Wednesday, 25 December 2019

Confusion regarding photosynthesis and respiration in plants


During 24 hours there is a time in i.e. twilight when plants neither give oxygen nor carbon dioxide why is it so?


This also suggests that neither of the two vital processes i.e. respiration or photosynthesis is being carried out.


Well, during twilight there is not enough sunlight so photosynthesis may slow down or even cease but what about respiration?



Answer



You haven't directed us to any evidence for your assertion, so it is difficult to evaluate.


I'm not a plant physiologist, so I will argue from first principles:


photosynthesis consumes CO2 and produces O2:


6CO2 +6H2O -> C6H12O6 + 6O2


respiration consumes O2 and produces CO2:



C6H12O6 + 6O2 -> 6CO2 +6H2O


Plants do both of these things at the same time for at least part of the day. During the day, in a growing plant, photosynthesis will exceed respiration: a lot of the fixed carbon is fed into anabolic processes to produce "plant stuff"; polysaccharides, proteins, nucleic acids. This means that the plant will be a net producer of O2 and a net consumer of CO2. At night there is, of course, no photosynthesis and respiration will dominate and the plant will be a net producer of CO2 and a net consumer of O2.


At certain times of the day, twilight for example, there will be a transition between these two states, and the plant will pass through a state where there will be no net flux in either of the gases.


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