Discover how plants sip nourishment from soil and air, and how this quiet chemistry sustains life on Earth.
This edition explains, in clear terms, how vegetation takes in food and water, and how light, air, and roots work together. It traces how plants turn simple elements into the substances that make leaves, stems, and roots possible, and how these processes influence the air we breathe.
- How roots absorb water and dissolved nutrients from the soil, and how leaves take in gases from the atmosphere through tiny pores.
- The main elements that make up plant matter—primarily carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, and nitrogen—and how they form the structures and secretions plants need.
- How light drives the transformation of carbon dioxide and water into energy-rich compounds, with chlorophyll playing a key role.
- The relationship between plant metabolism, the release of oxygen, and the balance of gases in the atmosphere.
Ideal for readers curious about plant life, ecology, and the science behind how living systems sustain themselves.