Question

Jan Baptista van Helmont performed an experiment for which he grew a willow tree in a pot for several years, during which time he kept an exact record of changes in the weight of the soil. At the end of his experiment, van Helmont concluded that the main source of the tree's biomass was ______.

Answer 1

Jan Baptista van Helmont concluded that the main source of the tree's biomass was WATER (H2O). He discovered that photosynthesis requires H2O as a reactant.

Photosynthesis is a series of metabolic reactions by which plants produce simple carbohydrates (i.e., biomass) and carbon dioxide by using sunlight, oxygen (O2) and water (H2O).

Jan Baptista van Helmont partially discovered this mechanism of photosynthesis.

During his experiments, van Helmont observed that most of the mass of a tree had come from H2O, thereby concluding that plants grow by drinking water instead of by eating soil as popularly believed.

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