body of the plant. But i did mention grow lamps. Keep them lit and there is no night.

vitus 6y ago
Plants still need to use the glucose, though. It's misleading to say that plants produce CO2 at night (since they produce it all the time); rather, they become a net CO2 producer at night because they're not offsetting it with photosynthesis. I'm not convinced that grow lamps are an effective way to offset that, since photosynthetic efficiency is fairly low (3-4%), and the electricity for the lamp has to come from somewhere. Not to mention that lamps (even LEDs) are also fairly lossy. I'm also not convinced that's even worth optimizing.
- sandworm101 6y ago
  This is about indoor air pollution. I assume the coal-fired power plant is at least not in the same building.